Showing 1 results

Item is a documentary film documenting work shortages during the Depression of the 1930s and the attempts to deal with the unemployed, in particular young men. The film discusses the establishment of relief camps and projects, where men were paid twenty cents per day; the founding of organizations such as the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), Workers' Unity League, and Relief Camp Workers' Union; general unionization and protest of the unemployed, including the On To Ottawa Trek, Regina Riot, sit-in strike from May to June 1938 at the Vancouver Main Post Office, Vancouver Art Gallery and Hotel Georgia, and the resulting Bloody Sunday of June 19. Archival footage and photographs complement the narration. The film includes interviews with Syd Thompson, a participant in the On To Ottawa Trek and later a leader of the IWA Vancouver local, Steve Brodie, leader of the Vancouver sit-in, and poet Dorothy Livesay.