Christmas Hampers for Winnipeg's Poor, circa 1911.
Winter was a time of hardship for many prairie workers and their families, and with seasonal unemployment endemic to the region, town and city administrators were willing to provide some relief for bona fide residents. Newcomers normally failed to qualify for this assistance, which when granted never fully met a family's needs. The situation became particularly difficult at Christmas; consequently church and civic organizations like the one shown here in Winnipeg in 1911 collected food, toys and clothing to distribute to the less fortunate.
Non-English-speaking immigrants were usually the first to face the annual indignity of charity. Not only were they the first released from employment in the fall, but they also had to simultaneously endure abuse from English-speaking people who perceived them as a threat not only to their job prospects but also to Canadian morals and values. While gestures of Christian conscience were no doubt appreciated, especially by children at Christmas, they did nothing to correct the pernicious cycle of seasonal unemployment. Year after year, privation returned with the cold weather, often to persist until the next summer.
