Ben Kononoff
Charitable Gift Planner
Canadian Pacific District
My folks lived through the depression in the farming community of Eagle Creek Municipality located some twenty-eight miles west of Saskatoon. I never had their experience! There are pictures buried in my mind that described some of the hardships they faced. The pictures are the result of conversations between my father and mother. I recall discussions about the rationing that took place. I never was excited about salted herring served as an evening meal. Little did I know, but apparently in the depression it was one of the food staples given out. I have often wondered where the diet of boiled wheat and buckwheat came. It was another staple. A popular food amongst the Slavic/German people was the boiled egg noodle cut into thin pieces and added to a double boiler pot filled with steamed milk. Other families were known to have eaten pig mash mixed with hot, boiling water, mixed with molasses. Box cards would arrive with codfish and beans, apples in barrels and canned fruit. When World War II broke out, ration booklets were given to the general population. They were for sugar, coffee, and tea. There were coupons for gasoline and liquor and many who never drank traded their liquor coupons for other staples. Of course, you know, liquor was not a staple!
Families who had cars placed them on blocks because they could not afford to purchase adequate amounts of gasoline. This was the era of the Bennett buggies, name after the Prime Minister who served during the depression, a car pulled with a team of horses. Or you might also have ridden in the Anderson cart. It was a two-wheeled cart pulled by a pony.
We must remember that drought hit the prairies for some ten years after the crash of the stock markets in New York. The price of grain dropped from $1.60 a bushel to $0.28 in 1932. Saskatchewan became known for its dust bowls. The Saskatchewan government went in hock in the spring of 1938 for $20 million dollars worth of seed grain that it dispensed to its destitute farming communities. During those years, up to 25% of Canada's arable land was devastated and more than 13,900 farms were abandoned. The drought struck hardest and longest in the Palliser Triangle, a large semi-arid area running from south eastern Alberta to south western Manitoba along its base, angling up to a point just north of Saskatoon. This rough triangle was name after Captain John Palliser, who traveled through the area in the 1850s, and reported that a large portion of what is now Saskatchewan was too dry for agriculture. Massive black dust blizzards swept across the southern plains.
It was in 1931 that the first rail cars arrived with relief from other provinces. With drought and depression, the economy nose dived and jobs became scarce. Relief camps were set up across Canada to keep single unemployed men out of the cities and out of sight. The men were put to work but received no pay, only an allowance of 20 cents a day for personal items. A relief camp at Dundurn just outside of Saskatoon became one of the largest in the country.
One in five Canadians were dependent upon the government relief programs. In 1935 unemployed men rode the rails from Vancouver heading for Ottawa to protest the lack of jobs. "On to Ottawa Trek" ends in a riot in downtown Regina. My friend expresses horror when his father-in-law, a retired RCMP Constable, recalls the Regina riot vividly as he was hit on the head with a thrown brick!
In 1937 Saskatchewan experienced the worst year of the Depression. Crops averaged an all-time low of 2.7 bushels per acre. Drought, dust, heat, grasshoppers, western equine encephalitis and army worms drove farmers to desperation. The temperature at Midale reached 45 degrees Celsius, the highest ever recorded in Saskatchewan. Stories were told of children who arrived at school with blackened faces due to the constant blowing of dust. Their faces had to be washed at the start of the school day. Then there were the folks who stuffed cardboard into their shoes blocking up holes worn into the leather. New shoes were unaffordable. Dish towels, pillow cases, underwear, dresses and other clothes were made out of flour sacks.
Perhaps you are wondering why I have sketched the depression and the years that followed. It's because many are fearful of what may happen to us because of the financial crisis in the world today. No doubt, we are being affected. Investment accounts have plummeted, pension cupboards look bare, housing prices are on a downward slope, and jobs may be tenuous. We may be challenged to swap staff for volunteers in churches, sacrifice financially to meet expenses of ministry, and intentionally change our lifestyles so that others may have what they need. Money and things are very tenuous at best. Life is precious and fleeting. Frankly, when we enter into crisis of any sort, we are always humbled to focus on the meaningful. Man is fragile, in many ways impotent, easily humbled, and dependent on more than himself. The very nature of man is to cheat, to do evil, and to scheme. Many have been imprisoned for these reasons, this very day, as they have manipulated stock markets and investments of non-suspecting people.
So where does that leave us? It leaves us pondering our roles in ministry. We need to encourage the believers. We need to find those who are needy and reach out to them whether they are of faith or not. We have a God who will take care of us. He cared for His people in the first Great Depression. Whatever 2009 will bring, the God of Adam, Abraham, Jeremiah, John, Paul, Luther, Simpson will remain a sufficient God for all our needs. Nor will the message of God change, nor His call upon each one of our lives. So let us share the faith. Let us minister diligently being filled with the joy of His service in these times of opportunity. Evangelism has never looked more opportune, prayer never more vital, God's Word more appropriate, and God's presence more nearer. I have learned the secret of being content in every situation....whether living in plenty or in want. Philippians 4:12.
Ben Kononoff is a Charitable Gift Planner for the Christian and Missionary Alliance in the Canadian Pacific District. He and his wife Jean ministered for 25 years in pastoral leadership. Ben has worked in the area of development serving Ambrose and the C&MA for the last 10 years.
