Winnipeg General Strike - End of The War

End of The War

The immediate post-war period in Canada was not a time of peace. Social tensions grew as soldiers returned home to find large numbers of immigrants crowded into cities and working at their former jobs. High rates of unemployment among returned soldiers compounded their resentment towards the immigrants. Along with the soldiers, the Spanish influenza was brought back from Europe creating a mass illness within the province.

The Canadian prime minister attended the conference at Versailles and was concerned solely for his government due to the revolution that began more than a year before the settlement and that it would potentially spread to North America. Canada’s large immigrant population was thought to hold strong Bolshevist leanings. Their fears of a possible uprising led to increased efforts to control radicals and immigrants at home. Threats and incidents of strike action, which could be considered radical criticism, were thought to require prompt, harsh responses.