This information is to accompany Unit Three of the History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: Chronology of Significant International Events 1900 -1939
| 1867 Confederation: | Canada becomes an independent nation. However, Britain still handled Canada's foreign relations. |
| 1896: | Wilfrid Laurier becomes the nation's first French Canadian Prime Minister. |
| 1900: | New Age of Imperialism - intensified rivalry among the major
powers of Europe, United States and Japan. This rivalry often resulted in
war such as the Spanish American War and the 1905 war between Russia and
Japan. Each of the "Great Powers" is attempting to modernize their
military forces.
Britain fears the rising military and industrial strength of Germany. Germany is building a modern navy that represents a challenge to British naval supremacy. Many in Britain, including the Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain, believe that since the Royal Navy provided protection for the members of the Empire, those members should contribute to the modernizing of the Royal Navy. At the 1897 colonial conference, Chamberlain proposed an imperial federation with free trade among the members and a single imperial navy. Canadian Imperialists - Many within the English-speaking population of Canada believe that the members of the Empire should in solidarity on the international stage. Therefore, Canada should support Britain's foreign policies.
|
| 1899-1902 Boer War: |
Britain requests Canada to furnish troops and equipment for
the war against the Boers in South Africa. The request divides the Canadian
nation. Many in English Canada support the request. Most French Canadians
oppose the request and sympathize with the struggle of the Boers.
|
| 1903 Alaskan Boundary Dispute: |
Canada and the United States disagree over the international boundary along the Alaska Panhandle. The dispute occurred at a time when Britain sought closer relations with the United States, with the prospect of a future war with Germany. The British government's representative on the Commission, established to solve the dispute, sided with the American claims. |
| 1909 External Affairs Department: |
In response to disunity caused by repeated British requests for Canadian involvement in international affairs, and the Alaskan Boundary Dispute, the Laurier government realized that it would be Canada's interests to control its own external affairs. Therefore, the Laurier government established the department of external affairs. |
| 1910 Naval Service Bill: |
In response to Britain's request for financial assistance to enlarge and modernize the Royal Navy, the Laurier government established a Canadian navy. The nay would be under Canadian command, but in the case of war, could be placed at the disposal of Britain. |
| 1911 Election: | Laurier campaigned on a proposal for reciprocity with the United States. He was defeated. The leaders of the Conservatives, Robert Borden, becomes Prime Minister. |
| Continental Integration |
The U.S. was overtaking Britain as Canada's major export market. By 1910, 60 percent of Canada's imports came from the United States. There were over 400 American branch plants in Canada. |
| 1912 Regulation 17: |
Ontario government passed a law that limits the use of the French language in schools. The francophone population in both Ontario and Quebec are angered. Relations between English and French Canadians are strained. |
| 1914 First World War: |
Canada, being a member of the Empire, was automatically at
war when Britain declared war against Germany.
|
| War Measures Act: | The federal government moved quickly to give itself extraordinary powers to supervise both the national economy and the population. The War Measures Act gave the government full authority to do everything it deemed necessary "for the security, defence, peace, order, and welfare of Canada." |
| "Enemy Aliens": | Immigrants from enemy countries, who were not yet British subjects, were quickly viewed as "threats" to the war effort. Anti-German feeling led to the Ontario city of Berlin being renamed for the British secretary of war, Lord Kitchener. Over 8,000 aliens were interned in detention camps during the war. |
| Pacifists: | Resentment mounted towards pacifist religious groups such as the Doukhobors, Mennonites, and Hutterites. Those groups had been granted exemption from military service when they arrived in Canada. Many Canadians felt that the groups were not doing their "fair share" in the war effort. Public resentment led the federal government, in June 1919, to barring the entry of more members of those groups into Canada. |
| 1917 Conscription: | As the war dragged on and casualties mounted, support for the war effort declined and voluntary recruitment declines. In May 1917, the Borden government introduced the Military Service Act, which allowed for conscription for overseas service. French Canada, in particular, opposed conscription. There were riots in Quebec and the unity of the nation was severely strained. |
| 1917 Vimy Ridge: | Costly Canadian victory at Vimy Ridge. |
| 1918 End of War: | On November 11, the so-called "great War" ended. During the War, over 600,000 men and women served in the Canadian army. 60,000 Canadians were killed and 126,000 were wounded. |
| 1919 League of Nations: |
Canada joins the League of Nations in 1919. The League is weakened by the failure of the U.S. to join the League. |
| 1918-1919: | Prime Minister Borden insisted that Canada attend the Versailles Peace Conference as a separate and equal member of the Empire. |
| 1921: | Mackenzie King becomes Prime Minister and is determined to not have Canada engaged in a war or external action, that would threaten the unity of the nation, as occurred during the Conscription Crisis of 1917. National unity becomes a foundational principle of Canadian foreign policy. |
| 1922 Chanak Crisis: | Britain called upon Canada and the Empire to provide military support for its forces in Turkey. King did not respond to the British request. |
| Isolationalism: | In both the United States and Canada, European policies and politicians were blamed for the First World War. There was a widespread belief that North America should not become involved in any future European "intrigues." The United States Senate rejected President Wilson's plea for the U.S. to join the new League of Nations. |
| Continentalism: | By 1922, American capital investment in Canada exceeded British investment. In 1926, Canada's first permanent diplomatic mission was established in Washington. |
| 1929: | Beginning of the world-wide depression which results in rising levels of unemployment and political instability. Many lose faith in the democratic system and support totalitarian movements such as Hitler's National Socialists. |
| 1931 Statue of Westminster: |
Canada is recognized as a completely independent nation, and an equal member of the British Commonwealth. |
| 1931: | Japan invades Manchuria, a province of China. The League is unable to stop the Japanese aggression. |
| 1933: | Hitler become German chancellor and establishes a dictatorship. |
| 1935: | Mussolini's Italian armies invade Ethiopia. The League does little to "punish" the Italian aggression. |
| Appeasement: | The western democracies of Europe pursue a policy of appeasement towards the dictatorships. They wish to avoid another world war. Canada supported the British and French response to the Nazi regime. |
| 1937: | Mackenzie King visits Hitler and is impressed by the Dictator, commenting that Hitler did not want another world war. |
| 1939: | On September 1, 1939, Hitler invades Poland. The Second World War begins. The Canadian Parliament votes to declare war on Germany. |
Student Information Sheet: Chronology of Significant Domestic Events 1900 -1939
| 1896-1914: | Canada experienced an immigration boom. The Laurier government
made a concerted effort to attract European and American immigrants to settle
on the Canadian prairies.
|
| 1900s Laissez Faire Government: | Government operated on the belief that the marketplace, not government was responsible for the nation's economic well-being. Government placed few restrictions on business, and did not launch social programs to meet the needs of the poor. Poverty and unemployment were viewed as the concerns of private charities and churches and not the responsibility of government. |
| 1909 Cape Breton Miners' Strike: | When the government did intervene in the operation of the marketplace,
it intervened in favour of business, not labour. Attempts by workers to
organize unions were considered a conspiracy, and those involved faced imprisonment.
|
| Continental Integration: | American investment contributed to the growth of industry in Canada. The number of American branch plants reached 450 by 1914. Most of the industrialization and manufacturing was centred in southern Ontario. |
| 1914-1918 First World War: | The enthusiasm for the war effort soon collapsed as the war seemed to have no end, and as the number of casualties mounted. Wartime inflation caused prices to outpace wage increases. Labour felt it was sacrificing while big business seem to profit from the war. Other issues that divided the public included the Conscription Crisis, and the internment of "enemy aliens". |
| Suffrage Movement: | The shortage of manpower provided Canadian women an opportunity to enter the workplace. Their contribution was recognized. The election of the first woman to a provincial legislature in 1917 demonstrated changing attitudes towards women. In 1918, a full female franchise bill was introduced in Parliament, and in 1919, women won the right to sit in Parliament. By the mid-1920s, Canadian women had won the right to vote in all provinces except Quebec. |
| 1919 Winnipeg General Strike: | The years following the First World War were filled with labour unrest. The largest expression of labour's discontent was the Winnipeg General Strike, in May of 1919. The strikers were defeated by an alliance of business and government. |
| 1919 National Progressives: | Western discontent over perceived domination by Central Canadian economic institutions and national governments dedicated to preserve the well-being of Central Canada, translated itself into the formation of the National Progressives in 1919. |
| 1920s Co-operatives: | Farmers found that pooling their resources improved their bargaining position in the open market. Wheat pools were organized on a co-operative basis in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, during the mid-1920s. |
| 1921 Election: | Several leaders of the union movement, including J.S. Woodsworth, were elected to Parliament. |
| 1929 Stock Market Crash: | The New York Stock Market crashes in October. The result was
a collapse of wheat prices, reduction in foreign trade as other nations
erected trade barriers to protect their domestic economies, and massive
unemployment.
|
| 1932 Relief Camps: | By 1932, two million Canadians were on social relief and the government feared that the 650,000 unemployed may resort to violence. Relief camps to house single unemployed men were established across the country. |
| 1932 Regina Manifesto: | In July 1933, at a convention in Regina, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.) established its program based on democratic socialist principles. The new party represented a significant ideological challenge to laissez faire government and the principles of classical liberalism. The Manifesto called for the active intervention and participation of government in such sectors as finance, transportation, and communications. |
| 1935 Bennett's New Deal: | On January 1, 1935, Bennett announced in a series of national radio broadcasts, a program of reforms similar to those enacted by Roosevelt. He proposed reforms such as the 8-hour work day, insurance against sickness and unemployment, and an improved old-age insurance program. |
| July 1935 "On-to-Ottawa" Trek: | Workers from the Relief Camps who had congregated in Vancouver
decided to carry their protests to Ottawa by train. The trekkers received
a positive reception along the route and arrived in Regina in June.
|
| 1935 Social Credit: | In August 1935, William Aberhart's Social Credit movement wins the Alberta provincial election. The Social Credit movement represented another challenge to the existing political parties. |
This activity is to accompany Foreign Policy of the Unit Three Curriculum Guide
Incorporating the C.E.L.s
Concept Application Lesson for: National Sovereignty, External influences, Domestic Politics, Options, Foreign Policy, Paradigms and Consequences.
This activity focuses on the concepts of sovereignty and foreign influence, and how the two concepts sometimes creates tensions and challenges for Canadian people. The activity also makes students aware of the significant influence other nations have had on Canada's history, and that those influences have had both positive and negative consequences for Canadians.
Knowledge Objectives
The student will:
Skills Development
The student will:
Values Issues:
The student will:
Outline of the Activity
Step One
Discuss how the actions of foreign nations can influence the lives of ordinary Canadians.
Provide some contemporary examples of how other nations and international events/conditions can affect the lives of Canadians.
Provide the students with a number of historical instances.
Note that nations can influence the policies and well-being of other nations through a number of ways:
Provide the students with a definition of the concept of sovereignty.
Discuss how nations resist/restrain perceived "undue" influence of other nations.
Discuss the reluctance of nations to allow other nations or entities to intrude in their national decision making and domestic politics.
Have the students identify other expressions of a nation's sovereignty:
Have the students discuss and generate examples of the positive and negative aspects of foreign influence. Provide a number of scenarios to generate the discussion:
The students could construct a concept map or analytical grid, that demonstrates the positive and/or negative consequences of one of the above examples.
Alternative activity could involve the students engaging in a dialectical activity focusing on one of the following value issue:
This activity is to accompany Sovereignty of Unit Three Curriculum Guide
Incorporating the C.E.L.s
Concept Application Lesson for: National Sovereignty, Expressions of Power and Influence, Policy Options, Foreign Policy, Paradigms, and Consequences.
This activity provides students with an opportunity to investigate the relationship between Canada and Great Britain during the early years of the twentieth century.
Knowledge Objectives
The students will:
Skills Development
The student will:
Values Issues
The student will:
Outline of the Activity
Step One
Provide students with a brief description of world affairs at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Focus on European international politics, particularly the relationship between Britain and Germany.
Note: Unit One of the Grade Eleven History Curriculum will provide background information concerning the rivalry among the European powers.
Discuss with the class factors that will influence a nation's foreign policies and actions.
Have the students prepare a description of the British "paradigm" of the international world.
On the basis of the paradigm, have student groups prepare a foreign policy strategy for the British Government.
Britain had to present to the Empire, including Canada, a rationale for "contributing" to fulfilling British "needs." The British had to also indicate the type of assistance they were seeking.
Step Two
Discuss how a nation can demonstrate its influence/power on the international scene.
Have the class list various expressions of national influence/power. Possible expressions could include:
Note that governments, in attempting to influence the policies/actions of another nation, sometimes direct their appeals to the population of that other nation.
Acting as British foreign officials, have student groups develop a strategy on how to "sell" the need for the involvement of the Empire in meeting the "needs" of Britain.
Step Three
Have student groups represent the Canadian government, French Canadian nationalists, and English Canadians who wished to retain the "imperial" link with Great Britain.
The groups representing French Canada and English Canada are to prepare editorials that indicate their positions regarding any Canadian commitment to meet British foreign security needs.
The group representing the Canadian government should devise a response to Britain's request.
Each of the groups will present their positions to the class for discussion.
The groups could attempt to achieve a consensus position and compare their final position with the actual position taken by the Laurier Government.
This activity is to accompany Sovereignty of Unit Three Curriculum Guide
Incorporating the C.E.L.s
Concept Application Lesson for: Sovereignty, External influences, Domestic Politics, Options, Foreign policy, Paradigms, and Consequences.
This activity allows the students how the actions of other nations can have serious consequences for the national well-being of the peoples of Canada. The historical issue examined is the relationship between Canada and Great Britain at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Knowledge Objectives
The student will:
Skills Development
The student will:
Values Issues
The student will:
Outline of the Activity
Step One
Have the class identify some of the key goals of any nation's foreign policy. Include:
Discuss with the students the role paradigms play in the formulation of policies.
Note that how a nation's perceives its relationship with other nations, will influence its policies at the international level.
Discuss the British "international" paradigm during the first decade of the 20th Century.
Discuss the relationship between Canada and Britain at the beginning of the 20th Century.
Discuss the two visions of Canada as expounded by Canadian proponents of Chamberlain's vision, and the vision proposed by Canadian nationalists, who favoured a more independent foreign policy for the nation.
Step Two
Have the students divide into groups and debate the issue of whether Canada had any moral and legal "obligations" towards Great Britain.
Each of the groups should:
The groups could meet, in a conference setting, and attempt to achieve a consensus on the issue of Canada's relationship with Britain and the British requests for Canadian assistance.
The students could compare their consensus position, with the actual policies formulated by the Laurier government.
This activity is to accompany Income Tax of Unit Three Curriculum Guide
Incorporating the C.E.L.s
Concept Application Lesson for: Rights, Responsibilities, Civil Rights, Constitution, Foreign Policy, and National Well-being.
This concept application activity focuses on the issue of individual rights and protecting the national (collective) well-being. Students will investigate historical instances in which the rights of individuals were restricted, construct a criteria that could be used to determine whether a situation requires the suspension of individual and group rights, and have an opportunity to engage in a dialectical activity on this issue.
Knowledge Objectives
The student will:
Skills Development
The student will:
Values Issues
The student will:
Outline of the Activity
Step One
Discuss with the students how the Canadian constitution protects individual rights.
Note that even in a democracy there are certain circumstances in which it is deemed necessary to limit the freedoms and rights of the citizenry.
Ask the students whether such limitations, in those circumstances, are justified?
Note that the value of freedom can sometimes come into conflict with other values such as order and national security.
Discuss the importance of the national well-being.
Step Two
Have the class focus on the issue of individual rights and national (collective) well-being.
Have the class develop a criteria to determine situations in which the suspension of civil rights is justified.
In developing the criteria, the students could note the following issues and factors:
Students could investigate the circumstances surrounding the following historical events:
They can apply that criteria to the historical event they were investigating and determine whether the then-government action was "justified."
Have the groups engage in a dialectical exercise focusing on one of the following issues:
This information is to accompany Charityof the Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: Co-operative Organizations In Saskatchewan - An Overview
Many of the co-operative enterprises we see today can trace their roots to nineteenth-century England. During that period, rapid industrialization and urbanization produced displacement and poverty for large numbers of people. Individuals who felt exploited by the competitive economic system turned to co-operatives as a way to improve their economic position. The co-operative principles first adopted by the International Co-operative Alliance in 1966 and revised in 1995, evolved from the experiences of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers of Rochdale, England. Most co-operatives in Canada generally subscribe to these principles.
Like the co-operative movement in England, the Canadian movement arose from a sense of exploitation. Prairie farmers were frustrated by the high prices charged by bankers, railroads, elevator companies, implement manufacturers and shopkeepers. Individual farmers had little control over the prices they paid for farming supplies and other commodities or over the prices they received for the products. They believed the marketplace was dominated by a few large buyers and sellers who were able to use their market power to influence prices. The formation of co-operatives was fuelled by the desire of farmers to gain control over their local economies.
The following details the development of co-operatives in Saskatchewan during the 20th century.
The Early Years (1900-1920)
During this time, farmers turned to co-operatives as a means of obtaining needed supplies and gaining greater control over the marketing of their produce. Individuals formed buying clubs to make bulk purchases of farm supplies and basic commodities. Farmers banded together to establish the Grain Growers’ Grain Company (now the United Grain Growers-UGG) to market their grain. The company also provided farm supplies to many of the buying clubs. In 1911, farmers launched the Saskatchewan Elevator Company with the aim of building an elevator system owned and controlled by farmers.
This co-operative activity prompted the provincial government to introduce the Agricultural Co-operatives Association Act in 1913. The Co-operatives Act, provided the machinery for co-operatives to become legally incorporated as businesses. The legislation also provided rules for the internal structure and procedures of co-operatives in accordance with basic co-operative principles.
World War I brought price inflation and a heightened demand for Canadian produce. This created a favourable environment for the growth of producer and consumer co-operatives. The first surviving retail co-operatives were established; and grain-marketing organizations expanded rapidly.
Centralized Marketing and Wholesaling (1920-1929)
Ownership of their own elevator company provided farmers with more control over the handling of their grain. Farmers, however, still desired better control over the marketing of their grain by means of a central buying and selling agency. Experience with centralized selling of grain through the first Canadian Wheat Board during the war resulted in pressure from farmers for a continuation of this practice. When the government did not establish a permanent wheat board, prairie farmers struggled to form their own grain-marketing organizations. These organizations would pool the production of all members, sell the produce at the best possible time, and divide the revenue among them. The successful establishment of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool in 1924 encouraged livestock, dairy, and poultry producers to form centralized marketing organizations two years later.
Post-World War I recessions contributed to the decline of retail co-operatives until the formation of Saskatchewan Co-operative Wholesale Society Limited in 1928. Owned and controlled by co-operative retail stores, this central co-operative provided services such as the grouping of orders made by member retails. The establishment of the wholesale was followed by the development of many successful co-operative retails.
Surviving the Depression (1930-1940)
In the 1930s, the prairies suffered the devastating effects of a depressed economy coupled with drought. Surprisingly, the hardship of the Dirty Thirties served to strengthen the co-operative movement. Few co-operatives disappeared and many new ones were formed. Co-operatives were seen as a form of community self-help that could be established with little investment and operated using volunteer labour.(8) Educational organizations such as the Saskatchewan Co-operative Women's Guild were key players in encouraging grassroots co-operative development. Co-operative methods were used to meet a wide variety of needs during the 1930s. These included the areas of marketing, banking, and insurance, as well as the refining of oil and the provision of farm implements.
The Canadian Wheat Board took over the pooling function of the three prairie wheat pools after they encountered financial trouble early in the depression. As a result, the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool ceased to act as a centralized selling agency. With grain handling as its primary function, the Pool concentrated on improving its elevator system, repaying its debts, and lobbying the government on behalf of farmers.
Saskatchewan Co-operative Wholesale Society met the challenge of the 1930s by developing an affiliate plan to increase sales volume. This involved co-operation with the Pool to provide bulk commodities to farmers. Pool elevator agents ordered and distributed bulk commodities on a co-operative basis in areas where consumer co-operatives had not been organized. Because they worked at a grassroots level in rural communities, Pool representatives were able to assist in organizing co-operatives and recruiting new members.
The introduction of large-scale mechanized farming in the late 1920s led to the formation of oil-purchasing co-operatives. Rising prices due to the concentration of petroleum refineries in the hands of a few firms prompted a bold initiative. In 1934, Consumers Co-operative Refineries Ltd. was incorporated in Regina. The subsequent success of this refinery contributed to future expansion of the co-operative retailing system.
Large-scale farming also produced the need for increasingly sophisticated farm machinery. Once again, high prices prompted farmers to establish farm machinery co-operatives in the late 1930s. Canadian Co-operative Implements Ltd. was founded by farmers across the prairies in 1940. Although the company grew to become one of North America’s largest farm machinery co-operatives, financial difficulties in the 1980s forced receivership of the company, and Co-operative Implements ceased to exist as a corporate entity.
During the depression, the major banking institutions made drastic cuts in the provision of financial services to the prairies. The lack of needed credit led to the growth of credit unions. Provincial legislation allowing for the formation of credit unions was passed in 1937. This legislation, which resembled the Bank Act, was much more restrictive and regulatory in comparison to the Co-operatives Act which governed non-financial co-operatives. That same year, the first community credit union was organized in Lafleche with 12 members and total assets of $52.50. By 1939, Saskatchewan had 32 credit unions with 3,000 members.
Saskatchewan was the first province in English Canada to form a central credit union system. The Saskatchewan Co-operative Credit Society (later known as Credit Union Central of Saskatchewan) was established in 1941 and quickly became a major financial service for co-operatives. It collected surplus funds from member societies and made loans to credit unions in need of temporary assistance. Another financial service that grew out of the depression was the provision of death benefits to members of Saskatchewan co-operatives through the Co-operative Mutual Benefit Association which was established in 1940.
The formation of Interprovincial Co-operatives Limited (IPCO) by the western Canadian co-operative wholesales in 1940 resulted from a desire to co-ordinate the purchasing and marketing of commodities produced and processed by co-operatives through co-op retail stores. IPCO developed the familiar CO-OP label to enhance product identification.
Growth and Diversification
A return to prosperity allowed co-operative ventures that had taken root during the depression to grow stronger and branch out into new areas. Like the previous world war, World War II brought expanded opportunities for co-operatives. New retail co-operatives formed while old ones grew and became involved in new ventures. The war also benefited grain-marketing co-operatives such as the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool and the United Grain Growers. Heightened demand and greater government regulation contributed to a favourable environment for many producer co-operatives.
The Co-operative Refinery and Saskatchewan Co-operative Wholesale were Canada’s most effective consumer-owned wholesaling and manufacturing co-operatives. The merger of these two organizations to form Saskatchewan Federated Co-operatives Ltd. in 1944 was an important step toward the establishment of an integrated co-operative retail system.
The period following 1945 was characterized by a series of mergers and amalgamation as co-operatives grew and diversified. Saskatchewan Federated Co-operatives Ltd. merged with the other western wholesales to form Federated Co-operatives Ltd. The western wheat pools, who were now handling farm supplies, became members of IPCO in 1963. Saskatchewan Wheat Pool also branched out into new areas. Examples include the establishment of XCAN, an international grain sales company in 1973, and the formation of Co-Enerco, an oil exploration company in 1981. Both initiatives involved joint ventures between the Pool and other co-operatives. A merger between the Dairy Pool and Saskatchewan Co-operative Creameries resulted in the formation of Dairy Producers Co-operative Limited in 1972. And, in 1996, Dairy Producers Co-operative Limited merged with dairy co-operatives in Alberta and British Columbia, and became Dairyworld Foods. The formation of the Co-operative Life Insurance Company and continued growth in credit unions contributed to rapid growth in the co-operative financial sector. The establishment of The Co-operators as a national insurance firm in 1978 represented a major step in this process.
Despite the necessity of cutbacks due to an economic downturn in 1979-1980 and the recession of the early 1980s, the co-operative sector has continued along a path of growth and diversification as suggested by 1996 statistics. In that year, 22 of the top 100 businesses in Saskatchewan were co-operatives. Saskatchewan Wheat Pool recorded net earnings of $48.4 million and sales of $4.1 billion. Its associated companies and partnerships totalled 15. Credit union memberships in Saskatchewan numbered 588,000. These members are served by 163 credit unions in 340 locations throughout the province. One hundred and sixty-nine retail co-operatives and their branches served communities across the province with a variety of goods and services including petroleum, food, hardware, building materials, crop supplies, feed and family fashions.
The surplus or savings generated by each retail co-op belongs to its members and can be repaid in cash or allocated to members' equity accounts. In 1995, Saskatchewan's retail co-operatives repaid $28.5 million in cash to their individual members. Yet, what is perhaps most distinctive about co-operatives is their diversity in size. Although the two largest businesses in Saskatchewan are co-operatives, many other co-ops are found in the smallest communities of the province.
Co-operatives' Response to Change
Like most other provinces, Saskatchewan is facing general depopulation of its rural communities. As a result, businesses in smaller centres are finding it increasingly difficult to operate profitably, and have been forced into economic restructuring or leaving communities.
Because of their local ownership and leadership, co-operatives and credit unions are particularly effective at responding to social and economic challenges of their communities. Through a combination of member loyalty, consolidations that have been sensitive to member and community needs, service enhancements and operating efficiencies achieved through technology, co-operatives and credit unions have been particularly effective at increasing their markets and maintaining the services vital to sustaining communities. Co-operatives are often labelled as the last businesses to leave a community. The fact that, in 1996, there were more than 130 communities where the local credit union was the only financial institution, 180 where the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool was the only grain company with on-site facilities and service and 60 where the retail co-operative was the only grocery store, lends some support to this statement.
Although retail co-operatives, credit unions and Saskatchewan Wheat Pool elevators are the most commonly held images of Saskatchewan’s co-operatives, new co-operatives are still forming to meet diverse needs of Saskatchewan communities. Housing co-operatives, recreation centres, community health clinics, child-care and other service co-operatives represent a number of emerging co-operatives formed to provide much needed services. In 1996, there were fourteen hundred co-operatives in the province operating in areas from agriculture to health care, and at least 700,000 residents with a membership in at least one co-operative. Although rich in history, the co-operative sector in Saskatchewan continues to be a key player in the province’s economy and society.
This information is to accompany Charity of the Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide.
Student Information Sheet: Canada's Co-operatives - As Diverse as the Nation
Canada's 10,000 co-operatives play a significant role in the economic and social life of our country. Because co-operatives are formed to fulfil a wide range of social, economic and cultural needs, co-operatives can be found in almost every business or social sector that exists. There is also tremendous variation in size and sophistication among them. However diverse, the common feature among co-operatives is that the members are both the users and owners of the enterprise and control their co-operative on the basis of one member, one vote.
Canadians hold approximately 14 million memberships in co-operatives that exist from coast to coast. And, as shown by the examples below, co-operatives have been formed to meet the unique regional needs of Canadians.
Consumer or retail co-operatives
Consumer or retail co-operatives are organized to provide members with various types of goods or services. The basic premise behind the formation of this type of co-operative is to organize consumers to jointly purchase goods which are not available or to provide goods at lower cost.
Mountain Equipment Co-operative
Mountain Equipment Co-operative (MEC) is one of the fastest growing consumer co-operatives in Canada. It was formed in 1971 by a small group of student-climbers from the Varsity Outdoor Club of the University of British Colombia. In the words of MEC, its founders needed "cheap quality goods to nurture their outdoor habits".
Early in its life, MEC printed a catalogue to meet the shopping needs of its members. A member’s basement initially served as the retail store for the co-operative. However, interest in MEC quickly grew, making it difficult for this small retail location to keep up to the demands being made by its membership. The co-op was forced to spend money on an official retail location, computers, warehouse space and staff in order to handle the increasing volume of sales.
The success realized by its Vancouver retail outlet, led to the opening of stores in other major cities in Canada -- Calgary (1977), Toronto (1985), and Ottawa (1992). By 1996, there were plenty of reasons for Mountain Equipment Co-op to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Its worldwide membership totalled 950,000, and sales reached $110 million. The 1996 spring and summer catalogue offered 140 pages of recreation products to its members. Rather than opening more retail stores, MEC has decided to focus its energies on increasing the efficiency of its Mail Order department and planning for expansion and improvement of its existing retail locations.
One of MECs greatest challenges, as a co-operative, is to maintain the involvement of its members in the greater decisions of the co-operative. By publishing a member newsletter, which is incorporated into its catalogue, twice a year and by maintaining a cross-organizational team which focuses on direct member contact, MEC strives to keep its members educated and informed. Co-op members elect their board of directors by a mail-in ballot and are encouraged to submit "extraordinary resolutions" to be brought to the floor at the annual general meeting. Through these and other strategies, MEC has identified ways in which its members can participate in the co-operative even if they are a world away from the hub of the activity in downtown Vancouver.
Marketing or producer co-operatives
Marketing or producer co-operatives are created by service providers and producers to process, market and distribute their products. A member’s use of the co-op is measured by what she or he sells through the co-op as opposed to what she or he buys from the co-op. Marketing or producer co-operatives have been created to process, market and distribute fish, agricultural products, lumber, carpentry and crafts.
Artisan co-operatives in Canada’s North
The production and sale of fine Northern arts and crafts was pioneered in the Northwest Territories by the co-operative movement. Producer co-operatives, formed by the people of the North, provided a means of selling their arts and crafts.
Canadian Arctic Producers (CAP) was a federal government initiative created in 1965 to help the producer co-operatives wholesale and distribute their arts and crafts. At the request of the artists, CAP’s operations were turned over to Arctic Co-operatives Limited (ACL) in 1982. ACL, the federation of co-operatives in the Arctic, was incorporated in 1972 to provide a wide range of services to its member co-operatives. Because the artisan co-operatives were long time members of ACL, this transfer of responsibility to ACL was a logical step. It gave the artists ownership and control over the marketing and distribution of their arts and crafts.
Membership in ACL provides many benefits to the artisan co-operatives. Besides distribution and sales outlets for their arts and crafts, ACL also provides its member co-ops with access to accounting services, training and education, and management advice. As of 1996, ACL managed "Northern Images" a chain of six retail outlets for the artisan co-operatives and Canadian Arctic Producers, the name maintained for the two wholesale distribution outlets located in Toronto and Winnipeg. Twenty eight of ACL’s 36 member co-operatives are artisan co-operatives. Of the 11,000 individual members that make up Arctic Co-operatives Limited, 95% are of aboriginal descent.
The co-operatives in the North have brought many benefits to their members. Besides providing much needed services, jobs have been created in a region where people struggle with the lack of employment opportunities. Because the members are responsible for the operations of their co-operatives, people in the North have learned new leadership and business skills that have been utilized in other parts of their lives.
Financial co-operatives
Financial co-operatives, that are formed by individuals, provide a range of financial and insurance services to their members. These co-operatives are credit unions and caisse populaire. Other financial co-operatives are formed by a group of existing co-operatives to provide services to the member co-ops and/or the general public. These are often trust and insurance co-operatives.
North West Credit Union Limited
North West Credit Union Limited opened its doors in Buffalo Narrows, Saskatchewan in January, 1991, after years of hard work on the part of a great number of people in the community.
It was not until the credit union was formed that Buffalo Narrows and area citizens had convenient access to a financial institution. Banks were not interested in setting up branches in this northern area of the province, and the only financial services available before the credit union were stores that would cash cheques. People needing services from a financial institution would have to travel 250 kilometres south to Meadow Lake.
Because most people in the area had never had a bank account before 1991, North West Credit Union offered banking seminars to anyone interested. By 1996, the credit union grew to over $7 million in assets, serving 1,500 members from communities across the north west, including La Loche and Beauval.
North West's contribution to the local community has been significant. It has provided direct employment for local people, financed business ventures, donated to local charitable organizations like the Friendship Centre, minor sports, graduation committees and schools. Local residents have also been given access to the credit union's office as a collection depot and fundraising centre for charitable organizations.
Service co-operatives
Service co-operatives are formed to provide a specific service for its members. Individuals will form such a co-operative when a needed service is unavailable in a community or when individuals wish more control over that particular service. Such co-operatives have been set up to provide members with child care, health care, rural electrification, dental and funeral services.
Turtle Park Co-operative Child Care Centre
In 1975, a group of parents from Regina, Saskatchewan, formed the Turtle Park Co-operative Child Care Centre. Licensed by the Department of Social Services, Turtle Park was initially approved to provide care for 30 children ranging from 18 months to 5 years. Because the child care needs of the members grew, however, the license was eventually expanded to provide care for 50 children ranging from 18 months to 12 years. In 1996, the centre employed 6 full-time and 2 part-time trained child care providers for its 50 children.
It many ways, the Turtle Park Co-operative Child Care Centre is a bee hive of activity. Parents have formed committees to manage special needs of the centre. A successful fundraising committee, made up of member parents, was able to purchase new outdoor playground equipment for their children. Special projects, from field trips and to facility maintenance, keep parents involve. Children at the centre enjoy an active day that includes a combination of structured, teacher-directed learning and play time.
Monthly themes are identified for the childrens' activities that take place within the centre and in the community. In order to accommodate the needs of the children, the co-operative chose to hire one child care provider with training in dealing with special needs and speech and language development. By the very nature of childcare co-operatives, parents and childcare providers work together to deliver positive learning and play-time experiences for the children.
Housing co-operatives
Housing co-operatives provide affordable, quality housing for members. The resident members of housing co-operatives share responsibility and control of their homes. Housing co-operatives are sometimes organized to meet the needs of specific groups in society, including seniors, students, and ethnic groups.
Riverdale Co-operative Houses
Riverdale is a community located in Toronto's east end. In the first half of the 1900s, rapid industrialization and commercialization placed tremendous stress on the housing available to the Riverdale citizens, which was a problem faced by many Torontians. Over the years, a large number of people were forced to leave the community. The housing market had resulted in steep rent increases, insecure occupancy, deterioration in the quality of accommodation (in part due to absent landlords) and the purchase and resale of houses by outside developers for speculative profits. In response to this dilemma, a small number of the community's residents pooled their time and money and began to buy and repair houses for themselves and other Riverdale people. This was the early beginnings of Riverdale Co-operative Homes, incorporated in March of 1974.
By accessing funds through government programs, the Co-op bought and renovated properties during the 1970s and 1980s, most of which were between forty and eighty years old. The Co-op's only new property consists of 36 stacked townhouses built in 1981. By 1996, the co-operative consisted of 125 units of varying ages scattered throughout Riverdale.
Like other housing co-operatives, Riverdale Co-operative Homes is a non-profit housing venture whose aim is to provide quality, affordable housing. Its second and equally important aim, is to protect and promote its neighbourhood atmosphere. It houses a very diverse group of member-residents, representative of its multicultural and low to moderate income neighbourhood.
Although the Co-op has four hired staff and an elected board of directors, Riverdale is largely a success because of volunteer work by its members. Because Riverdale Co-op has no paid staff to do cleaning or landscaping, members are responsible for keeping the common areas clean, taking out the garbage and recycling, cutting the grass, and other day to day tasks. Twenty members provide volunteer maintenance. Its Education Committee organizes events for the co-op's members such as a Child Emergency workshop and multi-cultural socials. Organizing yard sales, producing newsletters for the co-op and participating in the acquisition and renovation of properties are only a few of the responsibilities handled by members of the housing co-operative. By volunteering time to their co-operative, members are better able to keep their housing affordable.
Worker co-operatives
Worker co-operatives provide the workers, who are the members, with employment. The members not only work in and own the co-operative, they also manage the co-operative. Examples of worker co-operatives include lumber businesses, pulp mills, taxi companies, bakeries, and print shops.
"Just us" Coffee Roasters Co-operative
"Just us" is a worker co-operative with a conscience. When one of its founders happened on the idea of wholesaling organic coffee for farmers in developing countries, it was not long until five solidarity-minded friends in Mina, Nova Scotia decided to run with the idea.
Being new to the areas of coffee, co-ops, and business, the prospective worker-members had much to learn about fair trade initiatives, business and, last but not least, about coffee. They travelled extensively to learn from the best in the business before ever roasting a single bean under the name "just us".
Employment for its members was a key reason for its incorporation in 1996. Beyond employment, however, the workers have adopted a code of conduct under which their co-op operates. The co-operative practices fair trade by paying the coffee producers a fair price for their product. Its workers chose to market organic coffee only. And, as the "just us" marketing brochure suggests, the co-op promotes understanding and respect among all people involved from coffee growers in the Third World to coffee lovers in Atlantic Canada. Another unique feature of this co-operative is its home, a newly renovated 50 year old house located on the main street of Minas.
In its first year of business, the co-op distributed approximately 2,000 pounds of coffee a month to its clients which included natural food and retail stores, bed and breakfasts, and coffee shops. Their mail order business sent coffee to outlets across Canada. After extensive renovation to their home, "just us" opened its own on-the-premises retail space. Although the worker co-operative is small in terms of its membership, "just us" is truly significant, not only to those they serve but also to those they support.
It is common for a co-operative to fall into more than one of the categories described above. Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, for instance, functions as a producer or marketing co-operative and a consumer co-operative. By purchasing and selling its members' raw products, it functions as a producer/marketing co-op. However, by selling farm supplies to its members, it functions as a consumer co-operative.
This information is to accompany Charity of the Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: The International Co-operative Alliance Statement on the Co-operative Identity
The Statement on Co-operative Identity was adopted at the 1995 General Assembly of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA), held in Manchester on the occasion of the Alliance's Centenary. The Statement was the product of a lengthy process of consultation involving thousands of co-operatives around the world.
Definition
A co-operative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.
Values
Co-operatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, co-operative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility, and caring for others.
Principles
The co-operative principles are guidelines by which co-operatives put their values into practice.
1st Principle: Voluntary and Open Membership
Co-operatives are voluntary organizations, open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political, or religious discrimination.
2nd Principle: Democratic Member Control
Co-operatives are democratic organizations controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting their policies and making decisions. Men and women serving as elected representatives are accountable to the membership. In primary co-operatives members have equal voting rights (one member, one vote) and co-operatives at other levels are organized in a democratic manner.
3rd Principle Member Economic Participation
Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of their co-operative. At least part of that capital is usually the common property of the co-operative. They usually receive limited compensation, if any, on capital subscribed as a condition of membership. Members allocate surpluses for any or all of the following purposes: developing the co-operative, possibly by setting up reserves, part of which at least would be indivisible; benefiting members in proportion to their transactions with the co-operative; and supporting other activities approved by the membership.
4th Principle: Autonomy and Independence
Co-operatives are autonomous, self-help organizations controlled by their members. If they enter into agreements with other organizations, including governments, or raise capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control by their members and maintain their co-operative autonomy.
5th Principle: Education, Training and Information
Co-operatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers, and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their co-operatives. They inform the general public -- particularly young people and opinion leaders -- about the nature and benefits of co-operation.
6th Principle: Co-operation Among Co-operatives
Co-operatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the co-operative movement by working together through local, national, regional, and international structures.
7th Principle: Concern for Community
While focusing on member needs, co-operatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies accepted by their members.
Adopted in Manchester (UK)
23 September 1995
This activity is to accompany Recession of Unit Three Curriculum Guide
Incorporating the C.E.L.s
Concept Application Lesson for: Interest Group, Influence, Power, Region, Politics, National Well-being, Dialectical Evaluation, Moral Tests, and Decision Making.
This activity allows provides students with an understanding that within Canadian society, there exists a competition among the regions to influence the societal and national decision making, and on occasions, the agendas of one region may be in opposition with the agendas of other regions.
Knowledge Objectives
The student will:
Skills Development
The student will:
Values Issues
The student will:
Outline of the Activity
Step One
Note that within a society, there exists competition among groups for influence over national, economic and social decision making processes.
Provide several examples:
Point out to students that the regions of the nation often act as interest groups seeking to implement national policies that benefit their region's well-being.
Provide the students with a scenario that demonstrate the difficulty in reconciling the interests of different regions of the nation.
Scenario One
A particular tax policy would reduce the costs of production for the farm machinery industry, while increasingly the costs for framers to purchase the equipment from the factory.
Scenario Two
A new manufacturing plant, owned by a foreign multinational, is planning to locate in Canada. The company is requesting government subsidies and tax relief, and in return, will allow the government to decide on the location of the new manufacturing plant.
Ask the students to assume the role of a national political leader.
Have the students engage in a dialectical exercise focusing on the value claims:
This information is to accompany Labour Radicalism of the Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: Government, Business and Labour at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century
In 1867, an unskilled day-labourer would earn an average of a dollar per day for a ten-hour day, and worked six days a week. A woman's wage would be half that of a man and a child labourer would earn as little as 25 cents a day. Employers offered no paid holidays. No protection existed for workers. Those who became ill or old generally faced either dismissal or reduced wages. Until 1877, masters and servants acts allowed the courts to send disobedient or absentee workers to jail at an employer's request. There were no such punishments for employers who broke their side of the bargain.
Working class families always lived in the shadow of disaster. Working conditions were difficult and dangerous. Severe injuries were commonplace in most trades. For working people, winter meant reduced wages, unemployment and souring prices for food and fuel. Poverty was considered a crime. A 1892 government report indicated that most of the inmates at the Peterborough jail were there because of the offence of poverty and an inability to find work.
Government and business leaders saw their well-being as being interconnected and as being opposed to the interests of organized labour. When the Toronto tailors associated when on strike in the 1850s, management simply replace the men with women. The courts found the tailors guilty of conspiracy and dissolved their society in 1854. George Brown, the editor and owner of the Globe, worked tirelessly to unit Toronto's major printers in cutting wage rates and increasing hours. In 1854, Brown forces union members out of his printing shop.
Employers often resorted to a number of tactics to reduce production costs. Since apprentices were cheaper than journeymen, many employers did their best to hire them. Women were often employed to replace the higher-paid male workers.
In the 1870s, leagues formed to work for a nine-hour work day emerged in Britain. The first Nine-Hour League in Canada, was formed in Hamilton. While the workers' organizations in the various urban centres failed to develop an united front, the employers were more successful in organizing to oppose the workers' demands. The movement for a nine-hour day was defeated and it would take nearly 50 years for labour to achieve that goal.
In 1871, the British Government introduced a Trade Unions Act which abolished the old crime of criminal conspiracy in restraint of trade. Although changes in British law had made it legal for workers to organize and to strike for more pay or shorter hours, the British law did not apply to Canada. In Canada, the old law against criminal conspiracy was still in effect, and employers viewed labour organization attempts as a conspiracy.
Voting was a privilege for male property owners and only a few well-paid artisans could qualify. Macdonald did however attempt to win the urban labour vote by implementing a Canadian version of the Trade Unions Act. His government also passed a similar Criminal Law Amendment Act, which imposed severe penalties, including a prison sentence, for most forms of picketing and union pressure, to please employers. Picketing remained illegal in Canada until 1934.
The 1870s proved to be a decade of unemployment, and wage cuts for most Canadian workers. However, in 1873, the Liberal government of Ontario abolished property qualifications for candidates, allowing Daniel O'Donoghue, the president of the Ottawa Trades Council, to win a provincial seat in a by-election, and become the first labour independent candidate to sit in the legislature.
The 1907 Industrial Disputes Investigation Act of 1907, (the Lemieux Act, prohibited strikes and lockouts in public utilities and mines until the dispute had been investigated by a tripartite board of arbitration representing capital and labour, with government acting as the "impartial umpire." By establishing a compulsory cooling-off period, the Act deprived organized labour of its strongest weapon, the surprise strike.
The power of business was demonstrated in the number of times in which politicians allowed business to employ troops, militia, and police to coerce labour. In 1900, the British Columbia militia and provincial police were used to aid canning companies in breaking a strike of fishermen. The fishermen were striking against low prices for their catch. In 1909, the Dominion Coal Company, employed most of Canada's permanent militia to guard mines and strikebreakers, in the process of defeating the efforts of the United Mines Workers to organize the workers.
This information is to accompany Labour Radicalism of the Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: The Winnipeg General Strike
A troubled relationship between labour and many manufacturers/employers existed in Winnipeg for decades preceding the First World War.
The metal trades and building trades unions went on strike in early May. They both solicited support from the Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council. The Council polled its members and called for a general strike.
A Citizens' Committee of One Thousand, composed of business and industrial leaders, was organized to oppose the strikers.
The federal government, led by the minister of labour, Senator Gideon Robertson, and the minister of justice, Arthur Meighen, accused the strikers of fermenting a revolution.
The Strike Committee and the Citizens' Committee did agree on a plan to allow essential services to operate during the strike.
On June 10, a minor riot erupted between strike supporters and a group of Special Police in the centre of downtown Winnipeg.
The arrest of several strike leaders, by the government, did not result in ending the strike. It prompted an angry reaction and renewed determination on the part of the strikers.
On June 21, a silent parade of strikers were attacked by police authorities. Two strikers were killed and 30 people injured.
This activity is to accompany Immigrants and Foreign Ideals of Unit Three Curriculum Guide
Incorporating the C.E.L.s
Concept Development Lesson for: Markets, Trade, Government, Subsidies, and Economic Cycle.
This activity provides students with an opportunity to explore the role of government, at the international level, secure a region's well-being, and to discuss whether Canadians have a responsibility in securing the well-being of other Canadians in other regions of the nation.
Knowledge Objectives
The student will:
Skills Development
The student will:
Values Issues
The students will:
Outline of the Activity
Step One
Provide students with the Student Information Sheet: Trade, Tariffs, and National Well-being.
The students could construct concept maps of grids that illustrate the connection between markets and Canada's economic well-being.
Have the students identify Canada's largest trading partners. Note the importance of the American market to the well-being of the Canadian economy.
Discuss factors that affect the well-being of Canadian trade at the international level. Use the example of grain markets to identify factors. Note factors such as:
Have the students identify major factors that affect the well-being of the Prairie economic well-being.
Have the students discuss how the "state" of the local, regional and national economies can influence their individual economic well-being.
Step Two
Have the students discuss why and how Canadian governments assist Canadian exporters. Note the following factors:
Discuss why it is difficult for national and provincial governments to respond to the actions of foreign governments, competitors and markets.
To illustrate the challenges that are associated with securing external markets for Canadian products and resources, provide the students with the Student Information Sheet: Canadian Agriculture: The Vagaries of the Global Market.
Focus the class analysis and discussion of the S.I.S. on the following:
Have groups of students construct an analytical grid or concept map that illustrates the relationship of various factors in creating a periods of economic prosperity and economic downturns for the Canadian economy.
Groups should include the following factors:
Have each group present their illustrations to the class and analyze the conditions/situations that are the causation of prosperity or recessions.
Have the students discuss the "vulnerability" of economies, such as Canada's, that significantly depend on foreign markets.
Each group could develop a plan of action and present that plan to the class for discussion.
This information is to accompany Activity Six of Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: Trade, Tariffs and National Well-being
Canada was not the only nation that suffered during the Great Depression. The Depression was global. Canada however was especially hard hit because 33 percent of its gross national income came from selling goods to other countries. By the latter 1920s, the United States had bypassed Britain has Canada's largest export market. When consumer demand and manufacturing production declined in the United States, the Canadian economy suffered. What products Canada was able to sell of foreign markets, were sold at lower prices. Falling demand and overproduction had led to a drop in the prices of many export goods.
A common response of many nations was to place high tariffs on foreign-made goods. The high tariffs were designed to keep out foreign goods. Each country attempted to protect its own industries by trying to ensure that they did not have to face foreign competition from foreign industries. With fewer markets, those industries cut back production and unemployment rose. The Smoot-Hawley tariff of 1930, enacted by the U.S. Congress, in 1930, led to high duties being placed on farm imports.
Canada was an exporting nation. Eight percent of the products from the nation's agricultural, forest and mining sectors, were sold abroad. When the demand for Canadian wheat, pulp and minerals declined, those sectors suffered greatly. Those businesses associated with the export trade also suffered. The railways carried less wheat. In response, the railways laid off workers and stopped buying goods and services, such as rails, it needed for its operations. With a decline in the demand for steel rails, the steel industries reduced production and cut jobs. The reduction in grain being transported led to unemployment among the longshoremen in ports such as Vancouver.
This information is to accompany Activity Six of the Unit Three Activity Guide
Student Information Sheet: Canadian Agriculture and the Vagaries of the Global Market
Agriculture provides one illustration of how global forces can influence the well-being of Canadians and specific regions of the nation. Agriculture is the dominant economic activity of the Prairie region of Canada. The exporting of agriculture produce and technology is of great significance to the economic well-being of the entire nation.
A study of Canadian agriculture and export markets reveals one constant - the agricultural sector remains vulnerable to international conditions including the trade practices of other nations.
The early 1970s saw high grain prices and secure world markets. Despite being a period of high inflation and interest rates, many Canadian farmers borrowed to expand their farming operations. They expected the "boom" to continue.
The early 1980s, were to see events and policies, originating in Europe, that were to threaten the sale of Canadian grains to that market.
When international grain prices deflated many farmers experienced a severe decline in income and some farmers were forced to abandon their farm operations.
This information is to accompany Immigrants and Foreign Ideals of Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: On-to-Ottawa Trek
In 1935, large numbers of men had left the relief camps and congregated in Vancouver. In Vancouver, they organized a march to Ottawa to present their demand to the government. The men boarded freight trains and began their journey to Ottawa. As the trek progressed, public support for the trekkers increased.
The federal government became increasingly uneasy as the trek progressed. The government particularly feared the influence of communist organizers among the trekkers. On June 14, 1935, R. B. Bennett order the R.C.M.P. to stop the trek in Regina. Bennett claimed that the marchers were defying the law and were part of a plot to overthrow the government of Canada. Only the trek leaders were allowed to continue to Ottawa where they held meetings with the Prime Minister.
Talks between Bennett and the strike leaders failed. The strike leaders returned to Regina where upwards of 3000 trekkers were gathered. The R.C.M.P. and Regina Police attempted to break up a public meeting of trekkers on July 1. A riot broke out. One police officer was killed and many trekkers and police officers were injured.
The government provided two trains to take all the original trekkers back to Vancouver. Conditions in the relief camps did change after the Trek. The Department of National Defence turned over control of the camps to the provinces. The provinces viewed the camps as public works camps rather than relief camps and paid the men 40 cents an hour for their labour.
The Six Demands of the Ottawa Trekkers
This information is to accompany Regina Riot of Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: Ideology, Government and the Social Disaster
Prior to the Great Depression, the ideological tenets of classical liberalism significantly defined the role of government in securing the well-being of the individual citizen. Canadian governments did not greatly involve themselves in social services. There was a widespread belief that people were largely responsible for their own well-being. Such social programs Canadians now enjoy such as unemployment insurance, hospitalization, medical care, and family allowances, did not exist. Private agencies, relatives and the churches were expected to meet the needs of those in poverty.
When the New York Stock Exchange crashed in October of 1929, few expected the Depression to last long. However, as the recession deepened, and levels of unemployment and poverty increased, the province, increasingly called upon the federal government to provide funds to meet the social needs of those unemployed and destitute. Prime Minister King viewed unemployment and social relief as being a provincial responsibility and therefore, the provinces would have to raise their own taxes to meet their provincial needs.
The Bennett Conservative government, which assumed office in 1930, was also reluctant to provide substantial aid to the provinces and to the thousands of unemployed. Bennett believed that people should help themselves and did not believe that unemployment was a major problem. By 1933, one third of all Canadian workers were out of a job.
The nation was ill-prepared to cope with the mass unemployment and its effects. When the Depression began, there was no unemployment insurance. Public relief varied from province to province. In Ontario and the western provinces, there was no coherent system for dealing with the rising unemployment and poverty. By the winter of 1933, more than 1 400 000 urban Canadians were receiving direct relief in the form of food, fuel, shelter and clothing.
The government believed that the aid to the unemployed and destitute should be a short-term exercise. Relief payments were purposely kept lower than the lowest-paying job to discourage people from applying for relief. In 1932, it took $7 a week to feed a family of five in Ontario. However, the weekly food allowance was $6.93 in Toronto. The food allowance was $3.25 in Quebec.
In Newfoundland, the food allowance was 6 cents a day per person for each family member. The independent dominion was heavily in debt. In order to receive British assistance, Newfoundland gave up self-government and allowed itself to be governed by a British-appointed commission.
This information is to accompany Regina Riot of Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: The Depression and Incomes
Average Income Decline 1928 - 1933
| 1928-29 $ Per Person | 1933 $ Per Person | Percentage Decrease | |
| Saskatchewan | 478 | 135 | 72 |
| Alberta | 548 | 212 | 61 |
| Manitoba | 466 | 240 | 49 |
| British Columbia | 594 | 314 | 47 |
| Prince Edward Island | 278 | 154 | 45 |
| Ontario | 549 | 310 | 44 |
| Quebec | 391 | 220 | 44 |
| New Brunswick | 292 | 180 | 39 |
| Nova Scotia | 322 | 207 | 36 |
| Canada | 471 | 247 | 48 |
National Unemployment Levels
| National Average | Percentage |
| 1927 | 2.9% |
| 1928 | 2.6% |
| 1929 | 4.2% |
| 1930 | 12.9% |
| 1933 | 26.6% |
| 1934 | 20.6% |
| 1935 | 19.1% |
| 1936 | 16.7% |
| 1937 | 12.5% |
| 1938 | 15.1% |
| 1939 | 14.1% |
This information is to accompany Regina Riot of Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: Gross National Product, 1926-1939
Gross National Product represents the total dollar value of all the goods and services produced by a country in a year.
| Year | Gross National |
| 1926 | 5.1 |
| 1927 | 5.6 |
| 1928 | 6.1 |
| 1929 | 6.1 |
| 1930 | 5.7 |
| 1931 | 4.7 |
| 1932 | 3.8 |
| 1933 | 3.5 |
| 1934 | 4.0 |
| 1935 | 4.3 |
| 1936 | 4.6 |
| 1937 | 5.2 |
| 1938 | 5.3 |
| 1939 | 5.6 |
This information is to accompany Regina Riot of Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: Depression on the Prairies
Wheat was "king" on the prairies. Wheat represented the majority of grains exported to other countries. With the collapse of the world wheat market, the prairie economy was devastated. The disaster was compounded by droughts, and plagues of grasshoppers that destroyed those crops that survived the drought. The net money income from farming on the prairies fell. The net money income from farming in 1932-33 was only 1.5% of what it had been in 1928-29. Total income in the province was little more than a quarter in 1933 of what it had been five years earlier.
Saskatchewan Wheat Production and Value of Crop
| Year | Acres | Yield | Production | $ Value of Wheat Sold |
| 1928 | 13 791 000 | 23.2 | 321 215 000 | $218 000 000 |
| 1929 | 14 455 000 | 11.1 | 160 565 000 | 134 932 000 |
| 1930 | 14 714 000 | 14.0 | 206 700 000 | 72 293 000 |
| 1931 | 15 026 000 | 8.8 | 132 466 000 | 44 407 000 |
| 1932 | 15 543 000 | 13.6 | 211 551 000 | 56 889 000 |
| 1933 | 14 743 000 | 8.7 | 128 004 000 | 52 301 000 |
| 1934 | 13 262 000 | 8.6 | 114 200 000 | 57 950 000 |
| 1935 | 13 206 000 | 10.8 | 142 198 000 | 68 400 000 |
| 1936 | 14 596 000 | 8.0 | 110 000 000 | 81 000 000 |
| 1937 | 13 893 000 | 2.7 | 37 000 000 | 16 000 000 |
In 1928, the average Saskatchewan farmer had a net income of $1 614. Families could afford to buy the essentials of life, and possible retain some savings. However, by 1933, the average farmer earned only $66.
This information is to accompany Regina Riot of Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: Depression in the Maritimes and Central Canada
The Maritimes economy was greatly dependent on the export of fish, lumber products and coal. With the decline in the export trade, the region's economy suffered.
Values of Fish Sold in the Maritimes
| 1926 | $19 823 557 |
| 1927 | 17 280 216 |
| 1928 | 18 524 697 |
| 1929 | 19 334 431 |
| 1930 | 17 026 070 |
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