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Period: to
Earlier Years
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Spanish Flu
The Spanish Flu was a deadly influenza virus that had started in 1918 and ended in 1920. This affected over 500 million people worldwide. It is unclear where the disease had first started, some people think that it started somewhere in Europe. The name Spanish Flu was created because since Spain had remained neutral in World War 1 and they had reported that their King, Alfonso XIII had developed a grave illness that had exhibited symptoms of influenza. -
Prohibition
Many people believed that alcohol was the cause of many social problems including crime and poverty. People formed temperance groups which are of people that would abstain from alcohol. In 1918, the government enacted the Prohibition law which banned alcohol. The government realized that people were still smuggling alcohol into the country and they weren't earning the money. In 1921, they replaced prohibition by selling controlled amounts of alcohol to the public themselves. -
Suffrage
In the early 1900s, women didn't have many rights to things. Many women advocated for the right to vote. They believed that it would help them obtain more rights because with only men voting, the laws passed and the government elected would favor the men. After World War I, women wanted to be acknowledged for what they did to help in the war. The government granted them the right to vote in 1918. The following year, they were able to have the right to stand for the House of Commons. -
Immigration Policies
Before World War I, Canada was welcoming immigrants into its country as there was not many citizens living in Canada. After World War I, Canada had put new immigration policies that denied entry to more people because many Canadians did not have a job as their job was part of working for World War I. They had restricted the kinds of people that could enter such as restricting people from the Central Powers countries. This restriction had died down slowly because railway companies persuaded them. -
Telephone
At this time, telephone technology developed quickly. In 1876 after Alexander Graham Bell had invented the telephone. People had started advancing his creation. In 1916, the first Trans-Canada call was made from Montreal to Vancouver. At first, telephones were considered a luxury as only the rich could afford them. As the years progressed, they were more accessible for everyone. Advanced models of phones were developed. by 1927 13 out of every 100 Canadians had a telephone. -
Discovery of Insulin
In 1921 4 people, Sir Frederick Banting, Charles Best, J.B. Collip, and J.J.R. Macleod in their laboratory at the University of Toronto were able to successfully create what they called insulin. For years, people were trying to create some kind of substance that could secrete the pancreas in order to prevent diabetes and control normal metabolism. In 1922 they were able to announce their invention of stabilized and pure insulin. -
Indian Act
The Canadians wanted to use their Western land to attract Europeans to Western Canada. But, most of the land was occupied by the First Nations people. Canada had encouraged them to sign a treaty with them. This would give them some benefits for giving up most of their land. The benefits that were included in the treaty had looked good. But the government had not kept its promises in the treaty and most of the benefits that could be obtained were obtained by giving up their Indian statuses. -
Residential Schools
From 1923 to 1939, Duncan Campbell Scott wanted to change all the aboriginal peoples in Canada. He had believed that they needed to be more civilized and to be absorbed into the body politic. His way that he wanted to do this was through education. The conditions in the schools were harsh. They were forced from their religious beliefs and not allowed to speak their native language. By 1931, there were 80 operational schools in Canada and over 150,000 attendees in total. -
Pensions
Many older and senior citizens were in poverty or were jobless. Age discrimination was very common at this time, and many jobs wanted younger people over older ones. Some older people such as war veterans or some with disabilities received small government pensions but most senior citizens received nothing. J.S Woodworth had convinced Mackenzie King to implement the Old Age Pensions Act in 1927. This allowed senior citizens who under some restrictions to claim money every month. -
Period: to
Later Years
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Persons Case
The Persons Case was a case that was taken to the London court in 1929 because 5 women, The Famous Five, Emily Murphy, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, and Louise McKinney spoke out because only "persons" were allowed to be represented as a senator and women were not included in such. They ended up being successful and earning rights for women to be represented as "persons". -
Stock Market Crash
In October of 1929, stock exchanges in major cities such as Toronto, Montreal, and New York were trading record amounts of shares, and most days they were losing great deals of money. On October 28, the value of shares of the Toronto Stock Exchange, as well as the New York Stock exchange, plummeted, this day was known as Black Monday and was thought to be the worst day of the stock market ever. Until the next day, Black Tuesday as shares plummeted even harder. -
Child Labor
Throughout the 20th century, many children worked hard labor. These children weren't being given opportunities to learn skills that could help them succeed in life. As well, these jobs did not pay very well. Many people wanted the government to abolish child labor by making school attendance mandatory. These laws were eventually passed as well as not allowing young children to work hard labor. The number of children attending school was not high at the start, it increased to 31 percent in 1931. -
Regina Riot
2000 trekkers had begun a trek from British Colombia to Ottawa because they were angry with the government as they were unemployed and couldn't find jobs. The government decided to stop them in Regina and decided to meet the leaders in Ottawa. The meeting did not solve anything. The government ordered the RCMP to arrest the leaders of the trek. Many citizens in Regina joined the trekkers in fighting against the police. After the riot had ended hundreds of police and citizens were injured. -
Bombardier Inc.
In the 1930s in the town of Valcourt, Quebec. Joseph-Armand Bombardier had wanted to create something that could travel through the snow because the roads in his city were not plowed. After spending several years trying to create a motorized vehicle that could travel through snow. In the winter of 1936-1937, he had created 7 snowmobiles. His machine was greatly recognized and people had started to invest in them. In the current day, Bombardier Inc is a multibillion-dollar company. -
The St. Louis
In the spring of 1939, a passenger liner named St. Louis left from Germany towards Cuba. The ship was carrying over 900 Jewish Germans who were trying to flee from Germany. When they had arrived in Cuba, they were not accepted. They had tried to ask the United States or Canada for help but neither of them accepted them either. Mackenzie King was sympathetic to their situation but he was afraid that allowing them into Canada would create further distance between Quebec and the rest of Canada.
