Vancouver History: Riots! II

As per last week's post, the 1930's were a fairly tumultuous time in Vancouver. Communism was frequently tossed about as a solution to the forces of depression, and it played a fairly prominent political role in our little corner of the world. Budget cuts to Federal Aid programs resulted in men from surrounding areas to congregate in Vancouver to join forces in protest.

While hundreds of men began the sit-down strike on May 20, 1938 in locations such as the Art Gallery, Hotel Georgia and the Post Office, the riot itself didn't start until Colonel Foster began forcible evictions on June 19, 1938. Facing the grim reality of property destruction, however, the owner of the Hotel Georgia simply paid the men $500 to leave, which unsurprisingly worked.

Arriving at five o'clock in the morning, the police began forcibly taking men out of the Art Gallery. Since the Post Office was a federal building, the RCMP took the lead and with the aid of tear-gas and batons they released the men to a crowd of ...more police with batons.

The aftermath is where we get the more standard forms of rioting and protesting. Supporters and Strikers marched to the East End smashing department store windows and causing other forms of damage in upwards of $35,000 (Around $500,000 today with inflation). As is customary riot tradition, rocks and other projectiles were used against the police.

News got out about the police brutality, and between ten to fifteen thousand people gathered at Oppenheimer Park to protest - things really haven't changed that much.

In the end, we decided to go to War and in the process save the world and our economy - yay! And nothing bad ever happened again. The end.

(Photos courtesy of the VPL and BC Archives)