Historical Background
James Gardiner in the 1920's (Courtesy of the Gardiner family)
Decades before the protections now offered by the Charter of Rights and Human Rights laws, vocal groups preached religious intolerance and argued “unsuitable” Slavic and Asian immigrants should be barred from Canada. Our multicultural society could not exist today, if the voices of the women and men who argued for tolerance and the acceptance of diversity had not prevailed against the advocates of hatred. In 1928, James Gardiner embodied the courage of the Saskatchewan people who believed in a multicultural future and who could not be intimidated into silence by the proponents of prejudice.
By 1926, the KKK was active and very successful in a number of Canadian provinces including Ontario, British Columbia and New Brunswick but had not yet made in-roads in Saskatchewan. Looking at areas to expand, the Ontario KKK sent three organizers to Saskatchewan. The organizers recruited members by making claims that the Roman Catholic Church, Slavic immigrants, Chinese immigrants and people who spoke French were a threat to Protestants and English-speaking people.
In particular, they exaggerated or manufactured incidents that portrayed Roman Catholics as trying to manipulate public education in their favour, by placing crucifixes in classrooms and using nuns as teachers. The KKK’s scare tactics were successful enough that within a year they had sold approximately 10,000 memberships at $13.00 each. However, after only one year, the three organizers left the province taking all the membership money with them. Two were never heard from again, and the third would not return to the province for several years. It was widely believed that they stole the money and the KKK had simply been a scam.
R.H. Hawkins in his Klan Regalia (Courtesy of Saskatchewan Archives Board)
After their previous operatives had left the province, the Ontario KKK sent another organizer to Saskatchewan. He was R. H. Hawkins, an American from Virginia. Despite his inability to explain what happened to the previously raised membership funds, Hawkins was still successful in reviving the Klan chapters his predecessors had started. The KKK worked at attracting support from prominent members of society including ministers, municipal leaders and government officials and had members who belonged to the Liberal, Conservative and Progressive parties. Saskatchewan Premier James Gardiner became alarmed with the growing influence of the KKK and sent agents to observe KKK meetings and he began to speak out against the Klan. Gardiner attacked the KKK for lying about Roman Catholic influence in the education system as well as Hawkins’ own dubious credentials. Hawkins challenged Gardiner to debate him. Gardiner initially ignored the challenges but eventually told Hawkins that he would be at a Liberal meeting in Lemberg on June 28, 1928, and if Hawkins was there, they would debate. Hawkins did appear and the debate took place in front of a massive audience of 1000 people in the Lemberg rink.
Gardiner’s pro-immigration position, urging ethnic and religious tolerance was a precursor to what today is usually termed multiculturalism. His attack on the racism and intolerance that Hawkins advocated, represented the essential tolerance of many Saskatchewan people, making the debate a seminal event in Saskatchewan’s struggle for a multicultural future.
Want to learn more about the KKK in Saskatchewan? View the two videos below, which feature a short lecture from University of Regina Professor, Dr. James Pitsula. Dr. Pitsula is currently working on a book about the KKK in Saskatchewan.
