For Twenty Cents a Day, Video, 1979
This 24-minute video documents the widespread unemployment and economic hardship experienced in Canada, particularly in British Columbia, during the Great Depression.
Featuring archival footage, the video includes interviews with key figures, including participants in the On-To-Ottawa Trek in 1935 and the Vancouver sit-down strike in 1938. Produced by Colleen Bostwick (Fuller) and the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation Labour History Association.
Key topics:
● Government attempts to deal with the unemployed, in particular young men during the Great Depression.
● Establishment of relief camps and projects, where men were paid twenty cents per day.
● Founding of organizations such as the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), Workers’ Unity League, and Relief Camp Workers’ Union.
● Unionization and protest by the unemployed.
● The On-To-Ottawa Trek, Regina Riot, sit-down 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.
● 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-down, and poet Dorothy Livesay.