Prohibition in Canada

The prohibition of alcohol in Canada arose in various stages, from the possibility of local municipal bans in the late 19th century, to provincial bans in the early 20th century, to national prohibition (a temporary wartime measure) from 1918 to 1920. Most provinces repealed their bans in the 1920s, though alcohol was illegal in Prince Edward Island until 1948.

As legislation prohibiting consumption of alcohol was repealed, it was typically replaced with regulation restricting the sale of alcohol to minors and imposing excise taxes on alcoholic products.

Origins

Temperance movement

Prohibition was mostly spurred on by the efforts of people of the temperance movement to close all drinking establishments, which they viewed as the source of societal ills and misery. The main temperance organizations at the time were the Dominion Alliance for the Total Suppression of the Liquor Traffic.^[1] and Woman’s Christian Temperance Union of Canada.^[2] They believed that poverty, crime, disease and domestic abuse would stop in dry mankind. Baptist, Methodists, Presbyterians and Congregationalists all strongly believed in prohibition as well and campaigned for it in the beginning of the 19th century and continued throughout the rest of the century.

The Dominion Alliance submitted a memorial, or a written statement of principles, to the nineteenth session of the Huron Diocese's Anglican Synod in 1876. In it they stated:

"The Council of the Alliance has agreed to the following principles as a basis to which they most respectfully but earnestly call your attention:

"DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES.

"1. That it is neither right nor politic for the Government to afford legal protection and sanction to any traffic or system that tends to increase crime, to waste the resources of the Dominion, to corrupt the social habits, and to destroy the healths and lives of the people.

"2. That the traffic in intoxicating liquors as common beverages is inimical to the true interests of individuals, and destructive of the order and welfare of society, and ought therefore to be prohibited.

"3. That the history and results of all legislation in regard to the liquor traffic abundantly prove, that it is impossible satisfactorily to limit or regulate a system so essentially mischievous in its tendencies.

"4. That no consideration of private gain or public revenue can justify the upholding of a traffic so thoroughly wrong in principle, so suicidal in policy, and disastrous in its results, as the traffic in intoxicating liquors.

"5. That the Legislative Prohibition of the liquor traffic is perfectly compatible with national liberty, and with the claims of justice and legitimate commerce.

"6. That the Legislative Prohibition of the liquor traffic would be highly conducive to the development of progressive civilization.

"7. That rising above sectarian and party considerations, all good citizens should combine to procure an enactment prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicating beverages, as affording the most efficient aid in removing the appalling evils of intemperance."

"There may be differences of opinion in regard to the foregoing particulars, but the Council assures the Christian Body it has now the honor to approach, that the utmost diligence has been exercised in the examination of evidence on all the subjects embraced therein.

"Deeply convinced of the value of the aid of Christian Ministers and Churches, as such, we solicit your co-operation in the efforts now being made to concentrate the moral and religious energies of the Dominion against the liquor traffic.

"Your memorialists most earnestly hope that your counsels may be wisely directed, and that you will take such action in the premises as may strengthen the hands and encourage the hearts of those who have the direction of the Prohibitory Liquor Law movement." ^[3]

Legislation

Local option

Some legislative steps toward prohibition were taken in the 19th century. The passage of the Canada Temperance Act (1864), also called the Dunkin Act, in the Canadas allowed any county to forbid the sale of liquor by majority vote. Due to some loopholes in the legislation, the sale of liquor for ‘sacramental’ or ‘medicinal’ usage was legal, doctors prescribed “medicinal pints”, while Catholics and Jews used liquor for ritual use.

Failed referendum

A few years after Confederation, the Canada Temperance Act was enacted by the Parliament of Canada in 1878, which provided an option for municipalities to opt-in by plebiscite to a prohibitionist scheme. It was often known as the Scott Act for its sponsor Sir Richard William Scott.

An official, but non-binding, federal referendum on prohibition was held in 1898, with 51.3% voting for prohibition and 48.7% against, on a voter turnout of 44%. Prohibition had a majority in all provinces except Quebec, where a strong 81.2% voted against it. Despite this national electoral majority, Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier's government chose not to introduce a federal bill on prohibition, mindful of the strong antipathy in Quebec. As a result, Canadian prohibition was instead enacted through laws passed by the provinces during the first twenty years of the 20th century.

Provincial and Federal prohibition

Prince Edward Island was the first to bring in prohibition in 1901. Alberta and Ontario passed prohibition laws in 1916. Quebec implemented prohibition in 1919 but it was quickly repealed after intense public pressure. In the 1903 provincial election in Manitoba, four candidates ran as Prohibitionists; none were successful, although one came within twenty votes of winning. No candidates ran as "prohibitionists" in the province after 1903.^{[citation needed]}

The drinking of alcohol within Canada in the early 20th century was widespread. The prohibition movement blanketed the public media in the early 20th century with the majority of those who drank alcohol doing so in saloons.^[4] Prohibition affected a wide variety of people. Alcohol used by workers, travelers, nursing mothers, and children who believed it could to keep them strong, keep the cold and heat away, and serve as medicine and tonic.

The push for the dry movement was done primarily by Protestant churches but was never as simple as a Protestant—Catholic issue. The only province that was under prohibition before 1914 was Prince Edward Island but some municipalities across Canada had gone dry under provincial local option. World War One became the driving force behind the “banning of the bar,” but similar in influence were the crusading spirit of the Social Gospel and the effective arguments of progressivism. In late 1917 the federal Union government prohibited importation of alcohol of more than 2.5 per-cent into Canada as well as the shipping of alcohol into a province under prohibition and announced a ban on production. National prohibition was the first and last attempt to impose national standards on the production, distribution, and consumption of alcohol.^[5]

Prohibition was able to reach success as a result of World War One because it was seen as necessary and natural for the benefits of the soldiers that the country they returned to was a better place. The argument was also raised that prohibition would benefit the war effort as well since it would prevent waste and potential inefficiency. As former opponents of prohibition became silenced, provinces began to implement the concept of prohibition.

Following the election of 1917 the federal government introduced national prohibition by Order-in-Council on April 1, 1918.^[6] Due to an idea for wartime domestic reform, prohibition became part of the War Measures Act in 1918.

Constitutionally, Provincial Governments had responsibilities for Aboriginal peoples but they used the prohibition movement, primarily the liquor laws, as a way to define Aboriginals. Rules for the retail selling of alcohol were primarily a provincial responsibility. This came to be following the adoption of government control after Canada’s experience with prohibition during the First World War.^[7]

Alcohol production in Ontario

Despite having laws until 1927 against the consumption of alcohol in Ontario, the government allowed numerous exceptions. Wineries were exempted from closure, and various breweries and distilleries remained open for the export market.^[8] In London, Ontario, Harry Low and his group of rum-runners bought the Carling Brewery, while the Labatt family left the operations to the manager Edmund Burke. The fact that the "export" might be by small boat from Windsor across the river to Detroit only helped the province's economy (see also Canadian Rum Running). Rum-running was alive and well in other provinces.

Repeal

Province/Territory	Provincial Prohibition Enacted	Repealed
British Columbia	1917	1921
Alberta	1916	1924
Saskatchewan	1917	1925
Manitoba	1916	1921
Ontario	1916	1927
Quebec	1919	1919
New Brunswick	1856	1856
	1917	1927
Nova Scotia	1921	1929
Prince Edward Island	1901	1948
Yukon	1918	1920
Newfoundland (not part of Canada until 1949)	1917	1924

The provinces repealed their prohibition laws, mostly during the 1920s. After the 1924 Ontario prohibition referendum narrowly defeated the repeal of the Ontario Temperance Act the Ontario government of Howard Ferguson permitted the sale of low alcohol beer and, following its re-election on the platform of repealing the OTA, ended prohibition in 1927 and created the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, permitting the sale of liquor in the province though under heavy regulation.

Between the years of 1920-1925 five provinces voted to repeal prohibition. The elimination of alcoholic beverages had made a demonstrable difference in society; the jails were becoming emptied in most places, since alcoholic-related offences had contributed to them becoming quite full. The Ontario Alliance for the Total Suppression of the Liquor Trade stated that in 1922 that the number of convictions for offences associated with drink had declined from 17,413 in 1914 to 5,413 in 1921, and drunkenness cases had dropped from 16,590 in 1915 to 6,766 in 1921.^[9]

The passing of the Liquor Control Act in 1934 allowed anyone who visited Canada to purchase liquor to drink in the privacy of where they were staying and this was effective for thirty days. Following the passing of the Liquor Control Act it allowed for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario and local liquor inspectors to apply a subjective interpretation of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour which was based upon the community context. The passing of this act allowed for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario to enforce who was a bad drinker and who was a good drinker for it was not defined in the Liquor Control Act. Within Ontario the Liquor Control Act was also passed in an effort to emphasize customer service in an effort to limit Bootlegging. The Liquor Control Act also brought back saloons because now people wanted to be able to drink in the public space and this was an opportunity to bring back anyone who wanted to drink for a social event.^[10]

After World War I, opponents of the Liquor Control Act claimed that that too many people were going to ignore the law and drink illegally and that prohibition contributed to the expansion of organized crime and violence. The new slogans were ‘Moderation’ and ‘Government Regulation.’ Moreover, the denominations of Presbyterianism, Methodism, and Congregationalism voted to merge that created a stronger liberal voice. The possibility of new revenue led several provinces to introduce government control on the sale of alcohol and by the mid-1920s prohibition was fighting a losing battle.^[11]

Alberta repealed in 1924, along with Saskatchewan, upon realizing that the laws were unenforceable. Prince Edward Island was last to repeal in 1948.

Realizing that they could not stop people from drinking entirely, temperance advocates successfully pressured all provincial and territorial governments to curtail the sale of liquor through the tight control of liquor control boards.

Despite the lifting of Prohibition, it still remained illegal for most types of liquor to be shipped across provincial borders under the Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act. In response, Okanagan MP Dan Albas tabled Bill C-311, which would repeal this restriction and allow the interprovincial distribution of wine (but not beer or spirits). With the promise of potential for increased investment in Canada's wine industry if the restrictions were lifted (owing to wineries finally being able to distribute their product nationally), the bill passed the House with a vote of 287-0 in June 2012. However, the exemption created by the amendment is subject to the laws of the province into which the wine is being shipped. So far, the Provinces have responded inconsistently. For example, Ontario and British Columbia have permitted the interprovincial transport of wine on the person (up to 1 case), but have made no law or policy that allows interprovincial shipment of wine.^[12]

List of dry communities in Canada

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Municipalities in Canada that have prohibited or restricted sale of alcohol within their borders:

• Cardston County, Alberta including the town of Cardston, Magrath, Del Bonita are all dry still in 2013.
• James Bay Cree communities in Quebec, with the exception of Whapmagoostui are still dry in 2013 (Waskaganish, Eastmain, Wemindji, Chisasibi, Waswanipi, Mistissini, Ouje-Bougoumou and Nemaska)
• Linden, Alberta, is a dry town.
• Govenlock, Saskatchewan, now a ghost town.
• Old Crow, Yukon is a dry Gwich'in community on the Porcupine River.
• The city of Owen Sound, Ontario continued to outlaw liquor well into the 1970s.
• Steinbach, Manitoba did not allow the sale of liquor within city limits until 2011.
• Verdun, Quebec ended a 45-year ban on bars and taverns in the community in December 2010.^[13] This was mainly due to its Irish heritage during the late-19th and early-20th centuries.
• Orillia, Ontario ended prohibition in 1955 ^[14]
• Natuashish, Newfoundland and Labrador voted to ban alcohol in 2008, and a vote to repeal the ban in 2010 was not successful. ^[15]
• Parts of west Toronto did not permit liquor sales until 2000 due largely to the efforts of William Horace Temple.

See also

• Whiskey Gap, Alberta
• Drug liberalization

Footnotes

References

• Campbell, Robert A. “Profit was just a circumstance: The Evolution of Government Liquor Control in British Columbia, 1920-1988.” Drink in Canada: Historical Essays. Ed. Warsh, Cheryl Krasnick. Montreal, Quebec: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1993. 178-183. Print.
• Hallowell, Gerald (1988). "Prohibition in Canada". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Hurtig Publishers. ISBN 0-88830-328-9. 
• Grant, George M. (1898). Principal Grant's letters on prohibition: as they appeared in the Toronto daily "Globe", December, 1897, January, 1898. Grant opposed prohibition.
• Noel, Jan. (2004). "Temperance Movement" The Oxford Companion to Canadian History. 2004.
• Warsh, Cheryl Krasnick. (2004). "Prohibition" The Oxford Companion to Canadian History. 2004.

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