"Halt the trek"

"Halt the trek"

Prime Minister Bennett ordered the police to halt the Trek at Regina. This was done over the protests of provincial premier James Gardiner who legally was in charge of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the province.

The police were ordered to prepare to use revolvers, gas grenades, spare batons and handcuffs. Railway police were ordered to cooperate with the RCMP. Orders were given to bar all exits in and out of Regina. Hundreds of RCMP from other provinces were shifted to Regina. The city was placed under police seige.

The Commissioner of the RCMP in Saskatchewan later boasted to a Royal Commission investigating the Regina events that he had "considerable experience with demonstrations and strikes and the use of force against rioters."

Hugh Guthrie, the federal minister of Justice, charged in the House of Commons in Ottawa that the Trekkers "were a distinct menace to the peace, order and good government of Canada."

Evans and a delegation of strikers meanwhile met several times with Premier Gardiner, whose main concern was to get the Trekkers out of his province before any serious trouble developed.

The public was solidly on the side of the Trekkers. Over 6,000 citizens in this small city gave the Trekkers an enthusiastic welcome at a public meeting on June 14. The speakers included the national secretary of the CCF, church and trade union leaders and Evans. The meeting by resolution demanded that "the marchers be allowed to proceed on their way to their goal."

A Tag Day for the Trekkers raised $1,446.

The Trekkers Strike Committee decided that they would defy the ban and continue on to Ottawa on June 17.

next.... Strikers' Delegation