Analysis Of The Event: Christie Pits Riot In Canada

Topic: Minority Rights
Event: Christie Pits Riot On August 14, 1933, the worst race riot in Toronto’s history was triggered after a predominately Jewish baseball team, the Harbord playground, won a game at Toronto’s Christie pits (known as Willovale Park back then). This would enhance the prejudice that was already built among the Torontonian residents, as they felt like they were being invaded by foreigners. The following night a group known as the “Pit Gang” raised a swastika sweater to depict the rise of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi army. They also painted the words “Hail Hitler” on their clubhouse roof. The next day a second game was held, during this event Toronto fans made anti-Semitic slurs to the Jewish baseball team. The sequence of these events lead to an ethnic clash of brutal fighting which lasted six hours and consisted of baseball bats, stones and lead pipes(Fascism & Nazism in Canada handout). After this sudden outbreak Mayor Stewart questioned the inadequate response of the Chief of Police to early warnings of violence and stated that anyone displaying the swastika symbol would be liable to prosecution. The swastika leaders in Canada claimed that they were not supporting Hitler and the Nazi army, they just wanted to intimidate the Jews. Furthermore, meetings between the Jewish Congress and city officials forced the Swastika club members to abandoned there intimidation tactics. From that point on
Today, Canada is a country known for being very welcoming to all ethnicities and religions, but the effects of the Christie Pits riot questions how free Canada truly is, and the steps we have