"On the face of every worker was the cheerful, optimistic smile of confidence in the justice of their cause."
As a flashpoint for worker unity, the strike and its accompanying effects on labour laws and unionization forever changed work in Winnipeg and beyond. This site focuses on the architecture of the conflict, and the stories of Winnipeg's early twentieth century architecture and social uprising.
Socialist Party of Canada holds famous mass rally at Walker Theatre.
Ukrainian Labor Temple celebrates its grand opening.
Twenty-four Winnipeg unions represented at an organizing convention for One Big Union in Calgary. Intense internal political conflict within Winnipeg Trades and Labor Council (WTLC) over radicals’ push for industrial unionism and greater militancy.
Building Trades and Metal Trades councils strike over union recognition, wages, working conditions.
WTLC announces vote of all union members will be held on whether to launch a sympathetic general strike to support striking building and metal trades councils.
WTLC announces at James Street Labor Temple that members voted overwhelming in favour of a sympathetic general strike. Strike Committee of 300 members selected.
Union members and unorganized workers – women and men, Canadians and immigrants – join in massive strike action. City closed down.
City's business elites create the anti-strike Citizens' Committee. General Ketchen, allied with Citizens’ Committee, orders 5,000 soldiers in the city back to their barracks.
Federal cabinet ministers, accompanied by members of the Citizens’ Committee, arrive in Winnipeg. They ignore the Strike Committee.
Large group of veterans vote to support strike. Others support Citizens’ Committee.
Federal and provincial governments order strikers back to work and to sign anti-union pledge. They threaten to fire those who refuse to do so. Mass meeting at Victoria Park rejects both ultimatums.
Helen Armstrong arrested in confrontation for supporting bakery workers. She is arrested more times than anyone else during the strike and put in jail.
Thousands of returned veterans supporting the strike march to Manitoba Legislature.
Women of Weston and Brooklands neighbourhoods lead crowds and prevent delivery wagons without “By Permission of the Strike Committee” signs – driven by non-strikers – from entering their neighbourhoods.
Winnipeg newspapers print Citizens’ Committee advertisements demanding the deportation of “alien” workers. Winnipeg strikers gathering support from labour organizations across Canada.
Thousands of pro-strike veterans march across Winnipeg and along Wellington Crescent. This taking of the strike to Crescentwood, the home of the elites, alarms Citizens’ Committee supporters. Mayor bans further marches.
Federal government introduces amendments to Immigration Act to deport any person not born in Canada accused of sedition. British citizens may also now be deported.
JS Woodsworth, Methodist minister and committed social reformer, returns to Winnipeg from Vancouver. Speaks at a Labor Church meeting of 10,000 at Victoria Park.
Police ordered to sign anti-strike pledge. They refuse and are fired. Citizens’ Committee recruits “Special Police.” (Specials) to replace them.
Specials on horseback chased from corner of Portage and Main by a large crowd of strikers and supporters.
“Ladies Day” mass rally held in Victoria Park.
Thousands attend soldiers’ parliament meeting in Victoria Park.
In the night, police raid homes of strike leaders and arrest them. Others are arrested over the following days. Ukrainian Labor Temple and (Jewish) Liberty Temple are raided. Hundreds of police surround and raid James Street Labor Temple.
Arrests of strike leaders protested across the country.
Bloody Saturday: Six strike leaders released on bail, but the European “aliens” held for deportation hearings remain imprisoned. Crowds gather in front of city hall in support of veterans’ silent parade to protest arrests. Crowds and police clash. Two dead, many injured. Armed military units patrol downtown streets with machine guns.
Determined strikers rally in Victoria Park. Police close the park and military troops are ordered back onto streets.
With two supporters dead, many others assaulted, leaders arrested and workers “reduced to a state of terror,” the WLTC calls off strike (Masters, p. 110).
Canadian Army Service Corps trucks with fully armed soldiers and Lewis machine guns patrol the streets of Winnipeg, June 21, 1919
“ Special Police” hose down crowds gathered in front of Bank of Montreal building at Portage and Main, June 21, 1919
“ Special Police” with billy clubs on Main Street as street car burns, June 21, 1919
Mounted Police charge into crowd at William Avenue, June 21, 1919
Mounted Police charge into crowd at William Avenue, June 21, 1919
“June 21st, one of the blackest chapters in Canadian history…” * On the morning of June 21, pro-strike veterans assembled in front of city h... Read More
No Need to Hunger, Western Labor News, 1919
Members of the Winnipeg Women’s Labor League preparing relief packages for families of Nova Scotia Coal miners on strike, c. 1925
Women’s Labor League Announcements, Western Labor News, June 3 and 21, 1919
Women's Labor League. The Winnipeg branch of the Women’s Labor League (WLL) provided essential leadership and support t... Read More
Telegram Building, 1903
This building housed the Winnipeg Telegram, a daily newspaper which – like the Free Press and Tribune – joined the Citizens’ Committee in co... Read More
Winnipeg Board of Trade Building, Citizens’ Committee Headquarters, 1919
Today’s Federal Building stands on the site of the former Winnipeg Industrial Bureau Exposition Building, which housed the Winnipeg Board of... Read More
Walker Theatre Interior
The spirit of the One Big Union and the Russian Revolution roared from the stage of the Walker Theatre on Sunday afternoon, December 22, 191... Read More
Fire Insurance Map showing Victoria Park along Red River, c.1919
Women and men at Victoria Park, June 1919
Labor Church Notice, Western Labor News, June 1919
RE Bray, leader of the pro-strike returned veterans, June 13, 1919
“Vast Assembly in Victoria Park”*. The James Street Labor Temple was too small to hold the thousands of strikers and their supporters wh... Read More
Meeting Room 10, James Street Labor Temple
James Street Labor Temple, Strike Committee Headquarters
The James Street Labor Temple was the city hall of the labour movement. It was located on the city block where The Manitoba Museum now stand... Read More
Manitoba Club, c. 1920
The Broadway area was in transition in 1919. Many residents had already moved to Crescentwood, but the area was popular with wealthy doctors... Read More
Police on horseback at Fort Osborne Barracks, 1919
On June 21 (Bloody Saturday) Mayor Gray met with General Ketchen at the Fort Osborne Barracks. Gray instructed Ketchen to assemble all avail... Read More
Military tents, Fort Osborne Barracks, with the Manitoba Legislative Building under construction in background, 1919
The present Manitoba Legislative Building was partially open in 1919, but most government business was still conducted in the old Legislatur... Read More
The Citizens’ Committee was organized as soon as the strike began by the residents of Winnipeg who opposed the unions’ position. Chaired by ... Read More
The Citizens’ Committee was organized as soon as the strike began by the residents of Winnipeg who opposed the unions’ position. Chaired by ... Read More
The Citizens’ Committee was organized as soon as the strike began by the residents of Winnipeg who opposed the unions’ position. Chaired by ... Read More
The Citizens’ Committee was organized as soon as the strike began by the residents of Winnipeg who opposed the unions’ position. Chaired by ... Read More
The Citizens’ Committee was organized as soon as the strike began by the residents of Winnipeg who opposed the unions’ position. Chaired by ... Read More
The Citizens’ Committee was organized as soon as the strike began by the residents of Winnipeg who opposed the unions’ position. Chaired by ... Read More
The Citizens’ Committee was organized as soon as the strike began by the residents of Winnipeg who opposed the unions’ position. Chaired by ... Read More
The Citizens’ Committee was organized as soon as the strike began by the residents of Winnipeg who opposed the unions’ position. Chaired by ... Read More
Map data © 2019 Google
Grand Trunk Pacifi c Railway workers, c. 1915
CPR Weston Shops
Railway workers, c. 1920
In 1919, Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and Canadian National Railway employed some 10,000 workers across Winnipeg and in nearby Transcona. ... Read More
The arrest of the strike leaders on June 17 was dramatic. At 2:00 am eight police cars swept down on the homes of the men who were to be arr... Read More
The arrest of the strike leaders on June 17 was dramatic. At 2:00 am eight police cars swept down on the homes of the men who were to be arr... Read More
The arrest of the strike leaders on June 17 was dramatic. At 2:00 am eight police cars swept down on the homes of the men who were to be arr... Read More
The arrest of the strike leaders on June 17 was dramatic. At 2:00 am eight police cars swept down on the homes of the men who were to be arr... Read More
The arrest of the strike leaders on June 17 was dramatic. At 2:00 am eight police cars swept down on the homes of the men who were to be arr... Read More
Jewish radicals; Rose Alein (centre), elected in 1919 as school trustee from Independent Labour Party, 1906
Liberty Temple activists, c. 1926
Liberty Temple was home to the Winnipeg branch of the Arbeiter Ring (Workmen’s Circle), a progressive Jewish society that was dedicated to s... Read More
Ukrainian Labor Temple, 1983
Ukrainian Labor Temple, 2006
Editorial office, Ukrainian Labor Temple, post 1918
A building of great historical significance, the Ukrainian Labor Temple (ULT) was constructed largely by volunteer labour and with financial... Read More
St. John’s Telephone Exchange Building, 405 Burrows Avenue, 2013
Telephone Operators and Supervisors, 1919
The rapid expansion of telephone networks in the early 20th century provided women with a new opportunity for employment. The industry appea... Read More
All People’s Mission, 470 Stella Avenue, c. 1920
Kindergarten class, All People's Mission, Maple Street Church, c. 1904
This building housed one of several All Peoples’ Missions in the poorest immigrant neighbourhoods of Winnipeg’s North End. Most were run by ... Read More
Ethel Johns, Director of Nursing at Children’s Hospital, c. 1915
Children’s Hospital of Winnipeg, located at Aberdeen Avenue, Main Street and Redwood Avenue, c.1920
Nurses Residence, Children’s Hospital, 165 Aberdeen Avenue, c.1920 (still standing in 2019)
Winnipeg did not escape the ravages of the flu epidemic that swept much of the world in 1918. City officials reported 1,200 residents died f... Read More
Working class neighbourhood, c.1904
Children in poor housing, c.1916
Newcomers from central and eastern Europe lived in the least desirable housing, just north of the busy and noisy CPR railyards.... Read More
Drive along North End streets like Dufferin Avenue and Stella Avenue to see the many examples of houses occupied by working families in 1919... Read More
Drive along North End streets like Dufferin Avenue and Stella Avenue to see the many examples of houses occupied by working families in 1919... Read More
Drive along North End streets like Dufferin Avenue and Stella Avenue to see the many examples of houses occupied by working families in 1919... Read More
Point Douglas Ukrainian Labor Temple, 197 Euclid Avenue (constructed 1938), c. 1970
All People’s Mission, 119 Sutherland Avenue (Manitoba Indigenous Cultural Education Centre), c. 1910
Vulcan Iron Works, early 20th c.
Point Douglas changed rapidly after the railway cut through the community in the 1880s. The wealthy families living there, having pushed Ind... Read More
Canadian Pacific Railway Station and Royal Alexandra Hotel (left), 1909
Thousands of newcomers arrived at this site beginning in the late 1800s. The poorest among them were sent to immigration halls across Higgin... Read More
Winnipeg Fire Hall No. 3 (Maple Street), 1923
Winnipeg Fire Hall No. 3 (Maple Street), 1918
Winnipeg fire fighters were no strangers to labour activism in 1919. They had been lobbying for improved wages and hours of work for years.... Read More
The 1919 illuminated video is brimming with captivating historic images and news articles that show the development of Winnipeg’s architecture and social uprising. Discover the origins of what caused civil unrest which led citizens to start the 1919 General Strike.
Learn about the historic areas and people that helped shape the social democratic movement. Compare historic landmarks from the 20th century to modern day.