Relief Camp Workers' Union

The Relief Camp Workers' Union (RCWU) was the union into which the inmates of the Canadian government relief camps were organized in the early 1930s. It was affiliated with the Workers' Unity League, the trade union umbrella of the Communist Party of Canada. The organization is best known for organizing the On-to-Ottawa Trek during the Great Depression.

RCWU organizers worked covertly in building the union because they faced being blacklisted the camps, which were run by the Department of National Defence under the command of General Andrew McNaughton. Grievances about the camp system were numerous, from the poor quality food, the lack of leisure facilities (bathrooms and showers), and that the men were only paid twenty cents per day. Consequently, the RCWU's numbers quickly swelled. Much of the organizing drive for the RCWU took place in Vancouver at 52½ West Cordova Street. In addition to serving as the union's headquarters, this is also where men just arriving in town were directed to go before they signed up for relief camp work. Organizers would recruit these men into the union if they were amenable to the idea, and they were often given the Union's newsletter to smuggle into the camps.

The RCWU organized its first strike in December 1934. Hundreds of camp workers went to Vancouver to protest conditions in the relief camps. That strike was short-lived, however, and the strikers returned to the camps with just a promise of a government commission to investigate their complaints. The next walkout was more successful. It began April 4, 1935 when men from relief camps all over Western Canada rode boxcars into Vancouver, where they remained for almost two months.

While in Vancouver, they protested regularly to raise public awareness of their rights. RCWU organizers made it a priority to maintain discipline in the ranks so as not to alienate public opinion. One occasion in particular was an exception to this rule. During one of the RCWU "snake parades," marching in a zig zag through the streets, usually in columns of two, the leader noticed that the entrance to the Hudson's Bay Company Department Store was unguarded. Other stores all had guards posted and shut their doors because the protesters would parade through the stores to present their case to shoppers. This time, on April 26, the manager of the store telephoned the police, who promptly arrived and attempted to eject the men. A fight ensued, ending with broken display cases and several injuries. One police officer was severely injured. The demonstrators and other protesters converged for a rally at Victory Square, where Mayor McGeer came and read the riot act and the crowd dispersed. Another notable moment during the relief camp strike was when a group of RCWU strikers occupied the city museum for eight hours, coming out only after a promise was given that the city would given them money to feed the strikers for three days.

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