A commission established by the federal government of Prime Minister Robert Borden. The Borden government feared that the Russian Revolution was inspiring labour radicals in Canada. Headed by Chief Justice of Manitoba, Thomas Graham Mathers, the commission was tasked with determining the causes of the unrest among working people reflected in a strike wave in 1918 that continued into 1919 despite repressive legislation meant to make strikes illegal. The commission was also asked to recommend means of avoiding further labour radicalism. The commission started its work in Victoria and then travelled across Canada. These transcripts provide the workers’ testimony before the Mathers Commission in Calgary on May 3 and May 5, 1919, and in Edmonton on May 6.
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