The journey to Ottawa began with the Great Depression in 1929. During this time many men were unemployed with little or no money. These people were considered “Randers”. The Canadian government feared that these vagrants would become angry and start a revolution against them, so they created relief camps for these men in remote areas of Northern Ontario and British Columbia. Relief camps were unemployment centers that were intended to keep vagrants out of the cities and out of trouble. The workers in these fields worked 8 hours a day, 6 days a week and received clothing, a bed, food and 20 cents a day as wages. Many men living in these camps were dissatisfied with their living conditions and described them as a prison. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In 1932, Arthur Evans, a socialist and union organizer who played a leading role in the trek to Ottawa. In April 1935, 1,500 men from relief camps in British Columbia went on strike and traveled to Vancouver to protest for better pay and working conditions. Unfortunately, Vancouver did not help them because they had very little “relief money,” a fund set up to provide aid to people in need. The low-paid workers ended up staying in Vancouver for 2 months, until their leader Arthur Evans suggested they go to Ottawa for help. The men set out for Ottawa only to be stopped by Prime Minister Bennett's government who prevented the railways from allowing these men to travel further. Only 8 RCWU leaders made it to Ottawa to meet the Prime Minister and negotiate workers' rights. The meeting was a failure and since Bennett feared that day would come, he would not listen to the workers and claimed that they were trying to start a revolution. The workers returned to Regina, determined to continue their journey. July 1 was Domination Day and the workers and their supporters gathered in Regina's market square. They were trying to raise money to continue their journey, but the government was worried that the crowd might get out of control and began arresting strike leaders, including Arthur Evans. The riot continued until late in the evening, some men were killed and many injured and in the end 130 people were arrested. This was the end of the journey to Ottawa. Many workers returned to Vancouver and the government decided to close all relief camps within a year, but the problems of the unemployed still remained..