The Regina Riot

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          People may say the nothing ever happens in Regina but there was something!  The Riot of 1935 was one of the worst things imaginable.  It is supposed to be the bloodiest day ever.  The Riot is one of the most exciting things to go down in Canadian history because of the mistakes Prime Minister R.B. Bennett made that lead to a huge bloodshed.

 Questions

1. What happened and why?
2. Where and When did it happen?
3. What was the result of it?
4. Who was in it?

            Back in 1935 the living conditions were horrible.  The men in Vancouver that worked only got paid 20 cents a day, barely enough to live even back then.1500 relief men went on strike and demanded to meet with Bennett. The Prime Minister set up relief camps but the workers found them to be slave camps. Railway workers took over the rails and started taking the men east, that day was the beginning of the “On To Ottawa Trek”.

            Their journey to the east with over 1500 men aboard began June 3^rd.  As they made their way east their first stop was in Kamloops on June 4^th.  When they went through Golden on June 6^th and stopped in Calgary for three days they had recruited over 2000 men from all over.  People supported the trekkers by giving them food and shelter but they had to continue.  By June 12^th they had already made it to Moose Jaw and Bennett was getting worried so he stopped the train in Regina.  That was because there was a RCMP Training Facility going on there. So at 6:00am on June 14^th the train had arrived in Regina.

            Bennett agreed to meet with the leaders in Ottawa and talk.  On June 22^nd the meeting with the leaders and Bennett was taken place.  It didn’t go very well with all the arguing and Bennett refused to negotiate.  As Evans was leaving a group of RCMP officers popped out from the curtains and arrested them.  Arthur Evans, Stuart O'Neal, George Black, Nick Shack and Matt Shaw the fiery speaker were all arrested.

            Back at Regina, from the Exhibition Grounds where they stayed to Market Square all the trekkers went for a big rally.  All the trekkers had heard about the arrests and they were not to happy.  On July1 at 8:17pm Mountie Police filled in the building and that started chaos.  Police were beating on any one they could, so the trekkers started grabbing anything they could to fight. Bats, Boards and rocks were all gathered to fight.  The men started clearing out the building and scattered into the streets. Out there waiting was 300 more officers, tear gas and bullets were fired from police.  The riot continued for hours and hours.

            Regina had been hit badly from the disaster and the damage was extraordinary.  The results of injuries and shootings and deaths were high.  Only 17 people were shot including Jack Cosgroves. One police officer was killed.  He was beaten to death and died a short while later. That morning most of the trekkers went home and Bennett was no longer Prime Minister. Everything went back to normal after a while.

            From 1935 to now the Riot  is still one of the most exciting things to in history. The mistakes Bennett made could have been changed but he brought the disaster to himself. I found this topic very interesting and it represents Regina.

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Bibliography

Waiser, Bill All Hell Cant Stop Us, United States, 2003

http://www.Canoe.ca/canoe2000/history_1611 1999 canoe 2000

Bennett’s “New Deal not such a great deal after all”, Chronicle of Canada, 1990, p. 661