INTRODUCTION
❖After WW1 there was a period of adjustment:
• The economy was moving away from war production
• Canada was moving closer economically and culturally with the United States
• Canadian nationalism was growing and Canadians were creating a distinct Canadian identity
• Attitudes towards women were changing • Women’s style reflected some new freedoms
• Technology and new inventions changed the world
• As the economy improved, people started to spend money on appliances, telephones, radios and sporting events
❖Many people were optimistic about the future and thought that the good times were only going to get better.
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COMING HOME FROM WAR…some statistics
○Many soldiers were suffering shell shock, 4500 were
prisoners of war (POWs)
○
Government cancelled support for soldiers with
disabilities
○
1919: increased unemployment, soldiers returned as
munitions factories closed
○
Inflation: price increases eg) ground beef
1914- $0.10 /lb ! 1918- $0.38/lb
THE CANADIAN ECONOMY
❖
Although some unemployment, Ont, Que, and B.C. experienced good economic times
throughout most of the 1920’s
❖Strong demand for pulp, paper, cars and other goods not available during the war
❖
By 1923 the Roaring 20’s had begun and people saw more consumer products than
they had ever seen before
BUT…
❖
The Prairies and the Maritimes were experiencing hard times as wheat prices were
falling (they no longer needed to feed the oversea troops)
❖Some people in the Prairie and Maritime provinces felt that the Ottawa politicians did
not care about them and started talking about creating new political parties or even
separating from Canada.
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WINNIPEG GENERAL STRIKE
○
One Big Union (OBU): tried to join
many unions together
○
Became popular in Western Canada
○
General Strikes: strike directed at governments and
employers as a group
○
Winnipeg General Strike: 1919: 30,000 people went on strike,
closed factories, stores, essential services
○
CC: Do you think that Unions could organize a mass strike
today?
○
http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/economy-business/labour-unions/
labour-unions-general/remembering-the-winnipeg-general-strike.html
CONDITIONS OF CANADA’S ABORIGINAL PEOPLES
❖
Aboriginal peoples did not benefit from the prosperity of the 1920’s
❖
The Canadian gov’t continued to make decisions for them
❖
Government parties continued to encourage assimilation
❖
The quality of life on the reserves continued to decline
• Alcohol was consumed in unhealthy amounts • Suicide rates were the highest in the country • Diseases like tuberculosis continued to kill many • Inferior housing
❖
Policymakers saw residential schools as the ideal way to ‘assimilate’ Native Canadian children
• Completely remove children from their communities and force into ‘moral’ education that promoted the values of ‘White Society’
• Little or no contact with families (officials were concerned children would revert) • Prohibited children from speaking their Native languages, forced to wear
uniforms and severely punished if rules were broken
❖
But some began to fight against the injustices done to their people
• F.O. Loft (Mohawk Chief) set up the League of Indians of Canada
CANADIAN ART AND CULTURE
❖
Art
• Group of Seven
• J.E.H. MacDonald, Lawren Harris, Franklin Carmichael, Arthur Lismer, F.H. Varley, A.Y. Jackson and Franz Johnson
• The artwork expressed Canada’s physical richness and beauty
!
❖
Literature
• A new style of Canadian literature would encourage and influence later generations of Canadian writers
!
❖
Sports
• “Canada’s Golden Age of Sports”
• Canadian athletes won medals and trophies all around the world • Bluenose in 1921
• Professional hockey emerged as one of Canada’s favorite sports • 1928 Olympics (Bobbie Rosenfeld, Percy Williams)
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C
ANADIAN
S
ILENT
F
ILM
S
TAR
: M
ARY
P
ICKFORD
CANADIAN WOMEN IN THE 1920’S
❖
Alberta’s Famous Five
• In 1927 a group of western women asked Parliament if women were considered ‘persons’ • They were called the “Famous Five”: Emily Murphy, Irene Parlby, Nellie McClung, Henrietta
Edwards, Louise McKinney
• Before them the word ‘person’ in the Canadian Constitution meant only those of the male sex • The Persons Case went to the Supreme Court of Canada and in 1928 the Court ruled that the
word ‘persons’ in the Constitution meant only male persons
• The women kept fighting and appealed the decisions to the British Privy Council and in 1929 (to the surprise of many) the Council overturned the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision
CANADIAN WOMEN IN THE 1920’S
❖
Fashion
• Clothing styles for women were changing • Hemlines rose above the knee
• “Boyish” look was in
• Indicated that women were more free than before and were more equal to men
• Called ‘flappers”
• However, many men and women considered this lifestyle too extreme.
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FLAPPERS
○
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7neA1I9K71c\
○
Flappers were a group of women during the 1920s
who smoked, drank, went to parties, participated
in sports (traditional male activities)
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WOMEN IN THE 1920s
1918
1920s
Describe the differences between the photos.
What does this tell us about the differences in the role of women in these time periods?
PROHIBITION
❖
Between 1915-1917 Canadian Temperance Movements were able to outlaw the sale
and consumption of alcohol in every province except Quebec
❖
This was called Prohibition
❖
Prohibition did reduce alcohol consumption by 80%. However, it also inspired a wave
of crime that created tensions between the U.S. and Canada
❖
Many people were prepared to break the laws; they liked to drink or wanted to get rich
selling alcohol illegally.
❖
The United States was the major market for illegal alcohol
• ‘Rum-running’ became big-business • ‘Bootleggers’ sprung up everywhere
❖
Liquor was transported to the United States by boats, trucks, cars and trains
❖
Oakville – Chisolm family – founder of Oakville – his house was used to smuggle
alcohol down to harbour in the 1930’s
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ECONOMIC ‘BOOM’
○
1924
○
Increase in consumer goods
○
Mass production techniques
○
Canada became a major wheat exporter
○
Canada began to trade less with Britain and more
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CHANGES IN TECHNOLOGY
❖
Insulin
• Frederick Banting in 1921
• 1922 Leonard Thompson, a 14 year old boy, was the first person treated
❖
The Telephone
• In 1920 1 in 4 families had a phone • In 1929 3 of 4 families had a phone
❖
The Automobile
• The Model T car was mass produced and flooded the market • Millions of jobs were created
❖
The Airplane
• Air transport expanded rapidly between 1920 and 1937
❖
The Radio
• First radio broadcast in North America was on May 20, 1920 • New type of entertainment
• CBC – The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was created • Hockey Night in Canada first aired on March 22, 1923
CHANGES IN TECHNOLOGY
❖The Airplane❖Air transport expanded rapidly between 1920 and 1937 ❖The Radio
❖First radio broadcast in North America was on May 20, 1920 ❖New type of entertainment
❖CBC – The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was created ❖Hockey Night in Canada first aired on March 22, 1923
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