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History–Tours
191915 May – 26 June 1919 · Winnipeg, Manitoba

Winnipeg General Strike

Crowds surround an overturned streetcar on Main Street, Winnipeg, on 21 June 1919
Archival image: L.B. Foote. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

About 30,000 workers walked out in support of building and metal workers seeking union recognition, shutting down much of Winnipeg for six weeks. Business leaders and Ottawa cast the strike as a revolution; its leaders were arrested, and on Bloody Saturday, 21 June, Mounted Police charged a crowd on Main Street, killing two men. The strike shaped Canadian labour and left-wing politics for decades.

Sites

  1. Site 1: Main Street and Market Avenue, by City HallWhere Mounted Police charged on Bloody Saturday, now marked by a sculpture.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: Exchange District National Historic SiteWarehouses, banks and newspaper offices of the booming city the strike shut down.Map ↗

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More from the Interwar

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