Canada Between the Wars
1919- 1939
Post War Canada
Closing of War Industries
major effects such as high inflation, women returning
to home, rising unemployment, increasing labour
unrest
Winnipeg General Strike 1919
 30 000 workers went on strike (demanded .85 cents
per hour, 8 hour day, right to collective bargaining)
Bloody Saturday; riots and violence led to 1 death and
30 injuries
Leaders arrested and sent to jail but more attention
drawn to social and economic problems of workers
Prohibition & Bootlegging
ban of production, import and distribution of alcohol
Led to bootleg booze- smuggled alcohol and
speakeasies
Spanish Flu
Massive epidemic after veterans returned home
Deadly strain killing up to 100 million people; 50 000
Canadians
Social Issues
Aboriginal Issues
 Policy of assimilation seen in the Indian Act
1867, creation of residential schools, and
policy of enfranchisement (right to vote if
give up Aboriginal status)
 League of Indians- created in 1919 by
Frederick Loft (Aboriginal war veteran) to
make a united voice for Aboriginals
Immigration
 Xenophobia- intense dislike of foreigners
 1919 Immigration Act- made all immigrants
pass an English literacy test (emphasis on
assimilation)
 1923- Chinese Exclusion Act: banned all
Chinese immigrants except students,
merchants and diplomats (from 1923- 1947only 8 Chinese immigrants admitted to
Canada)
Roaring
Twenties
New Technologies
& Movements
 New technologies:
radio, automobile,
passenger planes

Ford Model T or “Tin Lizzie” was most
affordable car ($395 in 1924) and was mass
produced by assembly line
 Ted Rogers:
Canadian who invented the
world’s first battery-less radio
 Joseph Bombardier:
Canadian who
invented first snowmobile called “B-7” for
medical transport in winter
 Person’s Case:
Famous Five
campaigned that women should be
considered “Persons” under Canadian
Law; finally granted by Britain’s Privy
Council and Cairine Wilson was first
women appointed to the Senate
Entertainment & Sports
Americanization
 Huge influence of culture & influence from United States
Fads
 mahjong, crosswords, contests, dancing marathons
Fashions
 flappers, rising hemlines, bob haircut, knickers, bow ties
Entertainment:

Jazz Age, Charleston dance
 “talkies” (talking movies) with stars Charlie Chaplin and
Canadian Mary Pickford “America’s Sweetheart”
Golden Age of Sports
 Famous amateur athletes such as Lionel Conacher, Bobbie
Rosenfeld played multiple sports
 Women in Sports: Edmonton Grads dominated basketball
for over 20 years but by 1930s competitive sports were
considered “unfeminine”
 Professional Sports: hockey (NHL) & Foster Hewitt’s call of
Hockey Night and Canada; baseball
1920s Economy
ECONOMIC PROSPERITY
 End of post war economic problems
 New inventions and mass production of
products fueled economy and employment
 High sales, high wages, high prices, high
production, high profits, high demand, low
unemployment
 Emergence of ‘branch plants’ in Canada
PLAYING THE STOCKMARKET
 Get rich quick scheme (buy low, sell high)
 Stock / share: a unit of ownership in a
company
 Price of share dependent on supply and
demand
CREDIT BUYING
 ‘credit buying’ of products (appliances)- buy
now, pay later
 ‘buying on margin’ of stocks
The Balloon Bursts:
The Great Crash of 1929
HOW DID IT CRASH?
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Stocks were highly inflated or overpriced AND company assets were not
the same worth
Investors became nervous as stock prices were becoming “too high” for
what it actually worth
‘Black Tuesday’: October 29, 1929: massive selling of stocks > panic sets
in > everyone selling
As investors sold, prices of stocks plunged
EFFECTS





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Thousands of investors wiped out
Banks demanded payment for loans but borrowers could not repay
Many companies had borrowed money to finance expansion of companies
and had to shut down > rise in unemployment
People had bought many stocks and items on credit- had nothing to pay
back; then banks would repossess items (ie. homes)
People could not afford to buy clothes, food and other merchandise >
forcing more companies to go bankrupt and put more people out of work
Trigger to the Great Depression- worst economic downturn in history
Background Causes of Great
Depression

Similar to WWI, there were
BACKGROUND CAUSES to the
Depression:
1) Overexpansion & overproduction
2) Canada’s Dependence on Staples
(wheat)
3) Canada’s Dependence on United
States
4) High Taxes decreased International
Trade
5) Credit Buying
6) Buying on Margin
The Dirty
Thirties
 1933- 1/3 of
people were
out of work
 Riding the rods
 Relief vouchers
or Pogey
 Relief Camps
 Dust Bowl
 Soup Kitchens
 Bennett
Buggies
 On to Ottawa
Trek & Regina
Riot
Political Responses
P.M. Mackenzie King
 Five Cent Speech 1930
 re-elected 1935
P.M. R.B. Bennett
 elected 1930
 proposed the New Deal
New Political Parties
 emerged to solve the
problems of the 1930s
 Social Credit- leader William
Aberhart
 Union Nationale- leader
Maurice Duplessis
 Co-operative Commonwealth
Federation (CCF)- leader J.S.
Woodsworth
Promoting Canadian Identity
 Group of Seven
 Canadian Author’s
Association (1921)
 RCAF: Royal Canadian Air
Force (1924)
 Statute of Westminster
(1931)
 CRBC: Canadian Radio
Broadcasting Company
(1933)
 CBC: Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation
(1936)
 NFB: National Film Board
(1939)
What brought the world out
of the Great Depression?
 World War II breaks
out September 3,
1939
 Canada declares war
on Germany
September 10, 1939
HOW?
• war industries re-open
• rise in employment
• as more people get jobs,
people have $ to spend
• businesses revived