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Prohibition
Alcohol was blamed for many societal problems like divorce, crime, domestic violence and other things. Because of this, temperance societies in Canada believed if people stopped buying alcohol, that money would be used to improve their lives. In response to this, the Canadian government made alcohol illegal under the War Measures Act in 1918. The ban ended in 1921 when governments realized they were losing out on a lot of money from alcohol taxes. -
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Spanish Flu
Scientists believe this flu started in birds, which transferred to American pigs, which was then carried by humans to Europe during WW1. The disease spread rapidly in the trenches during trench warfare. Returning soldiers carried it home with them in 1918 where it spread across Canada. It became a pandemic, which resulted in the deaths of 50 million people worldwide including over 50,000 Canadians. -
Winnipeg General Strike (Part 1)
On May 1, 1919, Winnipeg’s unions all went on strike after employers refused to raise their wages. 20,000 members of 94 unions stopped working. This included postal workers, firefighters, and some police officers. The strike was opposed by the Citizen’s Committee which was made up of wealthy bankers, businessmen, politicians, etc. They portrayed the effort as foreigners trying to ruin Canada’s democracy. -
Winnipeg General Strike (Part 2)
People opposed these strikes and started firing people who were a part of them. There was so much opposition that these strikes stopped for the most part, especially after RNWMP officers charged into a protest, killing 2 people and injuring 100 people. -
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Insulin (Part 1)
In 1920, people didn't know much about diabetes. However, a doctor names Frederick Banting believed diabetes could be treated with injections of insulin. Banting persuaded a professor named J.J.R. MacLeod to use his laboratory to test his theory. Because of Banting's efforts, they eventually injected insulin into Leonard Thompson, a 14 year old diabetic in January 1922. -
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Insulin (Part 2)
IHe got better and lived until his late 20s before dying of another illness. In 1923, Banting and MacLeod were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the discovery of using insulin to treat diabetes. -
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Residential Schools (Part 1)
The Canadian government tried using these schools to assimilate the Natives. They started in Canada in the 1890s and peaked in 1920-30s. The last residential school closed in 1996. Churches were in charge of the schools. Natives were taught farming techniques and math. They were also taught English, which many did not understand at first. -
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Residential Schools (Part 2)
The Canadian Government did 4 things to strip culture from Native children:
1. Put children with different languages together
2. Moved children away from home
3. Took kids from 5-15 – easier to detach them from their religion
4. Department of Indian Affairs “kidnapped” ALL Native kids -
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Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923 completely banned all Chinese immigration to Canada. Those who had already come needed to decide whether to stay here alone or move back with their families. Chinese men outnumbered Chinese women in Canada by 28:1, so many decided to move back to China. It stayed in place until 1947. Even after it was removed, limits to immigration based on race and nationality were common until 1967. -
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King-Byng Affair
In 1925 King was losing power because of a scandal where one of his officials was found to be taking bribes. He then asked the Governor-General, Julian Byng, to approve a new election. Byng refused which undermined Canadian independence and angered Canadians. Because of this, he eventually agreed and King won a majority government. -
Old Age Pensions Act
Average life expectancy was on the rise, but people had no way to support themselves in old age. Elderly people often relied on children and relatives to support them. Many had lost multiple children in WWI and the Spanish Flu. Because of this, the government created the Old Age Pensions Act in 1927 that paid a maximum of $20 a month.
They were available if you were:
• A British subject over 70
• Lived in Canada over 20 years
• Annual income of less than $365
• Not First Nations -
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The Persons Case, Part 1
By the end of 1919, many women in Canada could vote, but they had a hard time being appointed judges and senators in the government. This was because women were not considered "persons". Because of this, The Famous Five sent a petition to Ottawa asking if the word “persons” in the laws included female persons in 1927. -
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The Persons Case, Part 2
The Supreme Court decided that, in fact, under Canadian law, women were not persons. They ruled this because The British North America Act of 1867 specified that "Women are persons in matters of pains and penalties, but not persons in matters of rights and privileges". The Famous Five then appealed this decision to the Privy Council in London, supported by William Lyon Mackenzie King. The London Court agreed with the Famous Five and ruled that women were included in the term “persons”. -
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Child Labour
Parents often had lots of children so they could work soon and provide an income to the family. The children worked in factories, mills, and mines. These jobs were poorly paid and didn’t teach children important skills. However, laws banned children under 14 from mines and factories from 1929-1931. These laws made school attendance mandatory. Even so, some children still worked on their family farms or did “unofficial” work -
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Drought in the Prairies
In 1929, a terrible drought began that lasted nearly 10 years. Crops dried up and the soil turned to dust; the wind then blew away the dry soil. Storms of dust occurred often leading parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan to be referred to as the “Dust Bowl”. Nearly 14,000 farms were abandoned during the depression. -
Stock Market Crash
Too many people were buying stocks “on margin” which means that they borrow money from the bank in order to buy more stocks. The crash occurred on “Black Tuesday”, October 29, 1929. Even the stocks that seemed safe crashed. Families lost all their money, businesses went bankrupt. -
Regina Riot
People working in the relief camps tried to hop on a train bound to Ottawa to protest the unfair pay and conditions. The government tried to stop this because they didn’t want a bunch of protesters at parliament. Therefore, Bennett invited trek leader Slim Evans to talk, on the condition that the 1600 strikers remain in Regina. At 8:00 PM a whistle signaled the beginning of an attack by police on strikers. Trekkers in a nearby stadium were detained in a make-shift prison camp. -
National Unity Party of Canada (Fascists)
The leader of the NUPC was Adrien Arcand . His platform was industry and all areas of society are nationalized and controlled by the central government. The party was characterized by a hatred for liberalism, socialism, democracy; also by extreme patriotism and aggressive nationalism, and hostility of other races. On May 30, 1940, Arcand was arrested in Montreal for "plotting to overthrow the state"