C h a p t e r
S ix
and
Figure 6-1 The illustration (left) of a
Canadian World War I veteran at home appeared in Canada in Khaki , a magazine published by the Canadian War Records
Office. But the rosy picture shown in this illustration was far from the reality faced by many returning soldiers. The photograph (bottom) shows some returning veterans at the corner of Yonge and Carlton Streets in Toronto in 1919.
148 U nit
2 • To what degree did internal and external forces transform Canada between 1914 and 1938? • mhr

By the time World War I ended, nearly 600 000 men and women had served in the Canadian Forces. Between 60 000 and 70 000
Canadians never returned; they were buried in marked and unmarked graves in France and Belgium. And of those who did return, more than 172 000 were wounded in body or mind.
In 1919, neither war veterans nor Canadians who had remained at home knew what was to come. The Allies had won the war, but the victory had been costly in many ways. Canada was in debt, and the country was entering a turbulent time. In the decades ahead,
Canadians faced rapid changes marked by periods of boom and bust.
The images on the previous page show two perspectives on the experience of returning soldiers. Examine each and respond to the following questions:
• What words or phrases sum up your immediate response to each image?
• What story does each image tell?
• How would you describe the similarities and differences between the two stories?
• What do you think might have been some of the greatest challenges facing returning veterans? Consider social, economic, and psychological challenges.
K ey
T erms inflation pandemic suffrage general strikes p rohibition branch plants credit regional disparities socialism
Looking Ahead
The following inquiry questions will help you explore how social and economic forces transformed Canada and Canadians after World War I:
• How did the legacies of World War I affect
Canadians?
• How did Canadians respond to postwar challenges?
• How did Canadians respond to the economic boom of the 1920s?
• How did Canadians respond to the Great Depression?
M y
C anadian
H istory
J ournal
mhr
•  To what extent did responses to social and economic forces help transform Canada after World War I? • C hapter
6 149

Thinking Historically
HS
E
C&C
C  C
HP
ED
Establishing historical significance
Using primary sources as evidence to build knowledge of the past
Identifying continuity and change
Analyzing cause and consequence
Taking a historical perspective
Understanding the ethical dimension in history
See details in the prologue (pp. 5–11).
Figure 6-2 in the
This cartoon, which appeared
Halifax Herald in early 1919, reflects the concern of many returning soldiers. What are some things the government could have done to ensure that veterans were able to quickly reintegrate into society?
H
w
w
i
c
?
When veterans returned home from Europe, Canadians welcomed them as heroes. But the homecoming celebrations masked a troubling reality.
Supplying war materials had been good for Canadian businesses, and workers had been in demand. During the war, wages had risen and jobs had been plentiful. But the years ahead would not be as prosperous.
During the war, the Canadian munitions industry had employed up to
300 000 people. The demand for workers was so high that many factories had hired women to do skilled jobs that had previously been open only to men — and these women had proved that they could work as effectively as men.
But when the war ended, many of these women were expected to give up their jobs to make way for returning veterans. In addition, munitions factories, as well as many other industries, either closed or cut production.
The economy shrank, and Canada experienced a recession.
The hard times meant that few jobs were available, and by the end of 1921, 20 per cent of all veterans were unemployed. The situation was made worse by a British government plan that encouraged British veterans to settle in other parts of the British Empire.
Thousands took advantage of the plan to immigrate to Canada and settle on farms in the
West.
Inflation — a rise in prices accompanied by a drop in the buying power of money — added to the challenges. The cost of living had increased during the final years of the war, and in 1918, living in Canada was nearly twice as expensive as it had been in 1914.
Returning veterans had expected more from the government and Canadian society.
Soldiers had been poorly paid during the war, at the same time as many Canadians at home had prospered. The veterans lobbied for improved benefits, but in the end, they received a lump sum based on their rank and length of service, $35 to buy civilian clothes, and a year of free medical care.
The government also paid an allowance to the wives and children of those who had died in the fighting. And though veterans who had suffered a permanent disability could claim a pension, only those who were completely disabled were eligible. This amounted to only about five per cent of the total.
150 U nit
2 • To what degree did internal and external forces transform Canada between 1914 and 1938? • mhr

One of the immediate legacies of World War I was a deadly disease called the Spanish influenza, or flu. At the time, little was known about the disease or how to treat it. Scientists now believe it started in birds and jumped to pigs and then to humans. Once humans carried the flu to
Europe, the disease spread quickly in the mud and filth of the trenches.
Wounded soldiers returning to Canada in 1918 carried the virus home with them. By the time Canadian Forces in Europe had embarked on the last 100 days of the war, the flu was spreading across Canada.
The parades and crowds celebrating the end of the war in late 1918 helped spread the disease. The same thing happened in many other countries, and the flu became a global pandemic — an epidemic that affects many people in many countries. In Canada, public health departments closed schools and theatres and discouraged people from shaking hands when they met.
The situation was made worse because many doctors and nurses were serving overseas. This created a shortage of health care workers to look after the sick.
Some historians believe that as many as 50 million people, including more than 50 000 Canadians, died in the pandemic.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many Canadian women tried to reform society by fighting for rights such as the vote, greater educational and job opportunities, and improved labour laws and health care.
Before World War I, many of the jobs open to women were low-paying and offered little chance of advancement. This situation started to change during the war, but most women, such as teachers, were still expected to end their career once they married. Married women with families to support often worked as domestic servants in the homes of the wealthy or in the sweatshops of the clothing industry.
Many professions, such as medicine, law, and engineering, were all but closed to women. By 1919, only 11 Ontario women had managed to overcome the obstacles to becoming a lawyer. And Canada’s first woman engineer, Elsie
MacGill, did not graduate from the University of Toronto until 1927.
One of the earliest Canadian women’s organizations was the National
Council of Women of Canada, which was founded in 1893 and remained active in 2009. In the early days, members focused on improving public health and the lives of female factory workers, immigrants, and prisoners.
Many early advocates of the vote for women, including Nellie McClung, were members of the council.
C&C Examine Figure 6-4. With a partner, draft a statement that expresses how this graph shows that some things for women had changed — while other things had stayed the same.
V oices
I want to make it absolutely clear that people are dying in our midst because they are not provided with proper care. They are not dying because we don’t know about them.
We know where they are, but we have nobody to send. Knitting socks for soldiers is very useful work, but we are now asking the women of Ottawa to get in the trenches themselves.
— Harold Fisher, mayor of Ottawa, at a news conference, 1918
Figure 6-3 Medical historians now believe that the 1918–1919 Spanish flu pandemic began not in Spain, but in
Kansas. American soldiers then carried it to Europe. This 1918 photograph shows patients in a crowded emergency hospital at Camp Funston, Kansas, where
60 000 American soldiers were stationed.
Figure 6-4 Women’s Changing Roles,
1911–1921
20
15
10
5
1911 1921 1911 1921
0
Clerical
Positions
Professional
Positions
Source: Robert Bothwell, Ian Drummond, and John
English. Canada: 1900–1945 . mhr
•  To what extent did responses to social and economic forces help transform Canada after World War I? • C hapter
6 main graph lines and ticks .5 pt 100% black
Standard Text - Univers 47 — 9/10.8
ghost lines of graph .25 pt 50% black B
OLD
L
ABELS
- U
NIVERS
67 — 9/10.8
SMALL CAPS
.5
PT BLACK STROKE ON BARS

C
HECK
F
ORWARD
Women and Political Change
C
HECK
B
ACK
You read in Chapter 5 about some women voting in the
1917 federal election.
Figure 6-5 Women in the House of
Commons, 1921 and 2008
0.4%
1921
1 of 235 MPs
22.4%
2008
69 of 308 MPs
Canadian women began to campaign for suffrage — the right to vote — in the 1870s under the leadership of Emily Stowe. Stowe, the first woman to practise medicine in Canada, knew about inequality first-hand. Denied entry to medical schools in Canada, she had gone to the United States to earn her degree. She then spent years trying to become licensed to practise medicine in Ontario.
In the early 1900s, leaders such as Nellie McClung, Henrietta Muir
Edwards, Louise McKinney, and Emily Murphy continued the fight for women’s right to vote. These activists did not see suffrage as the end of the battle. They also wanted to overcome other hurdles, such as the right to run for public office, to be appointed to the Senate, and to serve as judges.
Ontario was the first province to allow some women — widows and unmarried women who owned property — to vote in municipal elections.
More women won the right to vote during World War I, and by 1918, some women could vote in provincial elections in Manitoba, Alberta,
Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Ontario, and Nova Scotia.
Figure 6-6 This 1918 cartoon was created by the artist and writer Emily Carr, who poked fun at people who feared that recognizing women’s right to vote would lead to even more “radical” changes in society.
main graph lines and ticks .5 pt 100% black ghost lines of graph .25 pt 50% black
.5
PT BLACK STROKE ON BARS
In 1918, Prime Minister Robert
Borden’s government extended suffrage to most Canadian women, and in 1919, women’s right to run for Parliament was recognized. In the 1921 federal election,
Agnes Macphail became Canada’s first woman member of Parliament when the voters of Grey Southeast, in
Ontario, elected her to represent them.
Macphail, who was from a farming family, ran for the Progressive Party, which championed farmers’ causes.
Election to the House of Commons did not end Macphail’s struggle for equality. In the House, she encountered resistance and was often belittled by other MPs. Still, the voters in her riding continued to return her to the House,
B
OLD
L
ABELS
- U
NIVERS
67 — 9/10.8
SMALL CAPS where she struggled as the only woman until 1935. In that year’s election,
Martha Black, who was elected in
Yukon, became the second woman MP.
C&C Examine the pie charts in Figure
6-6. What do they suggest about the success of Canadian women’s struggle for equality? Is measuring political representation the most effective way of assessing the success of this struggle?
What other measures might be considered?
152 U nit
2 • To what degree did internal and external forces transform Canada between 1914 and 1938? • mhr

V i e w p o i n t S o n
h i S t o r y
The idea of suffrage for women was controversial. Some people feared that recognizing women’s right to vote would lead to even more social changes. Other people welcomed the prospect of these changes. Here are three people’s views on the issue.
M arie
-J oseph
D eMers
, member of
Parliament for St. Johns–Iberville,
Quebec, made these remarks in the
House of Commons in May 1918.
Far from being a step forward for women, this so-called emancipation will mean disaster to those on whose behalf it is granted, as well as to the nation at large. Let us consider the social position of women in the state. Everywhere they are tendered respect, admiration, attention; in a word, they are idealized. This admiration is extended to them because we all recognize their sublime mission; that is to say, the moral and intellectual development of our children. I believe that it is a dangerous experiment to take them away from our homes.
J ohn
B urnhaM
, member of
Parliament for Peterborough West,
Ontario, argued against Demers’s position in the same debate.
We have heard enough about [women's] being idealized; they are so idealized and etherealized that they seem to be utterly useless and to have no rights. Let women alone; let them speak for themselves . . . If women choose to have children and choose to bring them up, that is their own business. If women do not want to vote, they need not do so. If they do wish to vote, let them.
n ellie
M c c lung
, author and advocate for women’s rights, wrote this in her
1915 book, In Times Like These .
In spite of the testimony of many reputable women that they have been able to vote and get the dinner on one and the same day, there still exists a strong belief that the whole household machinery goes out of order when a woman goes to vote. No person denies a woman the right to go to church, and yet the church service takes a great deal more time than voting . . . But the wife and mother, with her God-given, sacred trust of molding the young life of our land, must never dream of going round the corner to vote. “Who will mind the baby,” cried one of our public men, in great agony of spirit,
“when the mother goes to vote?” e xploraTions
1. Summarize each speaker’s message. Share your summaries with a partner and discuss differences in your interpretations.
2. Nellie McClung frequently used satire — ridicule — to expose the foolishness of those who opposed her position. Choose two satirical phrases from McClung’s writing and explain why each is effective.
3. From today’s perspective, rate the historical significance (1 = not very significant; 10 = highly significant) of achieving the vote in women’s overall battle for equal rights. Explain the criteria you used to reach your conclusion.
mhr
•  To what extent did responses to social and economic forces help transform Canada after World War I? • C hapter
6 153

Figure 6-7 In 2000, this sculpture by
Edmonton artist Barbara Paterson was unveiled on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
It is called Women Are Persons ! and honours the Famous Five, the five women who spearheaded the Persons
Case. The empty chair invites passersby to sit and join the celebration.
The Persons Case
By the end of 1919, most women in Canada could vote and hold elected office, but some people still challenged their right to be appointed judges and senators.
In 1916, the Alberta government had appointed Emily Murphy a police magistrate, making her the first woman judge in the British
Empire. Though some male lawyers who appeared before Murphy refused to accept her judgments, the Alberta courts ruled that she was qualified to hold the post.
Then, in 1917, a group of women put Murphy’s name forward as a candidate for the Senate — but Prime Minister Robert Borden refused to consider Murphy on the grounds that she was not a “qualified person.”
Borden’s decision set in motion what became known as the “Persons
Case,” a legal action that took 12 years to resolve.
The British North America Act of 1867, Canada’s
Constitution at the time, specified that only “qualified persons” could be senators. But the act did not define
“persons”; instead, the courts relied on an old British definition. It said, “Women are persons in matters of pains and penalties, but are not persons in matters of rights and privileges.”
In response to Borden’s decision, Murphy and four other women — Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie
McClung, Louise McKinney, and Irene Parlby — banded together to take the case to the Supreme Court of Canada. This court ruled that because only men were persons, only men could be appointed senators.
At that time, Supreme Court decisions could be appealed to the Privy
Council in Britain, and this is where the women took their case next.
On October 18, 1929, the privy councillors overturned the Supreme
Court decision and ruled that Canadian women are persons. The councillors noted that “the exclusion of women from all public offices is a relic of days more barbarous than ours. And to those who would ask why the word ‘persons’ should include females, the obvious answer is, why should it not?”
At the time, Liberal William Lyon Mackenzie King was prime minister, and he soon named Cairine Wilson to the Senate. Despite
Murphy’s leading role in the battle, King bypassed her because of her ties to the Conservative Party.
Recall .
.
.
Reflect .
.
.
Respond
1. Historians Robert Bothwell, Ian Drummond, and
John English maintain that World War I was “of fundamental importance in the changes in the political role of women.” Develop an argument to support or challenge this judgment.
2. List two ways in which Canadian society changed between 1914 and 1919. List two ways it remained the same. Which force — the force of change or the force of continuity — do you think has had the greatest influence on Canadian society today?
154 U nit
2 • To what degree did internal and external forces transform Canada between 1914 and 1938? • mhr

H
c
?
The economic troubles that faced Canadians in 1919 were shared by people in many other countries. The economies of countries that had fought in World War I were in a shambles, partly because of unemployment caused by the closing of munitions factories at the end of the war and partly because of huge debts that would take years to pay off.
By 1934, for example, Britain still owed the United States $4.4 billion in debt that had accumulated during World War I. The global economic decline was deep and widespread.
No country suffered more from the economic downturn than
Germany. Forced to pay reparations by the “war guilt” clause in the
Treaty of Versailles, the country’s economy struggled. The reparations were massive — it would have taken Germany until 1984 to pay them off — and included payments in both money and equipment.
The instability caused by the reparations led to a period of hyperinflation in Germany. Money rapidly lost its value, so prices climbed steeply. Germans’ wages and savings became worthless. By 1922, German bank notes had so little value that people burned bundles of them to keep warm.
In Canada, unemployment increased in 1919. Tens of thousands of soldiers had returned from Europe and were looking for work at the same time as munitions factories, chemical and steel plants, and mining operations were closing.
Both food and fuel were in short supply and became more expensive.
The price of ground beef, for example, had been 10 cents a pound in
1914. In 1918, it was 39 cents a pound, an increase of nearly 300 per cent.
Higher prices and lower wages meant that people had trouble maintaining their standard of living.
In 1920, Stephen Leacock, a popular Canadian humorist and a political economist, warned that
Canada faced strikes, economic unrest, and cycles of rising wages and prices.
During the war years, employers had needed workers, and many employers had been willing to negotiate when workers threatened to strike. But the communist revolution in Russia — which had begun with labour unrest and general strikes — was only two years old in 1919. Some Canadians feared that strikes in Canada would lead to a similar revolution.
V oices
The wheels of industry are threatening to stop. The laborer will not work because the pay is too low and the hours are too long.
The producer cannot employ him because the wage is too high, and the hours are too short. If the high wage is paid and the short hours are granted, then the price of the thing made, so it seems, rises higher still.
Even the high wages will not buy it.
— Stephen Leacock, in The Unsolved
Riddle of Social Justice , 1920
Figure 6-8 Returning soldiers were angry when they could not find jobs. On
Thanksgiving Day in 1920, this group of
World War I veterans marched through downtown Toronto to protest the shortage of jobs. mhr
•  To what extent did responses to social and economic forces help transform Canada after World War I? • C hapter
6 155

V oices
There must be a minimum of sentiment and a maximum of hard business sense concerning the future of the returned soldier.
— Ernest Scammell, secretary of the
Military Hospitals Commission, 1915
Figure 6-9 Union Membership and Hourly
Wages for Building-Trade
Workers in Canada, 1914–1924
Year
1920
1921
1922
1923
1924
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
Source: Statistics Canada
Total Union
Members
166 000
143 000
160 000
205 000
249 000
378 000
374 000
313,000
277 000
278 000
261 000
Average
Hourly Wages
$0.25
$0.25
$0.25
$0.25
$0.40
$0.45
$0.43
$0.38
$0.33
$0.33
$0.33
Returning Veterans
Many of the soldiers returning from World War I were changed by the horrors they had experienced. Some found it hard to settle down to civilian life. In March 1919, veteran George Pearson wrote in Maclean’s magazine that returning soldiers experienced a “terrible restlessness which possesses us like an evil spirit; the indefinite expression of a vague discontent, the restlessness of dying men, little children and old soldiers.”
Others suffered from shell shock — called post-traumatic stress disorder today. And some 4500 veterans had been prisoners of war.
Few services were available for these soldiers. The prevailing attitude was that they should return to their civilian responsibilities. Hugh
Graham — Lord Atholstan — the multi-millionaire publisher of the
Montreal Daily Star , echoed this opinion when he said, “The returned soldier must not be allowed to consider himself an unlimited creditor of the State, to be supported in idleness.”
At first, soldiers with disabilities had some government support, but as time passed and the economy worsened, the government cancelled veterans’ training and skills programs. By the end of 1921, most veterans with disabilities were unemployed. Many former soldiers were bitterly disappointed by the government’s — and the public’s — response to their situation.
Some veterans hoped that by banding together they might be able to press the federal government to create programs that would benefit them and their families. So they formed groups such as the Great War Veterans’
Association. The GWVA tried, but failed, to win improved compensation for all veterans, including those with disabilities and the families of those who had been killed. In a number of cities, veterans began to organize protests — and often ended up in jail.
In the early 1900s, labour union activity increased in Canada. This activity reflected growth in the worldwide labour movement. Canadian workers began to demand eight-hour workdays, recognition of their unions, and improved wages. Between 1914 and 1918, membership in labour unions grew.
The experience of Canadian soldiers in Europe had taught many that working collectively brought results — and this meshed with the growing union movement in Canada. Strikes organized by labour unions in several major centres of the United States found broad-based support in Canada.
E Examine the statistics in Figure 6-9. In which years was union membership highest? In which years were hourly wages the highest? Note when union membership and hourly wages started to drop. What factors would have contributed to the increase — and to the decrease?
156 U nit
2 • To what degree did internal and external forces transform Canada between 1914 and 1938? • mhr

One Big Union
After World War I, the idea of unions joining together became popular, especially in Western Canada. In March 1919, union leaders met in
Calgary and decided to form a branch of the One Big Union. OBU members believed that an alliance would increase their bargaining power with government and employers. Members would support one another if one group decided to strike.
The beliefs of many OBU members were similar to those of the communist revolutionaries in Russia and of the international communist movement. In Canada, many people, including the government and police, were suspicious of communists and harassed them continually.
Pamphlets produced by the OBU called for a restructuring of society because it was based on an unfair class system. The pamphlets said that workers suffered “hunger and want” while employers had “all the good things of life.” Workers were urged to unite to fight those who denied them equality and fairness.
To achieve their goals, OBU members supported general strikes .
A general strike is not directed against a single employer; rather, it is directed against governments and employers as a group. At the Calgary meeting, delegates proposed a country-wide general strike on June 1 if the government did not respond to their demands.
The Winnipeg General Strike
On May 1, 1919, members of Winnipeg’s building-trade unions went on strike when their employers refused to negotiate a wage increase. The strikers were joined the next day by city metal workers. When the strikes were not settled by 11 a.m. on May 15, the Winnipeg Trades and Labour
Council called for a city-wide strike to support the striking workers. An hour later, 20 000 members of 94 unions were off the job.
Within days, the number of strikers had risen to 30 000. The strike closed factories and stores, and stopped city streetcars. The original strikers were joined by postal workers, firefighters, and police officers.
A central committee co-ordinated the labour protests and negotiated with employers. Essential services, such as delivery of food and dairy products, were allowed. Delivery wagons carried signs that read “Permitted by Authority of Strike
Committee.”
.
.
.
.
.
Connections .
.
.
.
.
The idea for One Big Union began with the Industrial Workers of the World, a movement that had started in the
United States just after the turn of the
20th century. IWW members — often called “Wobblies” — believed that all workers should unite in one big union rather than join smaller unions representing specific trades. The IWW and the OBU adopted the communist slogan: Workers of the World, Unite.
V oices
Winnipeg is a warning to the rest of
Canada. The object of the One Big
Union is plain. It is the aim of the
Reds [communists] who dominate that organization to use masspower, in defiance of agreements, for the overturning of organized society.
— The Times , Toronto, May 21, 1919
Figure 6-10 Although thousands of
World War I veterans joined the Winnipeg
General Strike, others like these — who marched on June 4, 1919 — believed that the strikers were trying to destroy the values they had fought for.
mhr
•  To what extent did responses to social and economic forces help transform Canada after World War I? • C hapter
6 157

Figure 6-11 On Saturday, June 21, 1919, members of the Royal North-West
Mounted Police charged at protesters who had attacked a streetcar driven by a replacement worker. Order was restored, but the day became known as “Bloody
Saturday” because of the violence.
158
V oices
Unionism has already accomplished much. Factory acts, the reduction in the hours of labour and the establishment of a standard rate of wages have been brought about largely through pressure on the part of Unions . . . Unionism is the most democratic of all movements.
— J.S. Woodsworth, in My Neighbor , 1911
Opposition to the Strike
The Citizens’ Committee of 1000 formed to oppose the strikers. The committee, which was made up of business owners, politicians, and bankers, portrayed the strike as an effort by foreigners to overthrow the democratically elected Canadian government.
The committee recruited volunteers to replace striking workers, fired all Winnipeg police officers who refused to pledge not to join the strike, and hired 1800 special police officers. The city also called in the Royal
North-West Mounted Police — now the RCMP — to help keep order.
Committee leaders warned that the strike was the start of a revolution like the one that had taken place in Russia. The federal government, which was afraid the strike would spread to other cities, supported the citizens’ committee and ordered government employees to report to work or lose their jobs. Immigration laws were changed so that any striker who was an immigrant could be deported immediately.
On June 17, some strike leaders were arrested. Four days later, RNWMP officers on horseback charged into a protest that was becoming violent. By the time the confrontation ended, up to 100 people were injured and one worker was dead. A second died later of his injuries.
The army then moved in to occupy the streets of the city. Threatened with losing their jobs, the strikers returned to work on June 25, six weeks after the strike began. Some strikers were fired, and before they were allowed to go back to work, others were forced to sign agreements not to join a union.
Some Consequences of the Strike
The strike did not bring about the changes that the workers had hoped for. One strike leader was deported, and others were jailed. And over the next few years, union membership dropped as unemployment rose.
Still, the strike did have some lasting effects. A royal commission found that the strikers had engaged in peaceful protest and that the strike was not a conspiracy to overthrow the government.
The law soon required employers to recognize the right of workers to bargain collectively through a union. The strike also began a new era of political involvement for workers, and several strike leaders went on to political careers. John Queen, for example, later became mayor of Winnipeg, and in 1921, J.S. Woodsworth was elected to the
House of Commons. Woodsworth became a founding member of the
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, which later became the New
Democratic Party.
U nit
2 • To what degree did internal and external forces transform Canada between 1914 and 1938? • mhr

In the early 20th century, alcohol was blamed for many social problems, such as crime, public drunkenness, family violence, and poverty. As a result, the temperance movement, which called on people to abstain from drinking alcohol, gained ground in North America.
Temperance societies believed that if people stopped spending money on alcohol, many families would be able to improve their lives. The
Woman’s Christian Temperance Union campaigned for a total prohibition on alcohol. Nellie McClung and Louise McKinney of the Famous Five were members of the movement.
Before and during World War I, the temperance movement led to the banning of alcohol in several provinces, including Alberta and Ontario.
Bars were closed and selling alcohol became illegal. In 1918, under the
War Measures Act, the federal government enacted Prohibition — laws against making and selling intoxicating liquor. The ban lasted until a year after the war ended.
Not all Canadians were happy with Prohibition, and a brisk illegal trade in alcohol developed. Criminals became rich selling expensive, illegal liquor to Canadians. Governments lost the income generated by alcohol taxes. By 1921, provincial governments began to repeal prohibition laws and replace them with government-controlled liquor sales.
The United States government had also introduced Prohibition, and the U.S. laws remained in effect well after Prohibition had ended in Canada. This created a profitable business opportunity for Canadian liquor companies, which looked the other away when their products were smuggled into the U.S.
Every year, “rum runners” transported about 45 million litres of liquor into the U.S., often through remote land crossings or across lakes and rivers in boats. Small-scale smugglers often hid liquor containers in their clothing, in baby carriages, or in other ways. Larger-scale smugglers used fast boats or cars to bypass border checkpoints. Some Canadian rum runners, such as Rocco Perri and Emilio Picariello, developed reputations as larger-than-life “entrepreneurs.”
Figure 6-12 As Prohibition in the United
States continued into 1928, liquor smugglers from Canada found ways to conceal the illegal substance. This woman showed how a floppy overcoat could be used to conceal two tins of liquor strapped to her legs.
Recall .
.
.
Reflect .
.
.
Respond
1. Create a two-circle Venn diagram to describe conditions in Canada in the years immediately after
World War I.
• In the left circle, describe conditions for war veterans.
• In the right circle, describe conditions for most
Canadians.
• In the centre, overlapping area, describe conditions encountered by both groups.
On the basis of what your Venn diagram shows, write a short message that you would have sent to your member of Parliament if you had lived at the time.
2. Prohibition came about because some people — temperance supporters — were able to persuade governments to pass laws that they thought would eliminate what they considered a social evil.
a) Identify a contemporary parallel to Prohibition.
Explain how your choice is similar, as well as how it is different.
b) Develop two criteria you would use to justify prohibiting people from engaging in a particular activity. Does the early 20th-century prohibition on alcohol meet your criteria?
mhr
•  To what extent did responses to social and economic forces help transform Canada after World War I? • C hapter
6 159

Figure 6-13 The top photograph shows
Lake Shore Boulevard in the winter of
1925. The bottom picture shows the elevated Gardiner Expressway, which now runs above Lake Shore Boulevard.
How do these images reflect the changes caused by the growing use of the automobile in Canadian cities?
H
c
1920
?
By 1924, the Canadian economy was stronger. In Europe, countries were starting to recover from World War I, and demand for Canadian products grew. This increased demand created more jobs for Canadians.
Many of these jobs involved producing consumer goods. People began to buy mass-produced goods like cars, radios, and telephones. These products represented a “modern” way of life and helped people forget the horrors of the war years.
Industries developed mass production techniques during the 1920s. With assembly lines, products could be turned out more quickly and for less money. These changes in the manufacturing process meant that cars and trucks could be produced more cheaply. As prices dropped, more people could afford to buy them.
By 1927, the Ford Motor Co. had sold 15 million Model Ts around the world. Vehicle ownership in Canada jumped from 300 000 in 1918 to
1.9 million in 1929. The rapid increase in the number of cars encouraged governments to invest in infrastructure like roads, bridges, and power systems.
As electrical power became more widely available, many Canadian industries began using electricity rather than coal to power factories. This stimulated the development of large hydroelectric power stations. During the 1920s, electrical energy production in Canada increased fourfold.
Canadian resources industries, including forestry and mining, also expanded to keep up with the demand for raw materials. The pulp and paper industry, for example, grew because it supplied newspaper companies in the United States.
During the 1920s, Canada also became a major wheat exporter. At the beginning of World War I, wheat accounted for about a quarter of the country’s exports. But in the years after the war, the value of wheat exports increased by 250 per cent. Two forces helped contribute to the increase in wheat exports: a growing number of farmers on the Prairies and innovations that helped farmers increase production.
Hard Times in the Maritimes
While parts of Canada prospered, the economy of the Maritimes remained weak. As industries stopped using coal, many coal mines in the region closed, leaving miners without jobs.
In addition, the federal government had decided to protect manufacturers in Central Canada by keeping import tariffs high and raising railway freight rates more than 200 per cent. These decisions meant that goods produced in the Maritimes were more expensive than goods manufactured in Ontario and Quebec. During the 1920s, 42 per cent of the manufacturing jobs in the Maritimes disappeared and many people left to find work elsewhere.
160 U nit
2 • To what degree did internal and external forces transform Canada between 1914 and 1938? • mhr

Until the 1920s, Britain was Canada’s main trading partner. But as the
American economy became stronger, trade between Canada and the
United States grew, while trade between Canada and Britain declined. By
1925, the U.S., not Britain, was Canada’s chief trading partner.
The Canadian economy benefited from the strong U.S. economy.
The Americans needed Canada’s natural resources to manufacture their products, such as newspapers. But most manufactured goods flowed the other way — from the U.S. to Canada.
C&C By the end of 2008, the U.S. accounted for 58 per cent of foreign investment in Canada, while Britain accounted for 11 per cent. The remaining 31 per cent was from other countries. Examine the trend shown in Figure 6-14 and comment on whether the 2008 figures are what you might have expected — and why.
Many Canadians wanted to further increase trade with the Americans through a free trade arrangement, and they were disappointed when neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives supported reducing tariffs. As a result, unhappy farmers, many from the West, joined disappointed Liberal
Party members to form a new political party: the Progressive Party.
Progressives supported free trade and won the second-highest number of seats in the 1921 federal election. Agnes Macphail, for example, was a
Progressive. But the party was unable to build on this momentum, and it faded away in the 1930s.
Figure 6-14 Estimates of Foreign Investment in Canada, 1915–1939
Year
1915
U.S.
27%
1920
1925
1930
1939
44%
56%
61%
60%
Source: Statistics Canada
Britain Other
69% 4%
53%
41%
36%
36%
3%
3%
3%
4%
Foreign Ownership
During the 1920s, Americans increased their investment in Canadian industries. Some of these investments were in the form of branch plants — operations set up in Canada but completely owned by
American companies.
Auto companies such as Ford and General Motors, for example, were quick to establish Canadian branch plants. Branch plants enabled
American companies to sell to Canadian consumers without incurring high transportation costs or paying the import tariffs that the Canadian government used to protect Canadian manufacturers.
Canadians were divided over the benefits of branch plants. Some believed that foreign investment created jobs for Canadians and helped
Canadian industries grow. And if American investors made money in
Canada, they would continue to invest.
Others argued that American factories put Canadian companies out of business, that the managers of the branch plants were usually
American, and that most profits earned in Canada went back to the
U.S. parent companies. They also said that branch plants undermined
Canada’s ability to make economic decisions — the branch plants answered to the parent company, not to Canadian workers, citizens, or decision makers.
.
.
.
.
.
Connections .
.
.
.
.
The McLaughlin Motor Car Co. of
Oshawa, Ontario, had been building
Buicks in partnership with General
Motors, an American company, since
1907. In 1918, General Motors bought
McLaughlin — and General Motors of Canada was founded. By 1938, the company had manufactured a million vehicles.
mhr
•  To what extent did responses to social and economic forces help transform Canada after World War I? • C hapter
6 161

As the economy improved during the 1920s, Canadians began to change the way they lived. Before World War I, more than 50 per cent of
Canadians had lived on farms and in rural areas, but after the war, many began to move to towns and cities. Many Canadians had money to spare, and they could afford to buy the consumer goods, including radios and telephones, that were becoming widely available.
Figure 6-15 Urban and Rural Population,
1911–2006
100 Urbanization
80
60
40
Urban
Rural
Manufacturers built their plants in urban areas because they needed a large, skilled labour force and transportation links. Canadian cities began to grow as workers crowded into them. Cities grew upward as tall buildings, some more than 30 storeys, were built. Cities also expanded outward as residential suburbs were added.
The growth of cities depended on technological innovations.
Streetcar and road systems linked suburbs to the centre of cities, where most industries and services were located. Telephone and telegraph
20
0
1911
Source: Historical Statistics of Canada and Statistics
Canada, 2006 Census
Figure 6-16 The T. Eaton Co.’s Winnipeg catalogue for
1928–1929 was designed to encourage both urban and rural version of Canada?
.5
PT BLACK STROKE ON BARS
1921 1931 2006
B
OLD
L
ABELS
- U communication connected city dwellers.
These changes meant that many Canadians were no longer as selfsufficient as they had been. They needed the services offered in urban areas — grocery and clothing stores, housing, education, health care, and so on. The wealth generated by jobs was used to pay for these services, and the service sector of the economy grew quickly.
dwellers to buy. How does this cover promote an idealized
NIVERS
67 — 9/10.8
As more people moved to cities, a political shift took place. The political power of urban centres increased, while the power of rural areas decreased.
C&C
SMALL
Examine the graph in Figure 6-15. Use this information to help explain why the Progressive Party, whose support was largely rural, failed to maintain its popularity after
1921.
Growing Consumerism
During the boom of the 1920s, more Canadians could afford to buy consumer goods. After paying for food, clothing, and shelter, many had money left over to buy products that went beyond the necessities. Mass advertising campaigns — in magazines and newspapers and on billboards and radio — encouraged people to spend.
Department stores like the T. Eaton Co. created catalogues and mailed them across the country. In the
1920s, the catalogues became large publications. Pages of colour images were designed to persuade people to buy new products — electric toasters, irons, sewing machines, washing machines, and fashionable clothing for everyone in the family. Women were usually the intended audience for these catalogues, and they were portrayed as stylish — and often idealized — wives and mothers, roles that the intended audience often identified with.
162 U nit
2 • To what degree did internal and external forces transform Canada between 1914 and 1938? • mhr

Radio
During the 1920s, more people bought radios as the technology improved and prices fell. By 1928, although some Canadian radio stations existed,
80 per cent of the programs Canadians listened to were produced in the U.S. Powerful transmitters carried the programs across the border.
American companies were spending millions of dollars on advertising.
Canadians listened to homegrown and imported drama, comedy shows, music, and sports broadcasts, as well as local news and weather.
Passengers riding in Canadian National Railway’s parlour cars could listen to the radio as they crossed Canada.
Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King participated in Canada’s first cross-country radio broadcast in 1927, when he addressed the country from Parliament Hill to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Confederation. Canadian National and Canadian Pacific telegraph lines and various local and provincial telephone lines were used to link most of the private
Canadian radio stations operating at that time. King was impressed with the new medium as a way of communicating with Canadians, and he continued to use radio to address the country.
Buying on Credit
One outcome of the new, urban way of life was the use of credit — borrowed money. Before this time, credit had been given by grocers and merchants for food and fuel, items that were consumed. Amounts owed by households remained small, and the credit was given for a short time only.
But in the 1920s, the demand for consumer goods prompted merchants and banks to lend money for more durable goods, like household furnishings and cars. People often bought expensive items on an instalment plan. This involved paying part of the cost at the time of purchase and the rest in instalments over time. As a result, the amount of household debt increased dramatically.
Credit was also available for playing the stock market, and this appealed to people who wanted to share in the promise of spectacular profits. Paying very little up front, even average citizens could invest, and the stock market boomed, setting new trading records.
Figure 6-17 In 1923, Foster Hewitt became the first announcer to broadcast the play-by-play of a Canadian hockey game on radio. He would continue to be the voice of hockey broadcasts for the next 60 years. How could something like this help unite the country?
Recall .
.
.
Reflect .
.
.
Respond
1. The 1920s are often known as the Roaring Twenties.
Cite at least two reasons for this label. What label would you give the current decade?
2. What were the three most significant forces driving the social and economic changes that occurred in
Canada during the 1920s? Provide the criteria you used to make your choices.
3. During the 1920s, Canadians’ social and economic ties shifted to the United States and away from
Britain. In a paragraph or two, explain why this change occurred. Think about the situation today and indicate some long-term effects of the shift.
mhr
•  To what extent did responses to social and economic forces help transform Canada after World War I? • C hapter
6 163

H
c
g
d
?
E
V oices
Nobody could tell exactly when it began and nobody could predict when it would end. At the outset, they didn’t even call it a depression.
At worst it was a recession, a brief slump, a “correction” in the market, a glitch in the rising curve of prosperity. Only when the full import of those heartbreaking years sank in did it become the Great
Depression.
— Pierre Berton, writer and historian, in The Great Depression: 1929–1939
After 1923, the economy of some parts of Canada prospered, and many people believed that the good times would continue. On the basis of this expectation, some people had borrowed money to buy homes, farms, automobiles, household appliances, and stocks. And many manufacturers had also produced more than was realistically needed to meet the market demand.
But in 1929, a depression started. Many people lost their jobs and could not pay their debts. When this happened, companies that had lent the money also suffered. They could not pay their bills, and many went out of business. Manufacturers were left with large inventories of products that few people could afford to buy.
Farmers and companies that relied on sales to the United States were equally hard hit. The U.S. economy was also suffering, and American markets for Canadian goods were disappearing. The economic hard times became a worldwide phenomenon.
Young people were particularly affected by the downturn. Many were forced to put their lives on hold when they couldn’t find jobs or afford to get married.
Figure 6-19 Canadian governments — federal, provincial, and municipal — offered little help to desperate families.
In July 1933, a Toronto newspaper called The Worker published this cartoon. What does this cartoon reveal about the cartoonist’s values and worldview?
Figure 6-18 CH10-U2-3-02F.eps
often wandered the country looking for work. Called tramps or hobos, they would use chalk or charcoal to draw symbols on fences, the walls of buildings, and railway bridges to tell others about conditions in a neighbourhood. What conclusion(s) about community could this evidence help you reach?
164 U nit
2 • To what degree did internal and external forces transform Canada between 1914 and 1938? • mhr

The Great Depression had many causes, but historians generally agree that the 1929 stock market crash was one of the most immediate. That
September, people had begun selling their stocks on the New York,
Montreal, and Toronto exchanges, but financial experts had said that the markets were “fundamentally sound” — and politicians repeated these reassurances.
On October 4, the Toronto stock exchange lost $200 million in value. Again, experts and politicians reassured the public. On October 24,
400 000 shares were traded on the Montreal stock exchange, which sold about 25 000 shares on a normal day. Most stocks sold at a loss as sellers began to panic. On the same day in New York, 12 million shares were sold.
On October 28, the value of shares on the Toronto stock exchange fell by $1 million a minute. The next day — known as “Black Tuesday” — the price of stocks in New York, Montreal, and Toronto continued to plummet as sellers tried desperately to cut their losses.
.
.
.
.
.
Connections .
.
.
.
.
Not everyone suffered during the
Depression. James Henry Gray, a reporter with the Winnipeg Free
Press , earned $20 a week. Low prices meant that his family of three could live well on this amount. “Rents were depressed, and clothing prices were unbelievable,” Gray wrote in a memoir.
“Our three-roomed suite cost us $15 a month, and later we were able to pick and choose among five-room bungalows renting for $25 a month.
Few of us ever paid more than $21.50 for a two-pants suit, or more than $20 for a warm and wearable coat.”
Figure 6-20 In 1934, 130 000 people in Toronto were on relief — government support — at a time when the city’s population was about 631 000. The people in this photograph were lined up for a free meal prepared by a charity. What evidence might the photographer have been trying to gather when this picture was snapped?
Figure 6-21 The government set up relief camps, like this one in Harrison Mills, British Columbia, for single unemployed men. The men lived in bunkhouses and were given three meals a day, work clothes, medical care, and a 20-cent daily wage. They worked long hours at jobs such as building roads and planting trees. What inferences does this photograph help you make about conditions during the Great Depression?
mhr
•  To what extent did responses to social and economic forces help transform Canada after World War I? • C hapter
6 165

Figure 6-22 This photograph shows what was left of a Manitoba grain field after a grasshopper infestation. Grasshoppers eat the ear, which contains the grains.
Without the ear, the crop is worthless.
Canada’s growing trade ties with the United States meant that when the
American economy collapsed, Canada, too, was forced into a depression.
All parts of Canada suffered, but times were toughest on the Prairies and in the Maritimes. Regional disparities — differences in resources, income, wages, and jobs — meant that these areas were not as wellequipped to weather the economic storm.
On the Prairies, falling wheat prices, followed by years of drought, dust storms, and grasshopper infestations, destroyed agricultural production in large areas. In addition, record grain yields in other parts of the world had pushed global wheat prices down.
In the Maritimes, people suffered economically when markets for the region’s main exports — fish and lumber — dried up. In British
Columbia, slowdowns in the fishing and mining industries threw many people out of work. Unemployment rates in that province grew as workers from across Canada arrived looking for jobs that did not exist.
M a k i n g
h i S t o r y
Gwyn “Jocko” Thomas and his brother, Gregg, grew up during the Depression. Their father, Richard, was a mason from Wales. In better times, Richard had built the family home on Clinton St. in Toronto, but as the economic downturn worsened, he could not find work.
So, like many other unemployed workers, Richard started looking farther afield. His search took him to
Cleveland and Philadelphia.
This left Thomas’s mother, Helen, to manage the household alone. “I remember my mother saying that she mortgaged the house until the mortgage company wouldn’t give her any more,” Thomas told the Toronto Star .
Finally, his mother was forced to ask for government relief. “In those days, welfare was not cash money,” Thomas said. “They gave you a e xploraTions
1. What new evidence about life during the Depression does Jocko Thomas’s story provide?
2. The Thomas family was far from alone in seeking help.
In 1933, the national unemployment rate stood at
Figure 6-23 Gwyn
“Jocko” Thomas in 2009.
For more than 50 years,
Thomas worked as a crime reporter for the
Toronto Star .
certificate. And you could take it to the grocery store and you could get turnips and potatoes.”
The family lived near a grocery store, but Helen’s pride prevented her taking the relief certificate there.
She knew that the grocer was a gossip who would spread the news that the family was on welfare.
She was ashamed, Thomas said. “Ashamed to live on somebody else’s expenses.”
27 per cent — and employment insurance did not exist.
Why do you think Thomas’s mother was ashamed to admit that the family needed government help? For the
Thomas family, what might have been the single most significant effect of the Depression?
166 U nit
2 • To what degree did internal and external forces transform Canada between 1914 and 1938? • mhr

Saskatchewan in the 1930s
In the 1920s and 1930s, wheat was Prairie farmers’ major crop. Wheat production was particularly intense in Saskatchewan.
During World War I, wheat prices had risen. In 1919, the price reached a high of $2.37 a bushel and Saskatchewan farmers prospered.
But after the war, other countries produced bumper wheat crops and placed tariffs on grain imports to protect their farmers. As a result, prices started to fall and continued to drop through the 1920s and into the
1930s.
By 1928, the price of a bushel of wheat was 80 cents. Although the price rose to $1.05 in 1929, by 1932, it had dropped again — to 35 cents.
Many Saskatchewan farmers had trouble breaking even. Some went bankrupt or abandoned their farms when they could not meet their expenses.
C&C Examine Figure 6-24 and relate the value of the wheat crop to the economy in general. Find out the price of wheat today. Is there a similar relationship between today’s price and the economy in general?
As early as 1928, there was less rainfall in the Prairies than in previous years. By 1931, vast areas of farmland had been hit by drought, dust storms, and high temperatures. In July 1936, after a bitterly cold winter, temperatures climbed above 38°C and no rain fell. The strong Prairie winds blew the loose, dry topsoil off millions of hectares of farmland.
Huge dust storms turned daylight to blackness, blew into houses down chimneys and through cracks, and covered roads, railway tracks, farmhouses, and fields.
When the winds died down, swarms of grasshoppers arrived and ate any stalks of wheat still standing. The grasshoppers sometimes even ate clothes that had been hung outside to dry. In that one year, 14 000 farmers who had no crops to harvest and no money to make their mortgage payments abandoned their farms.
Figure 6-24 Estimated Field Crop Values in Saskatchewan, 1925–1939
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
Year
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
1930
Value
$368 000
$309 000
$348 000
$349 000
$235 000
$136 000
$70 000
$98 000
$76 000
$96 000
$114 000
$142 000
1937
1938
$52 000
$101 000
1939 $190 000
Source: Canada Year Book , 1931, 1934–35, 1937, 1940, and 1942. Canada, Dominion Bureau of Statistics,
General Statistics Branch.
Figure 6-25 A dust storm at Fort
Macleod, Alberta, during the 1930s.
mhr
•  To what extent did responses to social and economic forces help transform Canada after World War I? • C hapter
6 167

.
.
.
.
.
Connections .
.
.
.
.
The Great Depression by the Numbers
Unemployment Rate
• 1929: less than 3 per cent
• 1933: 27 per cent
Business Profits and Losses
• 1929: $398 million in profits
• 1933: $98 million in losses
Exports
• 1933: had dropped by half since 1929
Figure 6-26 Hundreds of unemployed workers climbed onto freight trains for the On-to-Ottawa Trek. How does this photograph provide evidence of the workers’ desperation?
When the Depression began in 1929, Prime Minister William Lyon
Mackenzie King’s Liberal Party was in power. In the campaign leading up to the 1930 federal election, unemployment was a major issue — and
R.B. Bennett, the Conservative leader, promised to fix the problem. The
Conservatives won the election by a large majority, and Bennett remained prime minister for the next five years, the worst years of the Depression.
Bennett opposed spending federal money on relief programs for unemployed workers and their families. His government claimed that providing relief was a provincial and municipal responsibility. Provincial governments claimed that it was a federal and municipal responsibility.
And municipal governments said they did not have the resources to handle the problem on their own. They pleaded with the provincial and federal governments for help.
To protect Canada’s manufacturers, Bennett’s government raised the tariff on imports. But the U.S. and other countries also increased their import tariffs. As a result, Canadian exporters of resources such as wheat, lumber, and fish were unable to sell their products.
As the economic situation worsened and hundreds of thousands of workers, farmers, and fishers lost their income, some Canadians began to demand government action.
The On-to-Ottawa Trek
During the 1930s, thousands of mainly young, unmarried men rode freight trains across the country looking for work. In 1932, General
Andrew McNaughton, a World War I veteran who had fought at
Vimy Ridge, suggested that relief camps be set up in remote locations, especially northern B.C. and Ontario. Bennett followed this advice, and men who had no alternative began working to clear trees, build roads, and carry out other manual labour. But they often lived in crowded, poorly constructed shacks.
In April 1935, many of the men in the
B.C. camps staged a walkout to demand better working conditions and higher wages. They left the camps and walked or hitched rides to
Vancouver. There, they planned to jump on freight trains to take their case to the prime minister in Ottawa. Over the next two months,
1500 men gathered in Vancouver, where they held rallies and collected money for food.
Many people in Vancouver and along the route across the West supported the men.
When the trekkers arrived in Golden, B.C., for example, townspeople were waiting with huge pots of stew. In Calgary, people donated food and supplies, and CPR officials showed the trekkers how to board the trains safely.
168 U nit
2 • To what degree did internal and external forces transform Canada between 1914 and 1938? • mhr

The Regina Riot
By June 14, 1935, 2000 trekkers had reached
Regina, Saskatchewan — and the federal government was determined to stop them there. Bennett did not want more unemployed workers to join the trekkers as they crossed the country.
So he agreed to meet trek leaders in Ottawa if the rest of the trekkers would stay in Regina. Bennett agreed to pay for their food while they waited for their leaders to return.
The Ottawa meeting failed to resolve anything. Bennett insisted that there was nothing wrong with the relief camps and that trek leaders were nothing but communist agitators. Bennett was determined that the trek and what he saw as a possible revolution in Canada would end in Regina.
At a public meeting in Regina’s Market Square on July 1, Regina police and the RCMP tried to arrest the trek leaders. The day was a public holiday, then called Dominion Day, and many citizens had joined the trekkers.
When the police attacked, the crowd panicked. Some people overturned streetcars, broke store windows, and fought back against the police. By the time order was restored, one police officer was dead and hundreds of police and civilians were injured.
Within days, the trekkers left Regina to return — again by freight trains — to their homes or to the relief camps in B.C. They had gained nothing.
But in the 1935 federal election, William Lyon Mackenzie King’s government was returned to power, and the relief camps were closed.
During the Depression, some Canadians became disillusioned with the country’s two traditional political parties: the Liberals and
Conservatives. The Communist Party, for example, supported the idea that everyone should share equally in the profits of their labour, a philosophy that gained support in those tough economic times.
But the Communist Party never gained widespread support.
Many Canadians were suspicious of communists. People feared that their goal was to cause a revolution like the one that had overthrown the Russian monarchy in 1917. Communists were often harassed by police, and people could be arrested and charged with being communist agitators.
Figure 6-27 On July 1, 1935, in response to police attacks, these trekkers used parts of a Regina city tar-making machine as weapons against the police and RCMP.
.
.
.
.
.
Connections .
.
.
.
.
During the 1930s, R.B. Bennett’s government blamed immigrants, especially those from Eastern Europe, for creating social unrest. In the end, Bennett used a law forbidding communist agitation to deport about
30 000 people. The decision to deport could not be appealed. Communist
Party leader Tim Buck, a British-born
Canadian, was convicted under the same law and spent more than two years in Kingston Penitentiary.
mhr
•  To what extent did responses to social and economic forces help transform Canada after World War I? • C hapter
6 169

.
.
.
.
.
Connections .
.
.
.
.
The CCF called for
• government ownership of banks and transportation facilities
• crop insurance for farmers
• medical services for all, provided by the government
• employment insurance and pensions for seniors
• foreign policies that promoted peace and co-operation
Figure 6-28 Many people poked fun at
Social Credit’s prosperity certificates, which they called “funny money.” When someone used a certificate to pay for an item, the business pasted stamps on the back. When all 104 stamps were collected, the government redeemed the certificate for $1. How would this help stimulate the economy?
.
.
.
.
.
Connections .
.
.
.
.
In the 1935 federal election, many voters were unhappy with Prime
Minister R.B. Bennett’s policies, but most were also unwilling to jump to a new party. Social Credit won 17 seats, and the CCF took seven. Some other ridings also went to shortlived fringe parties. But most voters chose the Liberals, and William Lyon
Mackenzie King returned to power with a strong majority. The Liberals and Conservatives remained Canada’s dominant political parties.
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
One of the most successful political parties to emerge from the Depression was the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, which formed in 1932.
The CCF’s roots were in Western labour and farmers’ groups.
CCF members wanted to dismantle the free enterprise economic system, which they believed had caused the Depression. Instead, they wanted to introduce socialism — an economic system based on government control of the economy so that all people could benefit equally.
The Regina Manifesto, which was approved by the membership in 1933, declared that the CCF would “eliminate the domination and exploitation of one class by another” and, through economic planning, provide all people with a “genuine democratic self-government, based upon economic equality.”
The CCF’s first leader was J.S. Woodsworth, who had been a leader of the Winnipeg General Strike. Over time, CCF policies influenced federal governments to introduce many reforms, including employment insurance. In 1961, the CCF evolved into the New Democratic Party.
The Social Credit Party
Another successful Western movement was the Social Credit Party, which was led by William Aberhart. Aberhart, who was often called “Bible Bill,” was an evangelical minister who wanted the Alberta government to give out payments of $25 a month — a “social credit” — to every Albertan.
Aberhart believed the Depression would end if people had more money to spend. He was a powerful speaker who broadcast his message over the radio and at public rallies across the province.
The idea of the $25 credit appealed to people living in poverty, and Social Credit formed the government of Alberta in 1935. The party governed Alberta and
British Columbia for many years between 1935 and
1992, and also gained a foothold in Quebec.
In the 1935 federal election, the party won most of the seats in Alberta and continued to be represented in the House of
Commons over the following decades. In the 1970s, internal disputes divided the party, and it gradually disappeared.
The Union Nationale
In Quebec, Maurice Duplessis brought together rebellious factions of both the Liberals and Conservatives to form the Union Nationale. This new provincial party focused on issues that concerned francophones and attracted voters because of its reform agenda, which included higher minimum wages and a provincially owned hydroelectric system.
In 1936, the Union Nationale formed the government in Quebec and
Duplessis became premier. He remained in power for most of the time between then and his death in 1959.
170 U nit
2 • To what degree did internal and external forces transform Canada between 1914 and 1938? • mhr

During the 1920s and 1930s, many Canadians, including both Liberal and Conservative politicians, became concerned about the popularity of American radio programs among Canadian listeners. So in 1928, the government of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King established a royal commission to investigate radio broadcasting in Canada.
The royal commission’s report recommended establishing a government-owned system similar to the British Broadcasting
Corporation. By 1932, R.B. Bennett was prime minister. To combat what he called the “insidious American influence” of U.S. radio programs, his government established the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission.
A year after King returned to power, his government transformed the broadcasting commission into the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
The CBC’s mission was to develop a Canadian radio network and to regulate private broadcasters. By 1940, 90 per cent of all Canadians could listen to CBC radio broadcasts.
Many Canadians also loved the movies, and watching Hollywood films became a popular pastime. Saturday afternoons found children lined up to catch the latest western, action, or comedy feature. Talented
Canadians such as Mary Pickford built careers in the American movie industry.
The federal government’s efforts to promote a Canadian film industry met with little success in the face of the hundreds of American movies that were churned out every year. Finally, in 1939, the government set up the National Film Board to produce Canadian movies that told Canadian stories.
American magazines such as Time were also popular with Canadians.
The government tried to reduce the influence of American magazines by taxing those that had more than 20 per cent U.S. advertising. In response,
American magazines began printing Canadian editions in Canada — just as they did in the 1990s. But they stopped when the next government removed the tax.
By the end of the 1930s, it had become clear that Canadians were embracing a North American culture that was dominated by the U.S.
Figure 6-29 In 1937, the Walt Disney studio released its first full-length animated movie, Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs . This and other American movies were very popular with Canadian audiences during the Depression.
Recall .
.
.
Reflect .
.
.
Respond
1. Create an idea web to show how various forces came together to cause the Great Depression. On your web, show some of the consequences of the
Great Depression.
2. Scan this section of the chapter and select the primary source — written or visual — from the
Great Depression that you found most effective.
Explain the reason for your choice.
3. With a partner or small group, brainstorm to create a list of ways that the events of the Great
Depression have influenced responses to economic downturns today. Provide examples to support your ideas.
mhr
•  To what extent did responses to social and economic forces help transform Canada after World War I? • C hapter
6 171

c
6
Q
a
HS
1. This chapter explored the degree to which responses to social and economic forces helped transform Canada
C&C after World War I.
a) Develop three or four criteria that you could use to choose the most significant or powerful social and economic forces between 1919 and 1938 (e.g., Did the force affect a great many Canadians, regardless of their economic or social status?).
b) Compare your criteria with those of a partner.
If necessary, revise your criteria to reflect your discussions.
c) With your partner, use your criteria to identify three or four significant social and economic forces that transformed Canada between 1919 and 1938. Show how each force conforms to your criteria.
d) Write one or two paragraphs in response to the chapter issue question. Be sure that your response discusses the degree to which the forces you identified were important in transforming Canada.
HS
2. In each period — the postwar years (1919–1922), the
1920s, and the 1930s — Canadians faced different
HP challenges. On a chart like the one shown, compare the periods. Then record ideas in response to the following questions. For each question, be sure to record the criteria you used to guide your response.
a) What were the most prominent challenges?
b) What opportunities were available?
c) Which individuals or groups were important?
d) In a few words, how would you describe each period?
HS
3. The first comic books featuring Superman, a character co-developed by Canadian artist Joe Shuster, appeared
C&C in 1938 (see Figure 6-30).
HP a) Why do you suppose Superman became so popular with readers in 1938? In your response, consider the economic and social conditions of the time.
b) What aspects of Superman’s costume, background, and character would have appealed to readers at this time? Why do you suppose the creators of
Superman designed him this way?
c) Consider the social and economic forces at work in
Canada today. What qualities might a contemporary superhero display? Why? What might this superhero be named? Why?
Figure 6-30
U nit
2 • To what degree did internal and external forces transform Canada between 1914 and 1938? • mhr

ED
4. Some analysts have argued that the Great Depression was so long and deep because governments around the world were unwilling or unable to take action to correct the economic conditions. Governments’ relief efforts, for example, did little to reduce suffering or stimulate the economy.
Steps to Your
about include stimulating the economy, creating stability, and enabling people to take advantage of opportunities.
b) With the same partner or small group, identify the social and economic roles governments should play in hard times. What, for example, should governments do to support investors? What should be done to support people who have lost their jobs? What should governments do to stimulate the economy?
c) On the basis of the ideas you discussed, write a point-form job description for governments.
ACHIEVE Chapter Six
Category Question
Knowledge & Understanding 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Thinking
Communication
Application
1, 2, 3, 4, 5
1a, 1b, 1d, 2d, 3c, 4c, 5c
1a, 1d, 3c, 4c, 5c
E
5. A version of “Hold the Fort,” an old workers’ song, became the anthem of the On-to-Ottawa Trek.
HP a) What is the message of this song? Choose two or three lines from the song and explain how they would help inspire solidarity among the trekkers.
b) Think about the state of mass communication in
1935. Why would a song like “Hold the Fort” be important? If something similar happened today, would a song like this be as important? Explain your response.
Hold the Fort
We meet today in freedom’s cause
And raise our voices high.
We’ll join our hands in union strong
To battle or to die.
Chorus
Hold the fort
For we are coming,
Union hearts be strong.
Side by side, we’ll battle onward,
Victory will come.
Look my comrades
See the union banners waving high.
Reinforcements now appearing
Victory is nigh.
Chorus
mhr
•  To what extent did responses to social and economic forces help transform Canada after World War I? • C hapter
6