My “Personal Profile” in Canadian Society, 1900-18.
1] Your name:
Name: __________________
2] Your age in 1900 [your present age]:_____
3] Your family’s ethnic &/or cultural background:___________________________________
4] Are you Canadian-born or did you emigrate to Canada with your family?
_________________________________________________________________________
5] What region of Canada does your family live in:
What town/city/village:
.
. What province:
An urban or rural setting:
6] Your family’s social class/layer number in Canadian society:
7] Your father’s occupation:
.
.
.
.
How secure and prosperous is your father’s occupation? Explain.
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
8] How many brothers & sisters do you have
. Their ages:
9] Describe your parents’ roles and/or responsibilities within the family:[Note: Your family’s
social class, ethnic background, and where they live in Canada all will have some bearing on your parents’
roles/responsibilities within the family.]
_________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
. [Note: Again, your family’s social class and where they
live in Canada - region, likewise either an urban, town or rural setting - will have a significant bearing on
whether you still go to school. Also your gender - either male or female.] Why or why not?
10] Do you still go to school:
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
.
11] 1902: Will your father die as a result of an accident in the workplace?
“In factories all across Canada pulleys mangled or killed many workers. On building sites scaffolding
collapsed, while hundreds of accidents occurred in freight sheds, on loading docks and in railway yards.
Death and injury were a way of life in Canadian coal mines, which were among the most dangerous in
the world. At Crow’s Nest and Fernie in British Columbia two separate coal mine explosions in 1902
killed 232 workers. Hillcrest, Alberta in 1914 saw 189 men killed in one coal mine explosion.
Northern Ontario’s hard rock mines took a toll of 278 miners between 1903 and 1913!”
[“Health & Safety in the Workplace,” Canadian Labour Studies Series, produced by Labour Canada
& the National Film Board of Canada, 1981, pp.12-13.]
“The case of thirteen-year-old Wellington Lawrence provides but one example of the almost total
failure to prosecute employers. In April 1902 Lawrence, without his parents’ knowledge, applied for
work at a Toronto factory. He claimed to be fourteen (legal age for factory work) and was given a blank
age certificate to be filled out by his parents. In violation of the law Lawrence immediately began
working. A few hours later young Lawrence died after his head was crushed in an elevator accident.
The factory inspector investigated the accident, discovered that the law had been broken, and then
decided not to prosecute. Instead he merely warned the employer against future violations.”
[Michael J. Piva, “The Origins of the Ontario Working Class, 1867-1914,” Canada’s Visual
History Series, Vol. #51, produced by the National Museums of Canada & the NFB, 1978, p.6.]
* Your father’s fate:
Yes:
No:
If your family is part of social layer #1 or #2, you are fortunate! Your family has sufficient economic
security to weather this tragedy. But if your family is part of social layer #3 or #4, your family will plunge
to social layer #5! REMEMBER, the following programs DID NOT exist in Canadian society in 1902:
• child tax credits
• workmen’s compensation
• human rights commissions
• unemployment insurance
• anti-discrimination & fair employment laws
• minimum wage laws
• pensions for the elderly & disabled
• public hospital & medical insurance
• maximum hours laws
• job retraining programs• few job safety/health laws
• anti-discrimination & fair employment laws
12] On what date did you get married? ___________ 13] Spouse’s name? _____________
14] What are the names and ages of your children?
1) ___________________ 2) ___________________3) ___________________
[Assumption: At this time most people got married in their late teens or early twenties and by their late
twenties would have at least one or two children. In most cases people married within their social class.]
15] What is your [or your husband’s] occupation? _________________________________
[Remember, the occupation must be consistent with your social class and the region in which you live]
How secure and prosperous is your [or your spouse’s] occupation? Explain.
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
16] 1909: Will your family significantly prosper from the “Laurier boom
years” and move up the social ladder?
Area of Growth:
1901:
1911:
Immigration
49,000
331,000
Value of Wheat Exports
$6,900,000
$45,500,000
Mineral Production
$65,800,000
$103,200,000
Value of Manufactures
$481,000,000
$1,165,900,000
Newsprint Exports
$3,100,000
[J. Richer et al, The Modern Era, 1960, p.65.]
Many families in Canadian society did experience the fruits of prosperity. Most families in social layer #1
and #2 did benefit directly from those prosperous times. Many families in social classes #3 & #4 did
benefit somewhat from the fruits of prosperity; however, very few families from social layer #5 did share
in the prosperity of the “Laurier boom years” - for a variety of reasons.
* Your family’ fate:
Yes:
No:
[If you picked ‘yes’ & belong to social layers #3 or #4, your family may move up the social ladder one
layer providing your family’s ethnic background is British! If your family is non-British in ethnic
background, flip a coin and, if it’s ‘your call,’ climb the social ladder by one layer. If your family is in
social layer #5, flip a coin. Again, if it’s ‘your call,’ climb the social ladder by one social layer! If your
family has moved up the social ladder in 1909, this move will affect your future personal profile.]
17] 1910: Will you & your family be propelled up the social ladder into
the ranks of the nouveau riche [social layer #2] as a result of
your father’s intelligence, business savvy, hard work & plain
good fortune?
At the turn of the twentieth century, Joseph Wesley Flavelle (1859-1939), originally from Peterborough,
Ontario, was one of the best examples to illustrate the “rags to riches” theme in Canadian society.
Historian, Michael Bliss, in his book, The Canadian Millionaire, comments:
“It (an hereditary title of baronet bestowed by King George V in 1917 during the Great War; therefore he
became Sir Joseph!) was a fitting touch to a classic North American fairy tale, the story of the poor boy
who made good. Flavelle’s immigrant father had become an alcoholic. His mother had held the family
together in poverty, the children leaving school early to earn their way in life. Joe, the youngest, had
left school at thirteen (grade 9), gone into business on his own at eighteen. Following his mother’s and
his church’s teachings, he practised a code of hard work, honesty, sobriety, and daily prayer. Twenty
years later (1897) he was a millionaire. He had moved about as far and as fast as anyone could in one
lifetime.”
[Michael Bliss, The Canadian Millionaire, 1978, p.x.]
* Your family’ fate:
Yes:
No:
[If you picked ‘yes’ & belong to social layers #3, #4 or #5, your family may move up the social ladder
to social layer #2, providing your family’s ethnic background is British or ‘Canadien’! If your family is
non-British or non- ‘Canadien’ in ethnic background, but yet Caucasian, flip a coin and , if it’s ‘your call,’
climb the social ladder to social layer #2! Congratulations on your family’s success in Canadian society!]
18] Does your family face any significant difficulties or insecurities?
.
[Please review what you have written in previous questions. Your answers should help you here.]
Describe them - or why not:
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
19] What does your family do in its spare/leisure time? [Review and analyze what you have written
so far.]
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
20] If you had the power to change something in your family’s situation, what would you
change? Why? Why might this apply to many in Canada?[Note: This question deals with just
your family and its situation. Review what has happened to your family.]
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
21] How do you react to the outbreak of general European war in August, 1914?
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
22] Given the characteristics of your “personal profile” and the information you have on the
causes of the war, who do you hold responsible for the outbreak of hostilities in August,
1914? Why?
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
23] Did you [or your spouse] volunteer for active service in the Canadian Expeditionary
Force in 1914 or 1915? [In the first two years of the war, nearly 350,000 Canadians volunteered for
active service. Many were recent immigrants from Great Britain.]
YES:
NO:
Why did you [or your spouse] enlist at this time? Or why did you [or your spouse] decide
to not enlist? (In making this important decision you must consider your ethnicity, occupation, and
religious beliefs.)
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
24] What is your [or your spouse’s] rank in the C.E.F. (Canadian Expeditionary Force)? [See
The overhead on specific ranks in the C.E.F. at that time. You must be in social layer #1 or #2 in order to
be an officer; if you are in social layer #3, #4, or #5, you can be no higher than a sergeant. Sorry!]
__________________________________________________________________________
25] Will your cousin, a soldier in the C.E.F., be gassed – and disabled for
life – at the Battle of Ypres, April 1915? [Hundreds of Canadian soldiers who survived
their initial battle in the Great War were disabled for life as a result of the chlorine gas used by the
Germans. In 1917 at Vimy Ridge, the Canadian Corps used gas against the German army.]
Your family’s fate:
YES:
NO:
26] Given the characteristics of your “personal profile”, identify and describe three ways in
which you [or your wife] and your family have been affected on the “home front” by
the Great War:
A]_________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
B]_________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
C]________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
27] Identify any three battles of the Great War you [or your spouse] have fought in. In each
case, identify the year, the month and the outcome of the battle:
1) Battle: _________________________ Year: ________ Month: __________
Outcome: _____________________________________________________
2) Battle: _________________________ Year: ________ Month: __________
Outcome: _____________________________________________________
3) Battle: _________________________ Year: ________ Month: __________
Outcome: _____________________________________________________
28] 1916: Will your brother – or brother-in-law – die in the Battle of the
Somme, July – November?
Your family’s fate:
[There were over 24,000 Canadian casualties]
YES:
NO:
Given your “personal profile” how do you react to this and previous horrific battles? Do you
feel the war is going well for our side?
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
29] 1917: Will you or your husband be conscripted into the C.E.F.
[Over 120,000 Canadian men were conscripted for duty. Only 47,000 actually went overseas]
Your family’s fate:
YES:
NO:
How do you respond to the issue of conscription?
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
30] A letter in 1917 from the “War Front” or the “Home Front”. If you are a male, write a
letter to your wife and family in Canada describing life in the trenches somewhere in
France or Belgium in 1917 with reference to a specific battle that Canadian soldiers
participated in. If you are a female, write a letter to your husband over in France Belgium
describing the conditions in Canada and how the war is affecting you and your family.
Date: ________, 1917.
Location: ______________________
Dearest: ___________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Your loving: _________________________________
31] Given the characteristics of your “personal profile” how did you (female: “home front”,
male: “war front”) celebrate the end of the Great War on November 11, 1918 –
Armistice Day. Describe your feelings on that day.
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
32] In your opinion, how should Germany be treated at the future peace settlement in
Paris? Explain the reasons for your position.
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
36] 1919: Will you [or your spouse] return from the Great War
significantly disabled?
[More than 170,000 Canadian soldiers were wounded during the Great War. Nearly 30% of Canada’s
‘returned soldiers’ in 1918-19 had some type of disability as a result of the war. The disability pensions
were not great, especially if one was not an officer. Annual disability pensions (for those classified as
100% disabled) in 1917, according to rank, were as follows:
general: $2700
lieutenant: $720
colonel: $1890
sergeant: $510
captain: $1000
corporals & privates: $480
“That an officer with an arm off should get twice as much pension as a private with an arm off is unfair,
unjust, unsound, undemocratic, unreasonable, unBritish, unacceptable, outrageous and rotten.”
[Pte. Harris Turner, a blinded Saskatchewan veteran, June 1919 as quoted in Desmond Morton’s,
When Your Number’s Up: The Canadian Soldier in the First World War. (1993), p. 265.]
Your fate:
YES:
NO:
[If you are disabled and are either of Oriental or Aboriginal backgrounds, you legally do not qualify for a
soldier’s disability pension. Hence, you and your family will descend one social layer. If you and your
family are from either social layers #3 or #4, you will descend one social layer. Many Canadians
however, are very compassionate and generous as they strive to build a new social order in Canada
after “the war to end all war”. Flip a coin! If it’s your call, you and your family will not drop one social
layer!]
“For veterans, 1919 was the year of disillusionment. For tens of thousands the Armistice had
restored a prize they might otherwise had lost – their lives. Now, as with all prizes, the problems
arose of how to use it. Men came home with wounds of minds and bodies, and some with drug
and alcohol addictions, to say nothing of the minor vices of swearing, gambling, and athlete’s foot.
They found broken marriages, children who had forgotten them, and families who already heard
more than enough about war….In all, 40,000 disabled veterans had been retrained and 64% had
been placed in skill-related jobs. Then, to save money, training, placement, and follow-up were
dissolved. By the end of the 1921 depression, one-fifth of all returned men and most of the
disabled were jobless, and there were no plans for more help. Employers now openly favoured the
able-bodied. [Desmond Morton, When Your Number’s Up: The Canadian Soldier in the First World
War, (1993), pp. 268 & 273]
37] Your age in 1919: [How old were you in 1914?]
.
38] Your family’s social layer/class number in Canadian society:
39] What region of Canada do you & your family live in:
What province:
.
.
. What city/town/village:
.
40] Your family’s ethnic background [ethnicity/nationality]:
41] How many children do you have: by 1919?
.
. by 1929? ___________.
42] Were you [or your spouse] disabled during the Great War, 1914-18?[yes or no] _________.
If the answer is ‘yes’, describe the nature of your [or your spouse’s] disability and describe
the impact this disability has had on your [or his] return to the civilian workplace:
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
43] Explain how your family has adjusted to life immediately after the Great War.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
44] Identify & describe your [or your spouse’s] occupation: [To be a professional, you have to be in
social layer/class #1 or #2. In order to be a skilled tradesman, you have to be in social layer #3 or possibly
#4. Sorry, that was the nature of opportunity in Canadian society at that time – very few exceptions!]
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
45] The Nature of Canadian Society in the Aftermath of the Great War:
1919: In the aftermath of the Great War & the Bolshevik
Revolution, will you and your family become victims
of the “Red Scare” & xenophobia in Canadian society?
In the spring of 1918, the federal Unionist government passed more restrictive Orders in Council
covering censorship of publications - especially foreign-language ones - sedition and criticism of
of the government. The Orders in Council also made illegal 14 political and pacifist organizations,
including the IWW and the Social Democratic Party. The police conducted raids against labour and
socialist offices in Vancouver. On July 26, 1918, the police shot and killed a B.C. labour leader
(Albert ‘Ginger’ Goodwin) who had taken to the woods to evade conscription, resulting in a 24-hour
general strike throughout much of British Columbia on August 2nd, the day of his funeral. On June 6,
1919, the Immigration Act as reamended to permit the speedy deportation without trial of persons, not
just of foreign birth, but also persons of British birth accused of sedition. On July 7, 1919, the Canadian
parliament passed Section #98 of the Criminal Code of Canada, which made a person liable to a 20year jail term for attending a meeting of an organization deemed to be revolutionary or for passing out
radical literature.
• Your fate:
Yes:
No:
[If you are a factory worker, railway worker, store clerk, or miner, and you picked ‘yes’, you will be fired
from your job after being accused of attempting to organize a union within your workplace and being a
a ‘bolshevik sympathizer’! You were seen passing out radical political literature. The consequential
period of unemployment for nearly one year will result in your family tumbling one social layer. Wait a
moment! If you are of British ancestry, flip a coin. If the flip is ‘your call’, your family will not descend
one social layer. If ethnically, you are of Central or Eastern European background, and you picked ‘yes’,
you will be fired from your job for being a ‘foreign agitator’! As a result of being unemployed for nearly a
year, your family will plunge one social layer.]
46] The Winnipeg General Strike, May-June, 1919:
a] What three demands did the strikers make?
1) ___________________________________________________________
2) ___________________________________________________________
3) ___________________________________________________________
b] What did the business & political leaders fear was happening in Winnipeg
at this time?
_____________________________________________________________
c] Given your family’s profile & ‘journey’, how would you have reacted to the
Winnipeg General Strike? Which group would you have supported? Why?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
47] The 1920s was a decade of economic growth for specific sectors of the Canadian
economy and specific regions of Canada. The following diagram illustrates the nature of
this growth:
Sector of the Economy:
gold & silver
copper, lead, nickel, zinc
newsprint
electricity generated
passenger cars built
unemployment rate in %
1920:
14,095,000 ozs
218,755,000 lbs
805,000 tons
5,730 m.of klw.hrs.
79,369
6.8 (aver., 1920-21)
1929:
23,071,000 ozs
882,187,000 lbs
2,725,000 tons
17,604 m.of klw.hrs.
188,721
3.4 (aver., 1928-29)
[J.H. Thompson, Canada 1922-1939: Decades of Discord, 1985, pp.349-350.]
From the chart above identify and describe three sectors of the Canadian economy,
which rode “on the tide of prosperity” of the 1920s, leading many to label this decade
as the “roaring twenties.” Identify specific locations in each case:
Sector #1: ____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Sector #2: ____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Sector #3: ____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
48] 1924:
Will you & your family experience the prosperity of the “roaring twenties”
& ascend the social ladder?
* Your family’s fate:
Yes:
No:
[If you are in social layers #1 or #2, you will experience the prosperity of the “roaring twenties”!
If you are in social layers #3, #4 & even #5, and you picked ‘yes’, move up the social ladder by one
social layer, UNLESS you live in the Maritimes or you [or your spouse] are disabled as a result of the
Great War! Congratulations on your hard work, perfect timing & plain good fortune! If you come from
the Maritimes, flip a coin & only if it’s ‘your call’ move up a social layer.
49] 1925: Will your [your spouse’s] entrepreneurial skills, hard work, and plain good
fortune propel your family into the ranks of the “nouveau riche” during the
“good bright days” of the “roaring twenties”?
“It was a time to venerate and, with enough luck, maybe to emulate the self-made man. There were
plenty of examples around. Take James H. Ashdown, who had parlayed a small hardware store into a
mansion on Winnipeg’s Wellington Crescent. Take Isaac W.C. Solloway, an English-born labourer who
built a mining brokerage empire that stretched from Toronto to Edmonton.... A man named Theodore
Pringle Loblaw endorsed the growing confidence by opening the first of what would become a huge
empire of revolutionarily different grocery stores. His ‘groceterias’ operated on a self-serve, cash-andcarry basis, with low overhead and the lowest possible prices. The operation began modestly but the
Alliston, Ontario, grocer’s idea proved popular and by 1928 there were 65 Loblaw stores in Ontario, with
sales of almost $14 million a year.”[Canada’s Illustrated Heritage Series, The Crazy Twenties,1978,
p.18.]
* Your family’s fate:
Yes:
No:
[Regardless of your social class and locality - but providing you are of Caucasian background - you will
be propelled into social layer #2 and will join the company of such notable Canadians as James Dunn
(finance & heavy industry), Herbert Holt (finance, utilities, pulp & paper), Izaak Killam (finance, utilities,
pulp & paper), Theodore Loblaw (grocery store chain), Sam McLaughlin (heavy industry, automobiles)
and Isaac Solloway (mining brokerage)].
50] 1926: Will your daughter or son move south to the United States during the
“roaring twenties” - the “age of wonderful nonsense” - and become an
example of the “gospel of success” in the realm of business, education,
science or entertainment [i.e. film, radio, sports etc.]?
[Historically, many Canadians have emigrated south to the United States for a variety of reasons. In the
1920s, many Canadians moved south - especially from the Maritimes and Quebec - in search of work
and to seek their fortunes. Some of these Canadians were very successful in realizing their dreams and
a few become famous. One individual in this category was Gladys Smith who was born in Toronto. By
the late1920s, she had become an internationally celebrated actress, changed her name to Mary
Pickford, and had married an equally famous American actor, Douglas Fairbanks. She was known as
“American’s sweetheart”! Other Canadians in this category - though certainly not as famous as Gladys
Smith - are James Oliver Curwood, Marie Dressler, Alfred Fuller, the “Dumbells,” Guy Lombardo, Elsie
MacGill, Robert Tait Mackenzie, Norman Bethune, Beatrice Lillie, Aimee Semple McPherson, James
Naismith, and Jack Warner.]
* Your daughter’s/son’s fate:
Yes:
No:
[If you picked ‘yes’, the fame and fortune of your daughter/son will propel your family into social layer #2.
51] In spite of the general economic growth and prosperity within Canada - & American
society [see the first quotation below] - during the 1920s, the growth and prosperity were not
equally shared by all social classes and regions within Canadian society [see chart below].
For many Canadian in social layer #4 and practically all Canadians in social layer #5, the
decade was more the “unroaring twenties”!
Per-Capita Incomes by Province, 1928-29:
“Have” Provinces:
British Columbia:
Ontario:
Alberta:
Saskatchewan:
Canada:
$594
$549
$548
$478
$471
“Have- Not” Provinces: Manitoba:
Quebec:
Nova Scotia:
New Brunswick:
Prince Edward Island:
$466
$391
$322
$292
$278
[J.H. Thompson, Canada, 1922-39:Decades of Discord, 1985, p.351.]
1927:
[& the year the Dominion of Canada celebrates its Diamond Jubilee!]
Will the 1920s be “unroaring” for you & your family?
* Your family’s fate:
Yes:
No:
[If you are in social layers #1 & #2, you experience only the “roaring twenties” - ignore what you pick!
If you are in social layer #3, and you pick ‘yes’, your family tumbles down the social ladder by one layer
UNLESS you live in the provinces of Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, and you are of British ancestry
and live in the province of Quebec. If you are in social layer #4 and you pick ‘yes’, tumble down the
social ladder by one layer UNLESS you live in the provinces of Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. If
you are in social layer #4 and you live in the province of Quebec and are of British ancestry, flip a coin.
If it’s ‘your call,’ you remain stationary in terms of social structure. Why? At this time, unilingual AngloSaxons had greater job opportunities in Quebec - especially in the urban workplace. If you are in social
layer #5, all the twenties have been “unroaring” - except the special situations in 1924, 1925 & 1926!]