the war on the home front : matrix for change

  • canadian industry gets a shot in the arm

    • 1914 - Canada is asked to contribute rifles, bombs, shells

    • problem : we have a lack of factories/poor quality

      • the main economy was natural resources

      • even now, we don’t mass produce

        • labour cost due to minimum wage is too high, and we don’t have enough people

    • imperial munitions board was founded - government, private companies, politicians

      • organized and improved production

    • basis of industrial network is created

    • results in massive growth in production : 600 factories, 250 000 workers, $2 million in daily production

    • StatScan - Canadian War Production

      Year

      Value of War Materials Produced

      1914

      $28 164

      1915

      $57 213 688

      1916

      $296 505 257

      1917

      $388 213 553

      1918

      $260 711 751

    • this steels canada and we become war-hardened

      • to grow, you need to overcome a problem

      • before canada was divided

        • were we a failure? this made us realise our potential

        • felt like canadians not british subjects

        • imperialism vs nationalism

  • the invisible army : women in world war 1

    • thousands of young men were overseas, and there was an increasing need for workers and production

    • women filled the void : offices, factories, on the forms

      • raised millions of dollars for the war effort and the support of soldiers’ families

      • managed farms and harvested crops

      • made thousands of dressings for battlefield wounds

      • organized knitting clubs and sent warm clothing to the soldiers shivering in the trenches

      • sent packages of soap, candy. and cigarettes to the soldiers

      • carefully rationed food and manufactured goods so that more products were available to the armed forces

      • bore the loss of loved ones and attended to the needs of soldiers

      • wanted to work

    • “if women in war factories stopped for 20 minutes, we should lose the war.” general joseph joffe, french commander-in-chief

    • problems : lower pay

    • women taking on a greater rolein society helped strengthen the women’s suffrage movement

      • women working out of the home → demand a voice in the government and the vote, along with prohibition (later passed)

      • in 1918, Prime Minister Borden passed a bill to give women the vote

  • the war measures act

    • enemy aliens - turkish, german, austrian hungarians

      • the rights of those from “enemy” countries were suspended for the good of canada

        • couldn’t have newspapers or books in their home languages, no driver’s liscense

        • 8597 sent to work in remote camps

        • forced to register with local police and report regularly for inspection

      • concentration camps in canada - paid as low as 25 cents a day for long days of work