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Unemployment during the Great Depression

During the Great Depression, unemployment in Canada soared, and there was no security net. To reduce unemployment, the government passed laws that increased funding for public works and provided direct relief, on which more than a million and a half Canadians depended. Despite these measures the unemployment rate remained stubbornly high: by 1933 it had reached 27 per cent, on par with the United States. The work camps set up in 1932 for unemployed single men were becoming hotbeds of discontent, giving rise to the On-to-Ottawa trek in particular, the most significant protest movement of the depression. In 1940 the federal government introduced unemployment insurance.

Related Biographies

BENNETT, RICHARD BEDFORD, 1st Viscount BENNETT
BRACKEN, JOHN
DIEFENBAKER, JOHN GEORGE
DUPLESSIS, MAURICE LE NOBLET
FLAVELLE, Sir JOSEPH WESLEY
HEPBURN, MITCHELL FREDERICK
HOWE, CLARENCE DECATUR
KING, WILLIAM LYON MACKENZIE
McLACHLAN, JAMES BRYSON
PENTLAND, WILLIAM JAMES
ROY, GABRIELLE (baptized Marie-Rose-Emma-Gabrielle) (Carbotte)
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SQUIRES, Sir RICHARD ANDERSON
ST-LAURENT, LOUIS-STEPHEN (baptized Louis-Étienne)
STEWART, WILLIAM SNODGRASS

Other Resources

Civilization.ca - History of Canadian Medicare - 1930-1939 - The Great Depression
Great Depression - Impacts on the Working Class
Great Depression - The Canadian Encyclopedia. Content archived on 15 Dec. 2024
Great Depression - Wikipedia
Great Depression in Canada - Wikipedia
The Great Depression | Canadian History: Post-Confederation

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