The politics of the thirties were dominated by the spectre of mass unemployment and economic misery. The Bennett government bore the brunt as economic trends moved steadily downward until the end of 1932. Recovery proved to be slow and partial, and no sooner was it underway when the prairies were stricken by drought and dust storms. It is estimated that nearly 20 per cent of the labour force was unemployed in 1933. The government, as we have seen, had few economic answers. One was to put men to work in large scale, "make-work" relief projects. This photograph shows the interior of the camp reading room "Block `A' Hut #9" in the training camp barracks, Dundurn, Saskatchewan Relief Project, January 1934.
