Audio Excerpt

Canada’s national police force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, have been protecting this great nation for over 100 years and are well respected among the community.  This hasn’t always been the case though, and definitely was not the case on September 29th, 1931 in Estevan, a Saskatchewan town 150 km south of here. The RCMP clashed with striking coal miners who were upset about their wages and working conditions, in what became known as the Black Tuesday Riot. 

The miners, and subsequent protests, were organized by the Communist Party of Canada’s trade union, known as …. Well what do you think?

 

Were they known as,

 

1. The Establishment of Safe Workers 

2. The Workers Unity League or

3. The CCC, Communal Communist Connection

 

If you answered b, the Workers Unity League, well done!  The Black Tuesday Riot resulted in the tragic loss of three lives as the RCMP opened fire on several hundred protesters in an attempt to quell the crowd.  This is still a very controversial event as the headstones of those killed are often inscribed with the words, ‘murdered by RCMP’.

 

The graves are then restored, only to be inscribed with the slogan again in a cycle that characterizes the severity of the tragedy. The Saskatchewan Federation of Labour has created a plaque memorializing the strikers in an effort to show respect to those fallen and help ensure the events leading to this tragedy are not repeated.