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Prohibition
Definition
 The movement to ban
the production,
importation, and
transportation of liquor.
 The WCTU (Women’s
Christian Temperance
Union) were leaders in
the movement to ban
alcohol.
Why Enact Prohibition in
Canada?
It was argued that:
 Grain should be used to
feed the soldiers
overseas.
 The liquor industry, and
its workers, could better
serve our country
producing war supplies.
 Therefore, in 1918,
Prohibition was enacted
Prohibition
 Between 1915 and 1917, every province
except Quebec outlawed the sale and
consumption of alcohol
 In 1918, Prime Minister Borden
incorporated prohibition into Canada’s war
effort
 Distillers’ and brewer’ ingredients were
needed to feed the troops
Positive Effects of the Prohibition
Law
 Many types of violent crimes
decreased
 Arrests for public drunkenness
dropped.
 Prohibition did reduce alcohol
consumption by about 80
percent
 Workers didn’t spend their
money at bars, but rather on
their families.
 Industrial efficiency increased.
Negative Effects of the
Prohibition Law
 Became impossible to completely enforce.
 Provincial governments lost millions in taxes on
liquor sales.
 Unpopular with citizens and voters
 It also inspired a wave of crime that created
tensions between Canada and the United States

New types of crime emerged

(bootlegging).
 In the United States, prohibition was federal
law from 1920 to 1933
 In Canada, however, the so-called “noble
experiment” sputtered out
 Quebec never enforced prohibition and most
provincial governments gave up on total
prohibition by the early to mid-1920’s
New Crime: Bootlegging
Bootlegging
 The act of producing
and/or selling illegal
alcohol.
Rum Running
 The act of transporting
illegal alcohol over the
border of the U.S. and
Canada
New Crime: Bootlegging
Rum Alley
 International rivers
where illegal alcohol
was smuggled across
by schooners.
The Detroit River
The Niagara River
New Crime: Bootlegging
Speakeasies
 Private illegal clubs
that sold alcohol
during prohibition.
 Citizens had to keep
club’s location a secret
(speakeasy) so that it
would not get raided
by the police.
 Prohibition laws were hard to enforce
 Many people were prepared to break them,
either because they liked to drink or because
they could get rich selling alcohol illegally
 And the ingredients and technology for
brewing and distilling were easy to come by
Bootleggers
Rocco Perri (Canadian)
 From Hamilton, ON
 Specialized in smuggling
liquor from the United
States into Canada.
Al Capone (American)
• From Chicago, IL
• Notorious bootlegger and
murderer.
• Was convicted and sent
to Alcatraz for tax
evasion.
Samuel Bronfman
 One of the most remarkable Canadian risk-takers
of the prohibition era was a man name Samuel
Bronfman
 His family established a successful prairie hotel
business and Sam capitalized on its success when
he founded the Canada
Pure Drug Company of
Yorkton, Saskatchewan in
1919
 Canadian laws allowed Bronfman’s
company to import unlimited amounts of
liquor from Europe for “medicinal
purposes”
 This liquor was then distributed to company
warehouses along the Canadian side of the
border
 From there, liquor was quietly smuggled
into the United States
 Although created in 1904, it became shipped
to the USA in 1919
 “Dry” “ginger Ale”
 Also masked the smell of home made Hooch
 USA crime and prohibition