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Sir Robert Borden's Speech (-1)
Borden, during this speech, is motivating Canadians to go to war. He talks about how they are not going in for any selfish desires but for honour and respect for our country. But the real intention is just to serve Britain because Canada isn't independent yet. My ranking is -1 because Borden knows there will be a lot of casualties but Canadians will die without and real motive so they will just die in vain. So this shows some decline for Canada accepting to participate in the war. -
The Battle of Somme (-2)
The battle of Somme was one of Canada's worst battles. Even though they won, There were a lot of casualties. Canada was ordered to strike a German objective so they sent battalion 22 and 25 and they were successful. They held off 17 German counterattacks in 4 days. It was close-quarter combat so there were a lot of casualties. They continued to push the Regina Trench and when they got control of that they won the battle with Britain. But that came with a cost of 24,000 wounded and dead soldiers. -
Jeremiah Jones and other Black Canadian Soldiers
Many Black Canadians were discriminated against because they were a coloured group. However, they were allowed to participate in the war. Jeremiah Jones is an example of a Black Canadian that risked his life for Canada. But, even though he was fighting for Canada, he was discriminated against by other allied soldiers. No soldier would eat or sleep beside them and many people thought that Black Canadians could not fight. Jeremiah was nominated for a medal but never got one because he was black. -
The Econemy and the Homefront (-1)
Canada's Economy was very unstable due to the war. Every day, they would need supplies to keep them fighting. The war industry would do more than $2,000,000 every day. There were 700 factories that were giving out supplies. The workers were severely underpaid because the demand caused their wages to decrease. The government had a national debt of 1.2 billion dollars. For them to climb out, they had to create a personal income tax and tax everyday items like tea and coffee. -
Conscription and the Home Front (-1)
Many Canadians risked their lives but were wounded. Borden promised Britain reinforcements but no one wanted to. So he forcefully passed the Military Service Act where French and English Canadians were obligated to fight in the war. This made the French Canadians angry because the government had no right to make a decision for them. Many signed up for an exemption which gave them the excuse not to go to war. But the Act caused protests and riots led by the French Canadians. -
Mae Belle Sampson and Katherine Macdonald and Nurses Overseas (+1)
Women did not have many ways to participate in the war but one way that they helped was becoming an overseas nurse. These nurses would help out wounded ally soldiers in any way they can and risk their lives to do it. A prime example of this was Mae Belle Sampson where she helped 15,000 troops to recover and only had 2,000 beds to do it. Katherine and Mae Belle are examples that they are not fragile and weak. Sadly they both died during attacks by Germany -
Canada And the Treaty of Versailles (+1)
Even though Canada was one of the main reasons the war ended, they didn't make much of an impact on the Treaty of Versailles. But Canada gained respect from other countries for being a strong resilient country that had excelled in aerial combat. But that came at a cost of 60,000 dead soldiers and over 150,000 wounded. They did gain membership to the League of Nations but at the cost of 1/3 of their 20-45 population. -
Consequences for Workers (-1)
During and after the war. Many Canadians suffered because the war caused wages to drop. Many soldiers from the army were unemployed and their job was taken by someone else. This caused the economy to drop even further. A solution that Canada did was that they deport anyone that had a German or Austro-Hungarian background. This opened jobs but it did severely sever the connections of the groups. Many people went on strike to raise wages and working conditions but it was not possible. -
First Nations (-2)
The First Nations suffered the most in the 1920s because the government took measures to shove more kids into residential schools. They were stripped from their parent's arms and almost never saw them again. Kids were not allowed to practice their religion in these schools or else there were severe punishments. Kids were often physically and sexually assaulted by the schools. This felt more like a prison for kids that left them traumatized. Also, discrimination was an issue for them too. -
Chinese Head tax Payers (-2)
After the war, there was a very unstable economy because the war put their national debt over a billion dollars. This meant that Canada needed to hire low wage workers from China to build things like the Canadian Pacific Railway. After that Canadians wanted them deported because they were too many migrating. This is where the head tax was introduced. It was meant to discourage them so that they don't migrate. An example is Chuck Lee. He was discriminated against and was limited to low-wage jobs.
