-
The 1930 drought, grasshopper plague, and dust bowl was a massive decline from the past years of the roaring twenties. It was a very tough time, and they had nowhere to turn to. The change was immense, they had had a taste of success and wealth with increased agricultural prices and then had it all fall on them with years with no harvest and bankruptcy and nowhere to turn to.
-
The 1930s were some of the worst times for farmers in the prairies in Canada. From 1929 to 1933, the wheat prices had dropped more than 75%. After that, a drought destroyed all the crops. This drought turned the soil into dust, it was blown across the prairies in clouds of black dust due to strong winds. But that's not all, they also had the worse grasshopper plague in 100 years, any crops that had destroyed any crops that survived. The bankrupt farmers also had no jobs to go to in the city.
-
Canada treated Jewish immigrants horrible from 1929-1945. Canada actively tried to keep Jewish refugees from Germany and other places out of Canada. Part of this was because of Frederick Blair, the director of Canada's immigration branch at the time. He is known for being anti-semitic. An example of Canada and Frederick Blair doing this is when we refused Ms. St. Louis, a boat carrying Jewish refugees from Germany. When meeting about the boat, he said it was against the current immigration laws.
-
The way we treated Jewish immigrants and refugees was definitely a decline. Although in 1919 there was an immigration act introduced, allowing discrimination based on race and nationality, and in WW1, jews also had a very hard time being accepted into Canadian society. But, in 1921, when the new prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King was introduced, it got even worse. King and his liberal cabinet made even more restrictive immigration policies, and these were enforced by Frederick Blair.
-
Canada treated Chinese immigrants horribly. Due to the 1923 immigration act, they were directly excluded from Canada and no immigrants were allowed into Canada. Despite this, Chinese-Canadians in Canada stayed in Canada, some even signed up for the military at the start of WW2, and were accepted; 600 Chinese-Canadian soldiers participated in WW2, despite the way we treated immigrants from the country they still fought for theirs and ours.
-
The horrible treatment of Chinese immigrants didn't change in Canada. The 1923 immigration act was only repealed in 1947, 24 years later. This kind of direct legislation against a specific ethnic group is the only one of its kind in Canada and was very unethical and discriminatory. The history of discrimination and exclusion of Chinese immigrants in Canada goes back all the way to 1858 and across time they have been mistreated with head taxes, not allowed to vote until after WW2 and more.
-
Italian-Canadians weren't treated well during WW2 either. 31000 They were labelled as enemy aliens in June 1940. They had to report their activities and whereabouts to the RCMP every month, although, for 600 other Italian-Canadians, it was much worse. They were sent to internment camps. With no criminal charges, they were separated from their families and forced into either remote internment camps or just prison. The majority of these people were also the main provider for their families.
-
The treatment of Italian-Canadians definitely declined going into WW2. Them being declared as enemy aliens, the internment camp, and overall treatment as potential terrorists and fascist sympathizers. The life of exclusion and constant surveillance was definitely not deserved especially considering there were no criminal charges for anyone going into the internment camps.
-
Japanese Canadians debatably even had it worse than Chinese Canadians in 1929-1942. After the attack on pearl harbour in 1941, the Canadian government detained and took all the possessions of more than 21000 people, 90% of the Japanese-Canadian population, 14000 of which born in Canada. (early 1942) They had were detained under the War Measures act as enemy aliens in internment camps. These camps had horrible conditions: huts with 2 families and a kitchen, no running water.
-
There was a huge decline in the treatment of Japanese-Canadians, most of which happened in 1942 after pearl harbour. Even before the war, like Chinese-Canadians, their race was deemed "undesirable" and they couldn't vote or work in many places. But, this made an even further decline during the war. The treatment of many even Canadian born Japanese-Canadians was horrible and very inhumane, especially for Canadians born in Canada.
-
In 1939, Canadian agriculture bounced back from the depression, drought, and grasshopper plague from earlier in the decade. Additional production was necessary for the war, specifically wheat. This helped farmers get out of bankruptcy and start producing again. In March 1943, the Agricultural Food Board, bringing all production for Canada and overseas into one single group formed. Farmers produced a lot for the effort, and because of this Canada even got a seat on the Allied Combined Food Board.
-
This was an absolutely gigantic positive change for farmers and practically the exact opposite of the dust bowl and drought in the past decade. The increased production necessary gave farmers chances to get their lives and profit back. Even compared to the roaring twenties, where production and prices were high, the conditions farmers had during this time still held up, and they could even support their country and the war while doing it.
