How did the American Prohibition affect Canada in the 1920s?

After Canada had ended their own prohibition, their close neighbour and ally The United States of America went ahead and started their own. The prohibition in the USA meant the manufacture, sale, and transportation of all beer, and wines were forbidden. The prohibition there affected Canada.

The prohibition created tension between the two countries, as prohibition laws are hard to enforce. Canada at the time was legally allowed to produce liquor, but not sell it in America. Many people in Canada went ahead to help their “dry” neighbour. These people created rum running, an illegal business where alcohol was smuggled into the USA and then illegally sold there. This business affected Canada as it made its crime rate increase.

People came up with many different ways to smuggle the alcohol. It was smuggled in packages of merchandise, tins, canned fruits, a single peach, casks of sugar and rice, in packages of bottles, and even carloads of hogs, lumber, or eggs. People wanted to smuggle the alcohol so much they would even hide it in Christmas trees, coffins and bibles.

Rum running was an easy business where people could make lots of money. Of course any illegal business comes with consequences. One of these is violence, specifically in the border in between the two countries, and coastlines. This affected Canadas once calm streets and filled with violence. This business affected Canada as it made its crime rate increase.

At the time newspapers represented the situation with cartoons, as a visual representation I decided to create my own.