This week we focus on the effects of the great depression on different demographics of Canada. Readings this week have explored the struggles to survive during the depression in PEI, the struggle to drink in public in Ontario, and the effects the depression had on Saskatchewan women.
Unfortunately, not all provinces of Canada received an equal share of government financial aid during the great depression. In the article, Doing More With Less: The Sisters of St. Martha (PEI) Diminish the Impact of the Great Depression, Macdonald outlines the blatant lack of funding PEI received compared to the rest of Canada. “Island relief recipients in 1935 received an average of $1.93 a month, while Canadians outside the Maritimes received an average of $6.18 a month” [1]. To make matters worse, Prince Edward Island’s GDP had fallen by 50% by the beginning of the great depression [2]. To compensate for the lack of financial support given by the government, many people relied on religious groups in order to provide the services they needed. The group focused on this week’s reading was the work of The Sisters of St. Martha, who made immense personal sacrifices for the good of others. Sisters of St. Martha that worked at the Charlottetown hospital worked a full year without salary to ensure that the hospital would stay open despite only half of the patients paying their full fees[3]. This level of sacrifice was however not mandatory for all Canadians.
To gain some perspective of the different levels of hardship faced by Canadians, we can look towards middle class individuals in Ontario. From reading Malleck’s article on the legalities of post prohibition alcohol distribution in Ontario, it becomes clear that a large number of people were not experiencing the same hardships of those in Prince Edward Island. Malleck writes that Liquor Control Board of Ontario was being continuously pushed by elite, middle, and working class members of social clubs, to allow the consumption of alcohol in their respective club houses[4]. Although the LCBO had difficulty determining the distinction between public and private spaces for alcohol consumption, liquor laws were gradually relaxed through the depression era. A large effort was put in part by these club members in order to drink alcohol in public spaces, an effort that seems equal to The Sisters of St. Martha. The Sisters of St. Martha of course were interested in saving lives, and not at all interested in the legalities of public drinking.
Another province in Canada that was heavily affected by the Great Depression was Saskatchewan. “No part of Canada of the world suffered more during the great depression than the province of Saskatchewan” writes Bye [5]. Due to the provinces high GDP before the depression, the government’s “matching grant scheme”[6] meant that those in Saskatchewan received three times the funding of the Canadian Average. Knowing that P.E.I. received a sixth of the national average, it can be concluded that not all provinces were treated equal.
The government’s use of the “matching grant scheme” during the great depression resulted in the most impoverished provinces with the least amount of financial support. Instead of providing adequate pay for those in need, the government simply matched what the province was able to put towards public care systems. Regardless of motivation by the Canadian government this system heavily favoured specific groups, and ignored those that did not contribute as much to the Canadian economy.
