In the 1930s, Canadians suffered through the worst economic depression in their history. Up to a quarter of the workforce was unemployed. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes, their businesses, their hopes and their dreams. Marriages and families were postponed, and the phenomenal social costs affected children and grandchildren. A large proportion of the population had to go on welfare (relief), forced to beg for charity by proving they were destitute. People ate gopher stew and made clothing out of flour sacks, and a lost generation of men rode the rails from city to city in a desperate search for jobs that simply did not exist.
Many provincial and municipal governments were soon overwhelmed by the cost of welfare, and several provinces faced bankruptcy. The federal government came to their aid, assuming a large share of the cost of welfare and loaning them hundreds of...
Edward Whitcomb completed a PhD in history at the University of London, England, which was published by Duke University Press. He taught at St. Francis Xavier University, Concordia University and the University of Manitoba. During a career in the foreign service he concentrated on political, strategic, security and economic analysis. He has written histories of all of Canada’s provinces, and his company, From Sea to Sea Enterprises, has sold more than 30,000 books. He is currently writing a history of Canadian federalism.
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