32 To Drink or not to Drink 1898

When the Malahat ship was built in Victoria, British Columbia, it was used to move the wood from trees between Canada and Australia. The Malahat was owned by the Riefel family who made alcohol. When the USA made a law that no one could buy alcohol in that country, the Malahat became a liquor store on the ocean. For 13 years, the ship took up to 100,000 bottles of alcohol each trip it made from Victoria, Canada, to the USA.

Long before then, people had different opinions about alcohol. Some liked it and went to places where they sold alcohol, called taverns. Lots of men got drunk from drinking too much alcohol and had fights. There were women there who went with men for money, called prostitutes. People would bet money on horse races or card games like poker. There were fighting competitions with male chickens. People bet money on these too.

Many people, mostly women, thought that taverns were not nice places. A lot of these women were Christians. They got together and made groups to stop people from drinking alcohol. These women thought that families got poor because the fathers bought alcohol instead of food or clothes. They thought that many illnesses happened because of alcohol. These women thought that people would stop stealing and men would stop hitting women if there was no more alcohol in Canada.

These women talked to children at schools to make them think that alcohol was bad. They talked to the government of Canada to try to make them stop the sale of alcohol. The government did not do very much, so these women went to their church to ask for help. People at church agreed to help. Christians thought that people who drank alcohol were not good people and could not be Christians. They wanted everyone to stop drinking. The women's groups grew in numbers.

In 1878, these women got the Canadian government to make a law about alcohol. This law was called the Canada Temperance Act. Temperance is the same as prohibition. The law said that each area of Canada could let the local government choose to have alcohol sold there or not. Most places chose to continue to sell alcohol. There were places in the eastern part of Canada that chose to stop it. Prince Edward Island was the first place in Canada where prohibition started.

The women did not stop there. They wanted all taverns closed and all alcohol to leave Canada. There were so many of them that it was now bigger than a group. It was a movement. It was called the temperance movement. Canadian women were strong at that time because they had come together once to get the vote(see 1889).They came together again to keep talking to the government about alcohol.

The government thought it would be best to ask all Canadians if they wanted alcohol to be sold in Canada or not. This is called a referendum. The government told all adult Canadians to write their choice on a paper and put it in a box. Then they counted the numbers.

The 1898 referendum on prohibition was the first referendum ever in Canada. On September 29, 1898, all adult Canadians who wanted to tell the government what they thought, voted yes for prohibition or no for alcohol. 51.3% of Canadians wanted the sale of alcohol to end. In every province except Quebec, the yes vote won. In Quebec, 81.2% voted no. They wanted to continue to drink alcohol in that province.

Even though many people said they wanted the sale of alcohol to stop, the Prime Minister of Canada did not pass this law. Not all adult Canadians had voted. He did not think the numbers showed what all of Canada wanted. The Prime Minister thought the Canada Temperance Act was enough. He thought each local government could choose what to do about alcohol. Many had already chosen to stop the sale of alcohol.

The eastern part of Canada was where people were more interested in stopping alcohol sales. Prince Edward Island had started prohibition there in 1901. When World War I started, all provinces and territories in Canada chose prohibition. Everyone thought it was the right thing to do to help win the war. Taverns were closed and alcohol was not sold. It was not legal to drink alcohol anywhere in Canada, except at home.

SHIPS WOULD MEET IN THE OCEAN TO BUY ALCOHOL FROM CANADIANS DURING PROHIBITION

The government still sold some alcohol at government stores. This alcohol was for making things, art, religion, science experiments, or medicine.It was not for drinking only. Today, the government stores are still almost the only place where Canadians can buy bottles of alcohol.

The women of the temperance movement were right. People stopped fighting and stealing quite a lot. There was less gambling. However, the illegal making of alcohol in people's homes started. This was called moonshine because it mostly happened at night so the police would not see it. Many illegal taverns started. People started to sell alcohol illegally. Prohibition did not stop people from drinking. It made those people criminals that the police could put in jail.

One way to get alcohol legally was when someone was sick. Doctors thought that some illnesses could be made better with alcohol. People started going to their doctor to say they were sick. They got a paper from the doctor to buy alcohol legally. It seemed at that time that everyone got very sick just before Christmas in Canada!

In the 1920's, the alcohol laws in Canada were a bit strange. It was okay to make alcohol in Canada, but it was not okay to sell it. It was okay to export alcohol from Canada to other countries. The Malahat ship used this law to load up with thousands of bottles of alcohol right before the eyes of the police. The ship sailed out to sea legally with all their bottles of alcohol. No one could stop this because the law said it was okay.

That same year, Canadians started to vote for alcohol again and the laws changed quickly after that. Prince Edward Island was the last province to let alcohol be sold there again in 1948. Today, it is legal to buy alcohol in all provinces and territories of Canada.