Sketches of parliament and parliamentarians past.

AuthorHynes, Susanne
PositionColumn

In each Canadian capital many people take great pride in a building that symbolizes parliamentary democracy and government. Legislative buildings attract tourists, lobbyists, school children and demonstrators. People come to them to learn, to influence, and to take in the special ambience of a place where their elected representatives make decisions affecting them all. They also, at times, come to protest.

We begin with a turning-point story in Newfoundland's parliamentary history that illustrates the importance and the vulnerability of the most public of buildings, the Legislative Building. The story was submitted by Kimberley Hammond, Legislative Librarian for Newfoundland and Labrador, who is working on a book about the history of the Newfoundland Legislative Assembly. Her province was the first encountered by Europeans and the last to join Confederation. It has been at times very strategic, and at times almost forgotten by the larger powers most closely associated with it: Great Britain, Canada, the United States and France. The Colonial Building was its seat of government until 1956.

Notable is one short sentence in the newspaper reports for the day: a youth stole the mace during the April 5, 1932 riot--and a citizen made him bring it back!

The column closes with the story of Upper Canada's mace, which was looted more than one hundred years earlier by American troops who burned Upper Canada's "Palace of Government" during the war of 1812. It took much longer for this mace to be returned.

Demonstration at the Colonial Building

In the early 1930s the economic situation in the Dominion of Newfoundland was grim. A combination of the debt incurred through participation in the Great War, the decline in the price of fish, and the effects of the Great Depression, found the Government of the day on the verge of bankruptcy, in debt to the tune of about $100 million dollars. To coincide, a series of political scandals left the population disenchanted with politicians and politics.

On April 5, 1932 what started as a peaceful demonstration against the government dissolved into a riot. Merchants had given their employees a half day off and a parade that grew from 2,000 to more than 3,000 men, women and youths marched along the main streets ending up at the Legislature. The building was breached and the 20 policemen inside could not stop the trouble. The newspapers the next day tell the story.

"Before the Speaker left the Chair and adjourned the...

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