The Roaring Twenties
The Interwar Period
Changes in the 1920’s
1. Economy
2. Mobility/Communication
3. Women’s Rights
4. Minority Rights
5. Regionalism and Federalism
Life after War
 During war workers agreed to work for lower wages as
part of their patriotic duty
 Inflation soon made it impossible to live on wages
 Workers demanded more money confrontation with
employers was inevitable
 Beginning of Unions
Response to Unrest
 Communism: a social and economic theory that
property, production, and distribution of goods and
services should be owned by the public, and the labour
force organized for the benefit of all members of society
 Socialist: believing in a system in which the government
controls the economy so that everyone benefits equally
 Strikes and labour disputes took hold throughout the
nation
 Led to creation of systems and political parties we still
see present today (NDP Party Roots)
Changing Economy
 Demand for Canadian raw resources grew and boosted
Canadian economy
 Wheat, pulp and paper, Mining (lead, silver, zinc, copper)
 Export and trade with the United States grew
significantly
 75% of newsprint exported to USA
 American companies, specifically the automotive
industry, began manufacturing protects within Canada
(Branch Plants) - Why? Who benefited?
Tariffs
 Tariff: Tax on foreign goods being imported.
 The federal government introduced tariffs to protect
Canada’s manufacturing and industrial base.
 Example: US made farm machinery was taxed so that it was
more expensive than Canadian-made farm machinery.
 What did this do for Canadian companies?
A New Prosperity
 Economy improved by mid-1920s
 Canadians went into a spending frenzy
 Made sacrifices during WWI, now they get to have some
fun
 Cars, radios, movies, jazz clubs, tourism, fashion, etc.
 Era of consumerism, leisure, and rebellion
Increased Mobility
 Automobiles
 Cars cheaper, more popular, because of he assembly line
(Henry Ford). Highway construction all over Canada
 Switched from driving on left hand to right hand side of
road
 1928 White Spot opened first drive in restaurant
 Often connecting Canada and USA
Flight
 Flight
 Pilots testing limits
 Planes used to transport supplies to isolated locations
 Veterans became “Bush Pilots” who flew geologists into
remote areas to explore mining opportunities
 Connected isolated communities- deliver antitoxin to treat
diphtheria outbreak in Northern Alberta
Improved Communication
 Telephones common household item

Radio linked people across Canada
 Spread popular culture, entertainment,

Information

Dominated by American programming- Canadian protectionism
 Movies


Silent until late-1920s
Dominated by Hollywood
Arts and Sports
Group of Seven Canadian landscapes in modern style
Emily Carr- Painted scenes of West Coast
Forest and Aboriginal life
- Revolutionary broad strokes, bright colours
Figure 3-10: Emily
Carr Totems and
Indian Houses
Arts and Sports
Increase in sports as entertainment
First radio broadcast of hockey by Foster Hewitt – 1923
Increasing popularity of modern Olympics
Baseball, professional boxing,
Rugby football, curling, golf
Figure 3-9
Role of Women
 Hopes for reform high after WWI – “New Era for Women”
BUT
 Women encouraged to give jobs back to men
 Women still expected to stay home
 If they worked, paid less than men
 Nurses, teachers, secretaries, operators
 Agnes Macphail First woman elected to Parliament (1921)
 Government still dominated by men
Women in Politics
 1921- Only 5 women ran for office, only one, Agnes
Macphail, won her seat. She was the only woman in the
House of Commons until 1935
 4 western provinces elected 9 women to their legislaturefederal and provinical governments make dominated
The Persons Case

Emily Murphy appointed a magistrate in Alberta in 1929

Challenged on basis only “persons” could hold office under BNA Act

Women were not persons in the eyes of the law

Supreme Court of Alberta ruled that Murphy did, indeed, have the
right to be a judge

Emily Murphy and 4 other women activists challenged PM King to
appoint a woman senator and clarify definition of person

Took case to Supreme Court of Canada

In 1928 Supreme Court of Canada decided women were NOT….
WHAT???
This is a picture of the famous five.
From left to right: Nelly McClung, Louise McKinley, Henrietta
Edwards, Emily Murphy and Irene Parlby.
Appealed to Privy Council in London
Famous Five appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in
Britian
1929 Judicial Committee declared its support for women
“… to those who would ask why the word “person” should include females,
the obvious answer is, why should it not?!?!?!?!?!?!?”
Missing the Roar
 First Nations
Residential Schools
 Not classified as “persons”
under the law
 Discrimination and racism
in cities

Not allowed to vote (BC:
1949, Fed: 1960)
 Conditions poor on reserves,
many looked for
employment in cities
 Separated from families,
culture
 Many abused physically and
emotionally
 Either adapt or be punished
 Assimilation
Missing the Roar
First Nations
Aboriginal Title (land claims)
Potlatch ceremonies outlawed

Most BC land not officially
signed over to government in
treaties

Government still took land
from reserves
Illegal since 1884, but strictly
enforced in ’20s

Cut-off lands

Argued for treaty negotiations
with gov.

Federal government forbid
land claims
Residential Schools
Missing the Roar
 Immigrants
 Much racism, ethnocentrism (Ku Klux Klan)
 Russian and Eastern European immigrants believed to be
communist revolutionaries
 British and Americans preferred
 White and spoke English
 Some businesses welcomed immigrants because they worked
for little money in unpleasant jobs
 Labour unions often against open immigration. WHY??M
Missing the Roar
Asian immigrants treated the worst
Chinese Head Tax since 1885
Chinese Exclusion Act (1923)
Only allowed if merchant, diplomat, student Japanese
immigration severely restricted in 1922
Economy improved in mid-1920s, immigration laws relaxed
(except for Asian immigrants) to increase Canada’s
population, market