Ivens was directly involved in labour activism during this period. He supported the newly organized Dominion Labour Party, and attempted to build local networks of support in a speaking tour of western Canada. Upon his return to Winnipeg, he assumed the editorship of the Western Labour News, a newspaper published by the Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council. Participation in the Winnipeg General Strike Ivens continued as editor of the Western Labour News during the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, and published a Daily Strike Bulletin during this period. He wrote numerous articles in support of the strikers. Reverend Ivens preached services of his church in the park every Sunday for the six weeks of the strike. Within these services strike news would be relayed along with the prayers. Although he warned against public disorder, he also referred to the strike as the harbinger of a new age for the working-class in Canada. His Labour Church soon became the scene of extremely large meetings, with crowds growing up to 7,000 listeners. When the Canadian government suppressed the strike in June 1919, Ivens was arrested on charges of seditious libel and conspiracy during an overnight raid on the 17th of June. James Shaver Woodsworth took over Ivens positions following the arrest. Although it is unlikely that his editorials actually constituted sedition by the standards of the age, on March 28, 1920, he was found guilty and given a year in prison. Ivens was then sent to Stony Mountain Penitentiary. Political career While still in prison, Ivens ran as a candidate of the Dominion Labour Party (DLP) in the provincial election of 1920, and was elected in the city of Winnipeg. Winnipeg, at the time, elected ten members by preferential balloting; Ivens finished fifth on the first count and was declared elected on the second after receiving transfers from DLP leader Fred Dixon. In late 1920, the DLP split into two factions via a fallout over the Winnipeg General Strike. Dixon, Ivens, Woodsworth and most others on the left of the DLP founded the new Independent Labour Party of Manitoba (ILP) in November 1920. He was re-elected in the provincial election of 1922, but was reduced to fourth place among the successful social democratic candidates and was not assured of re-election until the final count. In addition to his political career, Ivens also received a chiropractor's certificate in 1925 and practiced in the