The On To Ottawa Struggle

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The On to Ottawa Trek was a long and difficult journey for many of the Relief camp men that were looking to gain better working conditions and to fight for their rights. Due to the trek Bennett was discredited and lost over 90 seats leading to his downfall in the voting of 1935. The people without homes were sent to Relief camps to cultivate, due to the horrible working conditions the inmates of the relief camps created the RCWU (relief camp workers union) to protest their rights and receive reasonable treatment.The protesters had no proper means of transportation to get to Ottawa so they had to result to riding the rails. During their journey they encountered the RCMP, which under the command of Bennett were ordered to halt the advancing trekkers using any means necessary.The RCMP ended up killing 1 person and wounding hundreds more.
The 1930's were a tough time for many people, tons of people lost their jobs and went homeless others suffered from major pay cuts and long work hours. In order to get rid of homeless people from the streets Bennett created relief camps in isolated regions which gave food and money to the people for working long hours and completing hard laborious tasks. The camps were bad to begin with but as time progressed the pay was decreased and working conditions worsened. This lead to the workers organizing a union to protest the working conditions and to obtain their voting rights back.The workers decided to take their protest to the parliament hill in Ottawa, this journey was called the 'On To Ottawa Trek.' Many of the workers that took part in the trip were poor and could not afford proper transportation to Ottawa. These workers had to resort to 'riding the rails.' Riding the rails is a term used to talk ...

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... to Ottawa : Introduction. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2014. .
"eCommons@USASK." eCommons. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2014. .
"Common menu bar links." ARCHIVED. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2014. .
"Riding the rails." City of Ottawa. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2014. .
"The "On to Ottawa" Trek." The "On to Ottawa" Trek. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2014. .
"On-to-Ottawa Trek and the Regina Riot." The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2014. .

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