Canadian Culture in the 1920’s
The Radio
 The radio was one new technology that took hold and had a major influence on
Canada’s cultural life.
 It provided instant communication. And spread culture across the country.
 The radio became a main feature of 1920's culture, beginning with broadcasts from
Montreal in 1920.
 Radio stations began to appear all over the country and they broadcast almost
anything that could be heard through the transmitter, including a lot of local talent.
 The CBC (mid-1930’s) provided Canadian content as it still does today.
 The radio became a major source of news and sports broadcasts, particularly hockey
and baseball, and spread culture across Canada which included sports, music, dance,
lifestyle, and fads.
 in 1923 there were just under 10,000 radios in Canada
 by 1929 there were almost 300,000 radios.
A rich cultural life and unique identity was emerging in Canada during the
1920's…
Art – The Group of Seven and Emily Carr
 painted beautiful Canadian landscapes in distinctly Canadian style - a form of
impressionism - non-conformist at time
 Emily Carr painted pictures of Haida Totems
Literature - New Canadian writers that were widely read and influenced later writers:
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Stephen Leacock- wrote about small town life
Mazo de la Roche wrote the Jalna novels about a Canadian family
Morley Callaghan -wrote about adjustment to urban life
Leslie McFarlane (under the name Franklin W. Dixon) wrote 21 books in the Hardy
Boys Series
Entertainment – Movies – Canada’s own becomes Hollywood’s greatest star
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Mary Pickford, from Toronto, along with the following Americans:
Lillian Gish
Rudolph Valentino
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
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Sports - The significance of sports in the 1920's:
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Success of racing schooner, Bluenose, all through the 1920's in international races
Spread of hockey arenas, radio broadcasts of games and expansion of NHL
Reputation of Howie Morenz, one of Canada’s greatest hockey players
Reputation of Lionel Conacher, who excelled at football, boxing, wrestling, baseball,
lacrosse, and hockey
Fanny Bobbie Rosenfeld won Olympic gold medals in 1928
It was now acceptable for women to participate in sports. This would change again in
the 1930's.
Canada’s Golden Age in sports.
Percy Williams won two gold medals and was named the greatest sprinter in the
world
Canadian Women - major points about their status in 1920's
Advantages:
 gained right to vote in all provinces except Quebec
 recognized as “persons” under the Canadian Constitution in 1929 - could sit in Senate
– as a result of the “Alberta Five”, including Emily Murphy, winning a legal case
before the English Privy Council, a higher court than the Supreme Court of Canada, at
that time.
Disadvantages:
 institutionalized discrimination in work force
 low status jobs and lower pay
 fired from federal government jobs when married
 still expected to stay home once married and main role seen as raising children
Inventors/Innovators- Canadian discoveries/inventions:
 telephone
 insulin to control diabetes – By Sir Frederick Banting
 snowmobile by Armand Bombardier
The 1920’s end in prosperity or at least the optimism for prosperity among those
who had not shared in it as yet.
There was a sense that Canada was in a new age when things would get better and
better and it is in this atmosphere that we are going to study the stock market crash
and the plunge into the great depression of the next decade.
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