June 3, 1935 (90 years ago today) striking labourers departed Vancouver for Ottawa, to protest conditions in work camps set up at the height of the Great Depression for single, unemployed men. The beneficiaries of the Unemployment Relief Scheme worked on road construction and other physically-demanding projects, usually in harsh, remote environments, in exchange for room-and-board and 20 cents a day.
In 1935, about 1500 men from various British Columbia camps went on strike in demand for better working conditions. After a few weeks of protests, and encouraged by many expressions of support from the community, they decided to go to Ottawa to lay their demands before the Prime Minister. It was the beginning of the On-to-Ottawa Trek, a journey that has served as a source of inspiration to the workers’ movement in Canada for more than eight decades.
Featuring hundreds of archival photographs and extracts from multiple historical sources, Never Forgotten / On to Ottawa Trek brings a fascinating chapter of BC and Canadian history back to life.
Filmmaker Juan Andrés Bello will be in attendance and joined in conversation afterwards by representatives from the BC labour sector.
The production was supported by the Workers’ History Museum, Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CPUW), BC Labour Heritage Centre, the London Arts Council and Library and Archives Canada (DigiLab). This event is supported by UWOFA–University of Western Ontario Faculty Association.
J.A. Bello
Amanda Barker, Tod Fennell, John Fleming, David Huband, Braden Wright, Lou Lambert
Canada
2025
English
Book Tickets
Tuesday June 03
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Screenwriter
J.A. Bello
Editor
Renee Bennett
Original Music
Daniel Seguin
Also Playing
Love
This warm, thoughtful piece offers shrewd comic observations on modern dating as it trains a quizzical eye on the trysts of a female doctor, Marianne (Andrea Bræin Hovig), and her colleague, a gay male nurse, Tor (Tayo Cittadella Jacobsen).
Never Forgotten / On To Ottawa Trek
This fascinating documentary sheds light on a pivotal moment in labour relations in Canada at the height of the Great Depression, when striking BC labourers made their way to Ottawa to protest conditions in government work camps. There will be a filmmaker Q&A after the screening.
Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day
In this powerful period drama, a Yugoslav filmmaker falls out of favour with the Communist regime in the 1950s. Suspected of homosexuality and ideological impurity, he has enemies in high places, but refuses to concede his human rights.