Canadian History Culminating Activity: Is Canada a country we can be proud of? Timeline by Chris Granger
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World War I
The Allies (Canada, Britain, Russia, and France) declare war on the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Italy). -
Canada is forced into World War I (-2)
Britain and France declare war on the Central Powers, and because Canada was under Britain's reign, the Canadian government would have to send troops out to war. Robert Borden was completely on board with the idea and sent countless men to fight till they dropped dead, literally. Britain had basically conscripted Canada to war, but Borden could have done the same that King did in the later years, and flat out declined entry to WW1. He didn't, though, which was a bad idea. I rate this event a -2. -
Canada passes the War Measures Act (-2)
The Canadian government was having a decline in enlistments to war, due to lack of nationalism and because everyone saw now how bad the war was and did not want to die for a terrible cause. This forced the Canadian government to enforce the War Measures Act, allowing them enough power to conscript people into the army. This act would force those who are crucial to the sustainability of Canada, like farmers, factory workers, etc into war. This was not good, as the French and other races rebelled. -
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The Roaring Twenties
After the end of WW1, Canada began to rebuild, with women slowly obtaining freedom, and getting the right to vote; as well as movie theatres and music being all the buzz. It was such a great decade, and who could forget the stock market? The same system that broke Canada down in the 1930s, causing the Great Depression. Good times... -
Canada joins the League of Nations (+2)
On January 10, 1920, Canada became a member of the League of Nations. In Paris, France, where the organization's meetings took place, Canada had joined the group to work alongside the other winners of World War 1 to help create peace in the world. Peace is a desire that we may not be able to reach, but the fact that these countries including Canada strived to work for peace gives this event a +2 in my books. -
The Dominion Elections Act (+2)
On July 1, 1920, the conservative government led by Robert Borden had passed the Dominion Elections Act. The act created advance voting, which created a 3 day time window before the election day for people who would not be available to vote on the day. It also created the rank of Chief Electoral Officer, who would oversee elections in Canada. The most important thing that came out of the act was the right for women to run for governmental positions. Canada had now become more democratic. +2 -
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The Dirty Thirties
Ahh, the 1930s, the time of bankruptcy and foreclosure, as well as the crash of the stock market, which had brought the world's economy tumbling down with it. The Great Depression had occurred within this decade, and was quite devastating to the whole world. Everywhere from Canada to the U.K.! Ok, maybe not the entire world. But it still affected a great amount of countries. All because people were using their credit too much. Great job, Canada. -
The Statute of Westminster goes into effect (+2)
On December 11, 1931, Canada became independent of Britain. They did this through the Statute of Westminster. This gave Canada the ability to make their own decisions, however there were limitations, as the British North America Act had not been affected by the Statute. Although Canada was striving for freedom, they were eager to stay allies with Britain, as were they. We could finally start our journey to decide for ourselves. +2 -
Newfoundland is revoked of its independence (-1)
On December 2nd, 1933, Newfoundland faced great debts, reaching as high as $100 million dollars. This struggle caused the Newfoundland government to give in to Britain because of the amount of help the government needed. Canada was wracked by the Great Depression, but Newfoundland was the province to give in to dependence and let Britain take control. This showed how Canada was slowly returning to Britain's control during the Depression, but never did thereafter.-1 -
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World War II
This war was quite devastating, just as much as it was beneficial to the majority of the world, as it caused the economy to reboot as wartime production plants were starting up and selling items to the armies. Although Canada fought alongside Britain, Canada had become independent earlier on, allowing them to declare war whenever. Canada had given themselves enough time to prepare, and then declared war on Nazi Germany on September 1st, 1939. -
The Dieppe Raid (-2)
During WW2, on the 19th of August, 1942, Canada attempted a raid of Nazi Germany's Atlantic Wall. This raid failed, resulting in many Canadians being abducted as prisoners, as well as many Canadians being killed. This caused quite a devastating outcome for Canada, as we were left with many casualties to deal with. This represented a MAJOR failure for Canadians as we had lost to the evil side, the Nazis. We were not even given any help in the raid, we were left to do the impossible. -2 -
Canada fights in D-Day (+2)
During WW2, on June 6th, 1944, Canada alongside the US and the UK invaded the Atlantic Wall at Normandy. This was a more successful raid, as Canada was the first to reach their objective point, which happened due to Canada's success on Juno Beach. The Allies were successful in the raid, however the countless casualties of both sides are quite devastating. This battle will forever be remembered as the one to lead the Allies to victory. +2 -
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The Fifties and Sixties
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Canada joins the Korean War alongside UN forces (-1)
On August 7th, 1950, Canada had joined the United Nations task force to fight in the Korean War. The reason for the UN's involvement was to protect South Korea from being taken over by communist North Korea. The war was very violent and had involved a lot of civilian murders. This led to almost 4 million casualties of just Koreans alone. The whole war was indeed futile as the end of the war led the boundaries of North and South Korea back to where they were. -1 -
The Suez Crisis (+2)
On October 29th, 1956, the Suez Crisis began between the UK, French and Egypt. Canada's involvement started with the famous Lester B. Pearson, who was the President of the General Assembly of the UN, had called for a peacekeeping force to be sent to the Suez Canal, where the forces would keep peace, as the name foretells. This was a feat of excellence by Pearson, and with that fame he was elected as the 14th Prime Minister of Canada. Pearson even got the Nobel Peace Prize for his excellence. +2 -
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The Past Forty-Four Years
Over the past forty-four years, plenty of things have happened, spanning from the October Crisis all the way up to the Oka Crisis and further. -
October Crisis (+1)
Starting on October 5th, 1970, a group named FLQ abducting British diplomat James Cross, and then holding him up for ransom to the Canadian government. Later on, deputy premier of Quebec, Pierre Laporte was found dead in a car trunk. The Quebec leaders had requested Trudeau's help and so he did. He ended the crisis very quickly and by enforcing War Measures Act, the Canadian government had won. This showed Canada's power and leadership. Trudeau wanted a united Canada, and we watched him do it. -
The Oka Crisis (-2)
On July 11th, 1990, Canada had faced yet another crisis, now with the Aboriginals. The town of Oka, Quebec wanted to expand their city into Mohawk land. The city wanted to build a golf course and expand their residential areas. The Mohawk did not like this as Oka was planning on building these such things on sacred grounds. The Mohawk rebelled, as they wanted to keep that land sacred, but were fought by Canadian forces to keep calm. This showed how bad Aboriginals were treated, even to this day.
