Canadian Reaction to the Events in Europe
• Following the lead of British Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain, William Lyon Mackenzie King pursued a
policy of appeasement with Germany and Italy.
• In 1937 King visited Hitler and found him to be a man
of “deep sincerity and a genuine patriot” who “truly
loves his fellow man”
• When Germany seized the Sudetenland in
Czechoslovakia, the Munich Pact (signed by Britain,
Germany, France and Italy) allowed the territorial grab
without any objection. King sent a message to
Chamberlain thanking him for his work towards peace.
• Hitler quickly followed up by capturing the rest of
Czechoslovakia and started the Second World War by
invading Poland on Sept 1, 1939.
Canadian Reaction to the Events in Europe
• At the outbreak of the war, a small minority of
Canadians called for neutralism and pacifism. The
most notable figure being the CCF leader J.S.
Woodsworth.
• Canada went to war not because Hitler was a monster
who had invaded Poland, not to fight for democracy,
not to save the Jews of Europe but simply because
Britain had gone to war. Britain had promised to
defend Poland if Hitler invaded.
• Because of the 1931 Statute of Westminster, Canada
now had independent control of its foreign policy.
• It is true that King waited week after Britain declared
war before doing so himself, but this was mostly to
prove that Canada could do so; there was never any
doubt that Canada was Britain’s “banking ally”.
Canadian Reaction to the Events in Europe
• Few Canadians felt any excitement as the war
began
• Ten years of depression, unemployment, and
hard times had sapped the national will, and
there were too many who remembered the
dead and maimed from the Great War
• King pledged to not introduce conscription for
overseas service.
• Canada’s role would be one of “limited liability”
during the war. This meant that Canada would
contribute what it could and use the war to
rebuild its economy.
The Military Role of Canada
•
To mobilize the economy for war, King created the
Department of Munitions and Supply in 1940 under the
direction of industrialist C.D. Howe.
• This department was the driving force behind Canada’s
industrial contribution to the war.
• At the outset of the war in 1939, King announced that
Canadian forces would play three key roles:
1) an infantry division would be sent to Europe
2) the Royal Canadian Navy would shepherd convoys across
the Atlantic
3) the Royal Canadian Air Force would run the British
Commonwealth Air Training Plan(BCATP)
• The BCATP took advantage of Canada’s wide-open spaces
and relative safety. Aircrew trainees from all across the
Commonwealth came to Canada to be turned into pilots,
navigators, operators, and bombardiers.
The Military Role of Canada
• Many argue that the 132,000-strong aircrew produced by
the BCATP was Canada’s greatest contribution to WWII.
• As Germany quickly conquered virtually all of continental
Europe by the summer of 1940, Canada’s plan for “limited
liability” was jettisoned.
• Recruiting was stepped up, war production was increased
to supply the British demand, and units of infantry, artillery,
RCAF squadrons were hurried across the ocean.
• From 1939 until late 1941, Canada was Britain’s principal
ally in the war effort.
• Thousands of RCAF members were integrated into the
Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command where they engaged
in dangerous missions carrying the war into the heart of
Germany every night.
Canada’s Military Role
• Early battles included a few serious losses. For example, 1975
Canadian infantrymen defending the British Crown Colony of
Hong Kong were captured by the Japanese on Christmas Day,
1941.
• Also, the attempt to land at Dieppe, France in August 1942 was
a huge military blunder that resulted in 907 dead and 2000
captured. The only positive outcomes of the attack on Dieppe
were that it prepared the Allied forces for the scale of assault
needed to make D-Day successful and it convinced the USSR
of the Allies’ commitment to the war.
• By 1943, the Royal Canadian Navy was successful in chasing
German U-boats from the sea and winning the Battle of the
Atlantic.
• Canadians, in participation with Americans and the British,
launched a hard fought campaign in Sicily and Italy that saw
Rome captured by June 1944. In these battles, soldiers fought
room to room to overtake Italian and German soldiers. The
battle of Ortona, Italy stands out amongst these fights.
Canada’s Military Role
• Also in June 1944, the Allied forces launched the
invasion of Normandy, France called Operation
Overlord (or more commonly D-Day). Canadian forces
successfully landed at Juno beach and commenced
their Eastward march across Europe.
• Canadian soldiers battled through France and helped
to free Holland.
• The death toll for Canada’s participation in WWII
included 22,917 in the army, 17,101 in the RCAF and
2204 in the Navy. (approximately 42,000)
• By the end of the war Canada the third largest Navy
and the fourth largest air force in the world.
Inter-American Diplomacy
• Both Canada and the USA were worried about their own
national security by the summer of 1940 and decided to
move towards greater cooperation.
• Roosevelt and King were friendly and their governments
had negotiated trade deals in 1935 and 1938, and there
had even been tentative military staff talks in 1938.
• In August 1940 King called FDR and suggested a meeting
at Ogdensburg, New York.
• There they established a Permanent Joint Board on
Defence to plan for the defence of the continent and to
coordinate the deployment of their forces.
• The Ogdensburg Agreement was historic because it
marked the shifting of Canada out of Britain’s sphere of
influence and into that of the USA. Responses to the
Ogdensburg Agreement were positive in North America
but Winston Churchill was understandably critical.
Inter-American Diplomacy
• King again visited FDR in April of 1941 at the
President’s home in Hyde Park, New York.
• The resulting Hyde Park Declaration saw the USA
agreeing to buy more raw materials and manufactured
goods in Canada as well as allowing components to
be imported into Canada under Lend-Lease. All of this
allowed Canada to sidestep dollar deficits and more
effectively supply the British war effort.
• Thanks to the Hyde Park Declaration, Canada’s
economic problems were quickly erased and the
Canadian war economy boomed.
• As a result, Canada was soon in a position to give
away billions of dollars in munitions and foodstuffs. In
total, Canada gave Britain $3.5 billion in aid.
Inter-American Diplomacy
• By the end of 1941, Canada started to be partly
ignored by Washington, DC. The USA was now
formally aligned with the other superpowers of Britain
and the USSR in waging the war and had less time for
a “middle power”
• In an attempt to have more influence Canada applied
the functional principle. For example, in diplomatic
endeavours such as the Combined Food Board (which
allocated scarce foodstuffs), Canada forced Britain
and the USA to allow Canada a larger share of
decision-making as a reflection of Canada’s role as a
principal food exporter.
• Canada was also active in cooperating with the USA
on atomic and scientific research as well as in
intelligence matters.
Impact of the War on Labour
• Increased demands for wheat, lumber, fish and minerals
made unemployment disappear
• Government and businesses desired peace on the labour
front in order to maintain production
• Ottawa passed regulations that recognized labour’s rights
to bargain collectively and organize, to fair wages and a
fair deal. The primary regulation was Privy Council Act
1003. PC 1003 was modelled on the US’s Wagner Act and
became the basis for all subsequent labour law in Canada.
• One preamble to PC 1003 states that, "the common wellbeing" is promoted "through the encouragement of free
collective bargaining and the constructive settlement of
disputes."
• Union strength doubled from 359,000 in 1939 to 711,000
in 1945.
Impact of the War on Business
• While some business leaders were unhappy with the
new rights of labour, overall business was good during
the war.
• There were products to be made in every factory and
the cost-plus contracts with the government eliminated
the usual risks for owners
• The government aided the construction of plants, gave
easy write-offs for costs and depreciation and,
although taxes were high, profits were still good.
• Unnecessary industries were squeezed out of the
marketplace and forced to convert to war production.
Eg. Fridges to Bren guns or tank tracks
Impact of the War on the Economy
• Living standards improved all across the country during
the war.
• The Gross National Product (GNP) rose from $5.6 billion in
1939 to $11.8 billion in 1945 and average wages, personal
savings and government expenditures rose with it.
• The cost of living remained static because of price controls
and, in spite of high taxes, there was more money in
Canada than there had been for years.
• There were few things to buy due to military production so
Canadians gave billions back to the government when
they bought Victory Bonds.
• It was a people’s war in Canada, fought by the people with
equipment produced by the people and paid for by the
people, and for once the people seemed to get some of
the benefits.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Conscription
King did not want to see a repeat of the Conscription Crisis that
had damaged French-English relations during World War One.
French and English Canadians needed to remain united, but this
would be impossible if conscription was imposed on a reluctant
Quebec by the Anglo-Canadian majority
The National Resources Mobilization Act was passed in 1940 to
create a conscripted force but for home defence only.
This policy seemed favourable to most French Canadians, who
had no quarrel with being expected to defend Canada.
As the war deepened, King came up with the idea of a national
plebiscite to free his government from its promise to not impose
conscription.
In early 1942, Quebec voted 72.9% against conscription while in
Ontario (and most of English Canada) only 17.7% voted against
forced military service overseas.
King now found himself in a difficult position: should he listen to
the majority will and impose conscription or favour national unity
and not alienate Quebec?
Conscription
• The National Resources Mobilization Act was amended to make
overseas conscription possible but only if it was deemed necessary.
• King craftily claimed it was “not necessarily conscription, but
conscription if necessary”
• By 1944, there was a shortage of Canadian troops in Europe.
Because Canada insisted on controlling its own forces in the war, a
long supply line and reinforcement chain was necessary.
Reinforcement shortages arose and wounded Canadians were being
sent back out the front.
• King decided that conscription had become “necessary” and sent
16,000 NRMA men overseas. In the end 2463 NRMA soldiers made
it to the front and, of these, only 69 were killed.
• The fallout in Quebec was sharply critical, but it did not destroy the
Liberal government in Quebec. King still seemed the best of a bad lot
of Anglo politicians to French Canadians.
• By stalling until the end of the war, King had avoided a major division
and the bloody riots that had accompanied the conscription crisis
during WWI.
Impact of the War on the Role of Government
• The state began to intervene in
every sphere of life, allocating
resources, controlling production,
and determining wages.
• The Wartime Prices and Trade
Board froze prices and wages in
1941 to avoid spiralling inflation.
• Ration cards or tokens were
issued for scarce items such as
gasoline or meat
• Housewives were encouraged to
plant Victory Gardens to produce
their own foodstuffs as well as to
save fats and metals for the war
effort.
• The government mobilized for
war in a way that made WWI
efforts look amateurish.
Impact of the War on the Role of Government
• Canadians were afraid that depression conditions would return after
the war; People wanted jobs, security and a good standard of living.
• In response and under the influence of Keynesian economics, the
federal bureaucracy became convinced that it needed to play a major
role in directing the economy.
• In 1940 a contributory scheme of unemployment insurance was
created.
• Further, in 1944 the family allowance or “baby bonus” began sending
a monthly payment for each child.
• These and other numerous programs created the modern welfare
state or social welfare net that Canadians have come to expect.
• The Liberal party stole these social welfare planks from Opposition
parties (most notably the CCF) and established itself as the primary
ruling party of Canada because it “delivered the goods”.
• The government had changed with the war, and ideas of state
intervention that in the 1930s had been denounced as unjustified
interference with the laissez faire tradition were now heralded as
essential
Internment of Japanese-Canadians
Internment of Japanese-Canadians
• With the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbour on Dec. 7, 1941,
the war had been brought close
to North America and panic
struck the West Coast.
• Drawing on a long tradition of
anti-Asian sentiment,
politicians, newspapers and
citizens’ groups called for action
against the 23,000 JapaneseCanadians living in British
Columbia
• Most of these fisherpeople and
market gardeners were
Canadian citizens and the
RCMP and military officials
informed Ottawa that they
posed no threat to Canadian
security.
Internment of Japanese-Canadians
• Despite this, the Japanese-Canadians were rounded up,
deprived of their livelihoods, and dispersed to internment
camps in Canada’s interior.
• Soon their property was sold at drastically undervalued
prices and after the war the federal government attempted
to deport as many Japanese-Canadians as possible back
to Japan.
• As the largest forced migration in Canadian history, this
episode of systematic discrimination is widely believed to
be one of Canada’s darkest moments.
• In 1988 the Canadian government officially apologized for
its treatment of Japanese Canadians. A symbolic redress
payment of $21,000 was given to each survivor and an
additional $36 million was put into cultural programming
for the Japanese-Canadian community and anti-racism
education more broadly.
Impact of the War on Aboriginal Peoples
• 3000 First NationCanadians served during
WWII. This statistic does not account for any
Inuit or Metis participants.
• Because of the entrance restrictions used by
the air force and navy, most Aboriginal people
served in the army.
• Aboriginal men joined to gain employment, to
fight against nazism, and to carry on the
tradition of their fathers and uncles who had
served in WWI
Impact of the War on •Aboriginal
Peoples
The war produced many
decorated Aboriginal heroes. For
example, Tommy Prince of
Manitoba served as part of an
exclusive battalion doing
specialized reconnaissance and
raiding missions. As the most
decorated Canadian war hero,
Prince was awarded the Military
Medal by King George VI.
• Despite their sacrifices,
Aboriginal soldiers still faced
discrimination and often returned
to a Canada that relegated them
and their families to the secondclass citizenship of reserve life.
• It must be remembered that
many First Nations soldiers were
fighting for democracy abroad
while they didn’t even have the
right to vote in federal elections!
Impact of the War on Women
• Wives and older daughters stepped into industry to supply the necessary
labour lost by men fighting overseas
• By 1944, more than 1 million women were working full time and this
figure does not include part-time women workers or the 800,000 women
working on farms.
• In 1943, 261,000 women were employed in war industries making
artillery pieces, tanks, ammunition, ships and aircraft. In contrast to the
sham of “Rosie the Riveter” in the USA, Canadian women did much of
the same work as men in factories.
• As a result, women earned substantially higher wages than were
possible before the war.
• Women also participated actively in the war effort.
• Nearly 50,000 women enlisted in the Canadian Women’s Army Corps,
the RCAF’s Women’s Division, and the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval
Service.
• A further 4,500 served as nursing sisters in the forces overseas.
• The war did not emancipate women or win them full equality, but it did
increase their opportunities by providing room for work outside the
domestic sphere.
Veronica Foster or “Ronnie” The Bren Gun
Girl, John Inglis Co. in Toronto, ON
Reaction to the Holocaust in Canada
• In the 1930s German Jews fled Nazi Germany in order
to escape persecution.
• The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 had removed the rights
of Jewish citizens and Kristallnacht in 1938 was a
government-sponsored attack on the Jewish
community.
• Frederick Blair, King’s anti-Semitic minister of
immigration, had effectively shut the doors to any
Jews attempting to come to Canada. When asked how
many Jews should be allowed to immigrate, Blair
responded, “one is too many.”
• Canada also turned away the steamship St. Louis that
was filled with German Jewish refugees. When the
ship returned to Germany, half of its passengers
would perish during the Holocaust.
Reaction To The Holocaust
• As a result of Blair’s policies, Canada allowed
fewer than 5000 Jews refuge in Canada during
Hitler’s reign. This is in comparison to the USA
(240,000) and Argentina (25,000).
• Canada during WWII was still a very W.A.S.P.
country and anti-Semitic views were still very
common.
• Though many people view Hitler’s systematic
murdering of 6 million Jews and 5 million other
“undesirables” (Gypsies, homosexuals,
disabled people, Slavs and leftists) as a key
feature of WWII, it was not a primary concern
for Canadians during the war.
Reaction to the Holocaust
• By 1942, information detailing the slaughter of
Jews became available to Allied leaders.
• The Canadian Jewish Congress organized
protests and did publicity to raise awareness of
the issue and to allow refugees into Canada.
• At the end of 1942, Canadian officials admitted
that they knew 2 million Jews had been killed.
Despite this, they argued that the solution was
to defeat Germany militarily, not to admit
refugees.
Reaction to the Holocaust
• Due to anti-Judaism within the general population, there
was little support for accepting refugees or immigrants.
• King was aware that pursuing a strong policy of refugee
admission could possibly cause him to lose the next
election.
• When a petition was put forward by the Canadian National
Committee on Refugees, nativist and anti-Judaic groups
mobilized against it.
• For example, the Canadian Legion’s paper wrote, “The
future of Canada depends on the preservation of British
institutions...there is no room in Canada for the cut throat
competition of Japs or refugees” until all returned soldiers
were re-integrated into Canada.
Reaction to the Holocaust
• At the end of the war there were 250,000 Jews left in Europe
looking for homes. They were among the millions of DPs
(Displaced Persons) still in camps.
• In 1947 Canada allowed 8000 Jews into Canada under a few
programs for orphans, first-degree relatives and needle
trades/fur workers.
• On the positive side, this reversed the decades-old trend of
refusal and represented a higher percentage of Jewish
immigrants (15%) than the total population of Canadian Jews
as part of Canadian society(1.5%)
• On the negative side, this total was pitiful compared with the
demand. Also, it only came after the crisis of the Holocaust
was over. Finally, and coincidentally, Canada only opened its
doors at the time of the founding of Israel. Thus, many Jews
decided to settle there instead.
Canada and the Atomic Age
• Canada had assisted the USA in its Manhattan Project
of developing the atomic bomb.
• A research and development facility to be used as part
of the Manhattan Project was scheduled to be built in
Montreal, but was cancelled when the bomb was
developed earlier than planned.
• Canada provided uranium from its western mines to
be used in the atomic bombs.
• After WWII ended the world quickly split between the
capitalist west (USA, Britain, Canada, France, West
Germany) and the communist east (USSR, and its
satellites such as East Germany, Poland, etc.)
• Although Canada never armed itself with atomic
bombs, it did participate in the Cold War by joining the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).