Untitled Flashcards Set

1920s/1930s - Review 

NICOLA DHYANA LUCIA ANNIE JIA

• Google slides - The Dirty 30’s

  • Hobos - unemployed, lived outside in tar paper shack hobo jungles or Bennettbughs, police raided these settlements

  • The causes of the Depression - Too much optimism

    • Margin Buying-buying stocks without all the money needed, gambling, based on bank loans, high risk

    • Over Expansion & Over Production-profits spent expanding factories or expanding in the 1920s, stockpiling, demand went down factories closed and people were laid off

    • Primary Industry-Canada relied on staples for export (wheat, pulp, paper, fish, minerals) when demand declined industry suffered, natural disasters (drought grasshoppers)

    • Credit Buying- Buy now pay later, used to buy products had to be repossessed in the 30s

    • US Dependence - too dependent on the US stopped buying our goods

    • Tariffs-tariffs on imported goods slowed down exports

    • Stock Market Crash - October 29 1929 signalled the onset of the GD, black tuesday, NYSE lost 16 million shares or 9 billion, Toronto and Montreal 16 companies lost 300 million

  • Government responses 

    • On-to-Ottawa trek -complaints weren’t heard, april 1935, 1500 from BC went on strike go to vancouver, hijacked trains, increased in size, 20,000 people were in the camps, 170,000 end up working in the camps

      • What was the objective? Go to ottawa and demand improvements, get more money less hours PPE compensation if injured camps not run by military welfare to worker right to vote, were making 20 cents a day

      • Where did it stop? Regina because there was a mountie training camp

      • 8 Leaders went to see Bennett nothing happened, got called communists, ran by Arthur Slim Evans, once back in Regina a protest happened, police came riot happened, 130 were arrested, 2 died including a cop

    • What were the difficulties of obtaining the “dole”? 

      • Had to publicly declare no money radio, car, or telephone

      • Was seen as humiliating

      • Food or relief vouchers

      • Unemployed seen as suspicious

      • By ‘33 1.5 million people on the dole

      • Had to live somewhere for 6+ months to get dole

• Google slides - Political Solutions to the Great Depression

  • The names and main ideas of the key political parties, names of the party leaders:

    • LIBERAL Mackenzie Lyon King: longest serving prime minister, PM from 21-26 26-30 35-48, reluctant to intervene but introduced unemployment insurance in mid 30s, job of church and family to help, wouldn’t give 5 cents to province with conservative leadership, against tariffs, spiritual PM

    • CONSERVATIVE RB Bennett: PM from 30-35, Unemployment relief act, tariffs to protect Canada, wanted to make a protectionist “New Deal” but lost, refused to raise wealthy tariffs, Bennett buggies elected him but don’t like him, made work camps

    • UNION NATIONALE Maurice Duplessis: Quebec only, provincial autonomy, blamed English for depression, farmers are backbone of Quebec economy, agriculture support credit for farmers and their family, hates trade-union movement and communists, keep their traditions

    • CO-OPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH FEDERATION JS Woodsworth: 1932 first socialist party, create welfare with universal pensions, universal healthcare, welfare support, workers compensation, unemployment insurance, Saskatchewan, controls key industries, blamed capitalists for crash

    • SOCIAL CREDIT PARTY William Aberhart “Bible Bill”: 1935 in depression, social credit to stimulate 25 dollars to each adult, print more money, only federal gov can print money, spread to BC in the 50s and stayed 40 years, rural quebec in the 60s, no longer apart, became popular on radio, believed depression was because of underconsumption

    • COMMUNIST PARTY OF CANADA Tim Buck: Guelph, blamed capitalist for depression, supports revolution, Tim buck went to Kingston prison, no private ownership, overthrow democracy, many leaders arrested

    • FASCIST PARTY Adrien Arcand: Guelph Ontario, loved god the king and was noble to Canada, racist, authoritarianism, blamed banks and capitalism for GD, nationalism, unity and honour

• The Spanish Flu 

  • Spain reported it because she was neutral in the war, while other countries kept it hidden

  • Year?

    • 1918

  • How did it impact Canada and the Global community?

    • 50-100 million people died worldwide, 50 000 in Canada

    • 1000 lives were lost every day (compared to the war, where ~100 lost/day)

    • Schools closed, public transportation halted, public gatherings cancelled

    • PEI quarantined from mainland Canada

    • Flu vaccines are still difficult - sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t

• 1920’s Technology note template

  • What new technologies emerged?

    • Transportation

      • The automobile

        • Sales tripled from 20s to 30s

      • Most popular car was model T Ford

      • Mass production allowed cars to be cheap ($424)

      • Cars were more accessible

        • Development of roads, parking lots, gas stations, road signs etc.

        • Drivers licenses in 1927 (Ontario)

        • Road rules

        • Speed limits (32 km in cities, 56 km on country roads)

      • Commercial advantages of motorized vehicles

        • Trucks could carry larger loads

    • Communication

      • Telephone

        • Rotary dials in the 20s

        • Combined handsets (mouthpiece+earphone in one unit) introduced in 1927

      • Radio

        • entertainment+information source

      • “Talkies”

        • 1927

        • Movies with sound

        • The Jazz Singer (first talkie)

    • Household Electric appliances

      • Washing machines, vacuum cleaners, stoves, hair dryers

      • Many argued made work harder because cleaners/housekeepers now has higher expectations

    • Health Science

      • Life expectancy increased

        • In the 20s, a 20-y-o woman could expect to live to 49, but in the 30s, that number became 52

      • In 1922, insulin was discovered at UofT by Charles Best and Frederick Banting

      • In 1920, bandaids and Q Tips were invented

  • How did they impact Canada?

    • …. Yukon had a worse life

• Emily Murphy and the Famous five

  • What was the goal?

    • For women to be declared persons

      • Right to vote, able to be a senator

  • Was it achieved? If so, how so?

    • Asked the Minister of Justice to amend the Constitution

    • July 12, 1923, motion put forward (Senate)

    • 1928 - The Famous Five ask the Supreme Court of Canada to rule on whether the word “person” in section 24 of the BNA Act included women

    • 1929 - The Supreme Court of Canada unanimously decided that women were not “persons”

    • 1929 - The British Privy Council reversed the decision, ruling that women women were “persons” with all rights accorded to the definition

    • Cairine Wilson

• Women in the 1920s -

  • Flapper

    • REBELLIOUS women with short hair, short dresses, blinged out, etc.

      • Drank alcohol, smoked

  • Rights …

    • Couldn’t vote

    • Weren’t considered persons

  • Women in sports 

    • Edmonton Grads

      • Women's basketball

      • Crazy win streak 95%

    • Matchless Six

      • Demolished the Olympics

• Did the 1920s/1930s roar for all Canadians?

  • Unfortunately, which groups in Canada faced discrimination during this period?

    • Chinese Canadians

    • Jewish Canadians

    • Black Canadians

    • Indigenous Peoples

    • LGBTQ+

  • What happened in the Christie Pits Riot? 

    • A group of people unfurled a swastika flag at a Jewish baseball team

    • Caused a violent riot on the baseball diamond 

  • What was the goal of the Winnipeg General Strike?

    • Fight for better wages and working conditions

    • Gain recognition for unions

• Canadian autonomy note template

  • How did Canada gain greater autonomy? 

    • WWI (1914): Canada went to war automatically with Britain but showed strong national effort

    • Paris Peace Conference (1919): Canada had its own seat and signed the treaty independently within the British Empire

    • League of Nations (1919): Joined as a founding member, creating official foreign relationships

    • Chanak Affair (1922): Refused to send troops to support Britain without parliamentary debate

    • Halibut Treaty (1923): First treaty Canada signed independently (with the U.S.), not co-signed by Britain

    • Byng-King Crisis (1925-26): Asserted that the Canadian Prime Minister held more political power than the Governor General

    • Canadian Embassy in Washington (1927): Established its own diplomatic representation in the U.S

    • Statute of Westminster (1931): Gave Canada full legal freedom from British Parliament except for constitutional amendments

  • Byng-King Crisis 

    • Conflict between Prime Minister Mackenzie King and Governor General Lord Byng

    • King asked Byng to dissolve Parliament; Byng refused

    • A new election was held anyway

    • Set a precedent: the Governor General would no longer interfere in political matters, becoming a symbolic figurehead

    • Showed Canada's push toward political independence and PM authority

  • The Chanak affair 

    • British troops in Turkey were threatened post-WWI

    • Britain expected support from its dominions (Canada)

    • PM Mackenzie King declined to send Canadian troops automatically

    • Marked a shift: Canada would decide its own military involvement

    • Asserted independence in foreign policy decisions

  • Statute of Westminster

    • Ended British Parliament's power to legislate for Canada

    • Gave Canada full control over its own laws—both domestic and international

    • British could no longer override Canadian legislation

    • Symbolized Canada becoming a fully sovereign nation, except for constitutional changes

• Video notes - Canada: The Story of Us

  • What is the significance of Dr. Hastings?

    • Became Toronto’s medical officer of health in spring 1911

    • Tried to make Toronto, particularly the slum buildings (e.g. St. John’s ward) safer place to live in

    • Brought to public conscience the importance of sanitary conditions in a large city 

    • Took photos of poor living conditions and showcased exhibitions across the city to get the influential middle class to understand the struggles

    • Helped to bring the topic of the ward’s living conditions into the city hall’s top concerns

    • By 1918 outdoor toilets were replaced in favour of indoor plumbing thanks to Hastings

    • Toronto also became the first city in Canada to pasteurize milk as a result

• Canada’s cultural genocide

  • What was the residential school system?

    • Government-funded, church run institutions that aimed to assimilate Indigenous children

      • Assimilation - the process by which a person or persons acquire the social and psychological characteristics of a group

    • Forcefully removed children from their families

    • Started in 1831 with the Mohawk Institute in Bradford, Ontario

    • Last school closed in 1996

  • What is the lasting impact?

    • Intergenerational trauma

    • Cultural loss

    • family/culture disconnection

    • Cycle of abuse

    • Sense of shame and identity loss

  • Who is Dr. Peter Bryce?

    • Canadian physician & public health advocate (1853–1932)

    • Chief Medical Officer for Indian Affairs (1904–1921)

    • Exposed deadly conditions in residential schools:

      • Found 24-69% death rates in some schools due to TB, neglect, and overcrowding

      • Called it "a national crime" in his 1922 report

    • Faced government suppression:

      • Duncan Campbell Scott (Indian Affairs) blocked his reforms, prioritizing assimilation

    • Legacy:

      • Early whistleblower on residential school atrocities

      • His work is now key evidence in Canada’s truth and reconciliation efforts