The Saskatchewan Relief Commision 1931-34: A Study of the Administration of Rural Relief in Saskatchewan During the Early Years of the Depression
Date
1974-09
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
Type
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
This thesis is an examination of the administration of
rural relief in Saskatchewan during the period when the
Saskatchewan Relief Commission existed, 1931 to 1934. It
is a study which first attempts to place the Saskatchewan
Relief Commission within a historical and constitutional
framework. The first chapters examine the first three decades
of Canadian history, noting in particular Canada's prosperity
and growth, both of which depended,in large measure, upon
world markets for natural products and staple commodities.
These chapters also attempt to delineate some of the more
glaring constitutional anomalies, especially as these touched
upon Federal-Provincial financial relations. The study notes
that the Depression showed not only the vulnerability of the
Canadian economy, but also the difficulties inherent within
the Federal-Provincial relations. While the Federal Government
watched helplessly as world markets closed to Canadian
products and prices dropped, it continued to insist upon
the provincial and municipal responsibility for the growing
unemployment and relief problems. Soon these problems became
so immense that the lower levels of government could not
handle them, and it became necessary for the Federal Government
to corne to their aid. Thus began the complicated and
cumbersome fiscal transfers from Ottawa to the various provinces.Of all the Canadian provinces, Saskatchewan probably suffered
the most during the Depression. The disastrous combination
of economic depression and adverse growing conditions of
the 1930's wrought their greatest havoc in this province,
especially amongst the rural population. To meet the needs
of the rural destitute, the Provincial Government established
the Saskatchewan Relief Commission which orchestrated the
immense task of providing direct relief (food, fuel, clothing
and shelter), and agricultural relief (seed, feed and fodder,
fuel and lubricants, etc.) to destitute farmers and their
families. In addition, the Saskatchewan Relief Commission,
for a time, assumed responsibility for the destitute residents
of the villages and towns located in the driest parts of
the province, and, for one year, was involved in the program
to relieve the distress of single, homeless, unemployed persons.
The main body of the thesis focuses on the operations
of the Saskatchewan Relief Commission as it contended not
only with unprecedented needs which obtained in rural Saskatchewan,
but also with the awkward constitutional and financial
relationships which existed between all three levels of
government. After examining, in considerable detail, the
activities of the Saskatchewan Relief Commission in its
distribution of direct relief, in its guidance of a program
of agricultural relief, in its attempts to meet the needs of
those who moved to northern sections of the province in orderto escape the drought of the southern areas and in its implementation
of a medical relief program, the study concludes
that the Relief Commission's handling of these facets of
rural relief was quite exemplary, given the immensity of
the task and the limitations imposed upon the Relief Commission
by the two senior levels of government. After an examination
of the Saskatchewan Relief Commission's involvement in schemes
to care for the province's single, homeless unemployed, the
study concludes that the Relief Commission failed to provide
adequate care and supervision for this class of indigent.
As. the study notes, this aspect of the Saskatchewan Relief
Commission's administration of relief was the unfortunate
exception to its other activities.
At this point some reference should be made to sources.
On the issue just raised, the author is aware that the full
story has not been told. If other sources were examined, e.g.
material in the National Archives, perhaps they would qualify
significantly this writer's conclusion about the Relief
Commission's role in the plight of single, unemployed persons.
Without douht, the most valuable source for this study has
been the records of the Relief Commission itself, in particular,
its own files (which are quite voluminous), as well as the
minutes of the proceedings of the meetings of the Commissioners.
The economical measures of the Depression seem to have
dictated that even carbon paper and typewriter ribbon usedin Government departments and in the Relief Commission be
replaced only when absolutely necessary. Hence, much of the
material is very difficult to read. This, combined with a
second-rate microfilming camera, made much of the research
slow and arduous.
Next in importance has been the Relief Records of those
Government departments which had close and on-going relationships
with the Saskatchewan Relief Commission. The relief
files of the Provincial Department of Agriculture, the
Treasury and Municipal Affairs were the most important in
this regard. Although the Western Producer (Saskatoon), and
the Leader Post (Regina), appear in few footnote citations,
they did provide the writer with a way "into" the decade and
gave insights into the prevailing atmosphere, concerns and
frustrations of the day. A survey of a small town newspaper,
The Goose Lake Herald (Harris, Saskatchewan), produced
nothing of value for this study. Ministerial papers, annual
reports of Government departments, annual reports and other
files of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities
and of the United Farmers of Canada made a minor contribution
to this project. The Minutes of the Council proceedings of
the two rural municipalities; Willow Bunch, Number 42 and
Marriott, Number 317, and the correspondence of the latter,
did not fulfil the writer's expectations, and failed to give
any clear picture of the administration of rural relief at
the municipal level. Any such picture emerged from the
files of the Relief Commission itself and the Department of
Municipal Affairs.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Department
History
Program
History