The Roaring 20s
The economy Roars
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Initially people struggled
Recovery due to US investment
Buying Canadian resources (wood and metals)
Invested in Canada through Branch Plants
Economy boomed – help by consumerism
People investing in stock market
Shown in value of $100 investments:
– 1924 - $150m
– 1928 - $500m
Consumerism – Buy, buy, buy!
• New money meant people wanted to spend
• Increased holidays for workers – vacations!
• New technologies all affordable for most:
– Telephone
– Radio
– Cars
Music and Culture
•
•
•
•
Also known as the Jazz Age
Jazz symbolic of feeling
Freer, no restrictions, fun
New opportunities – dance halls, movie
theatres
• Some worried about Americanisation of
Canada
Prohibition
• Alcohol banned during WW1
• 1920 – not working
– Too much bootlegging and problems
– Soldiers used to European attitudes
• 1921 – Allowed but controlled
• Continued in US until 1933
• Cross-border smuggling – Rum Running
Canadian Culture
• New national pride in Canada from WW1,
Versailles and afterwards
• Group of 7 – Canadian landscapes
• In BC, led by Emily Carr
• Also CBC radio introduced Hockey night in
Canada in 1936
Women
• WW1 saw progress – work and vote
• After war women expected to return home –
jobs for soldiers and also when married
• If worked lower skilled and lower wages, 60%
lower than men
• 1921 – Agnes MacPhail first woman MP
Are Women Persons?
• Progress slow – only white and wealthy
benefitted
• 1916 – Emily Murphy Appointed Judge in
Alberta
• 1917 – decision is challenged – women are
not designated person under BNA
• Has to be a “fit and proper person” to be a
judge
• Murphy wins but only for Alberta
The Person’s Case
• 1927 - Murphy applies for Senate supported
by the ‘Famous Five’
• 1928 - Senate decides women are not persons
under BNA
• Can’t change – up to British Government
• 1929 – BNA Act changed by British
Government – Women are now officially
people and can become judges
The Roaring 20s Overview
• In what ways were the 20s roaring?
• How does person’s case reflect:
• Attitudes toward women?
• Canada’s independence from Britain?