One of Canada's worst outbreaks of ethnic violence was in Toronto

 

One of the worst instances of ethnic violence in Canadian history took place at a baseball diamond in a Toronto park.

Known as the Christie Pits Riot, a new video from Historica Canada is shedding light on the August 16, 1933, scene.

Tensions were high in the park that summer night. Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party had risen to power in Germany, giving way to a rise in anti-Semitism across the Atlantic.

In Canada, businesses refused to hire Jewish people, universities restricted students’ enrollment, and neighbourhoods prohibited the sale of homes to Jews, the video noted.

This was “the backdrop” to that fateful August day. Fights had already broken out in the stands when a large Swastika flag was unfurled next to the baseball diamond.  (more...)

One of Canada's worst outbreaks of ethnic violence was in Toronto