Needs No Introduction

In 1935, one of the biggest labour battles of the depression took place, when thousands of unemployed men from B.C.’s relief camps embarked on the On to Ottawa Trek for union wages and better working and living conditions. They made it as far as Regina on the tops of railway freight cars, but were stopped there by the RCMP and a riot ensued. Up until recently, even the On to Ottawa Historical Society wasn’t aware of any surviving members of the trek. Then they were contacted by the family of 92-year-old Al Dugas, who was 17 when he joined in the protest. David Yorke, one of the society’s directors, interviewed Dugas about his memories of the historic event. For more information about the trek, visit www.ontoottawa.ca Al Dugas: I ran away from home. I was 16. And I just shoveled into it I guess, somehow. It was just there. My dad said, if you’re working for anybody else you wouldn’t earn your salt. So I took off, and proved him wrong. Yorke: It was pretty hard to find work then I guess. Al Dugas: There was non