The On-To-Ottawa Trek

The Canadian government was not prepared to meet such a devastating depression. There was no social welfare or unemployment insurance to fall back on. Men were forced to leave their homes and search for jobs. Soon there were many unemployed men travelling across the country looking for work, which became a hopeless search. The government was concerned for the many homeless men roaming the country and in 1932 set up a system of Relief Camps to accommodate the wandering, unemployed single men. “During the next four years, these camps played host to well over 100,000 young Canadians.”