2

This unit deals with the history of the twentiethcentury from 1913, and shows how many of the issuesthat concern Canadians today developed or werealready present in much of that century.

In Chapter 1 we look at Canadian society beforeWorld War I, and the attitudes and expectationsCanadians had for the future. The horrors of WorldWar I marked a turning point for Canadians.

In Chapter 2 we see how the war led to greaterconfidence and independence from Great Britain.

Chapter 3 looks at the post-war period until thestock market crash of 1929, which marked the be-ginning of the Depression.

The experiences of Canadians and the govern-ment response to the crisis of the Depression is de-scribed in Chapter 4, as well as the rise of fascistgovernments in Europe and Japan. Their rise led toWorld War II, which is examined in Chapter 5.

Chapters 6, 7, and 8 cover issues in the post-warperiod between 1945 and 2000. Chapter 6 looks atCanada’s role in world affairs, and how it dealt with theproblems that arose during the Cold War, the periodof nuclear tension that lasted until 1991.

Chapter 7 deals with changes in the society, at-titudes, and the economy, while Chapter 8 addressesthree continuing themes in the evolution of Canada’snational identity: the role of Quebec, immigration,and recognition of the rights of the Aboriginal popu-lation.

Political Issues

• Did World War I have a positive ornegative effect on Canada?

• Did Canada become more or lessindependent in the 1920s?

• Is the use of weapons of massdestruction ever justified?

• What role should Canada play in U.S.-dominated military alliances?

• How should the Canadiangovernment deal with the issues ofwestern alienation and Quebecseparatism?

• Should changes be made to Canada’sConstitution to give the provinces morepower?

Social Issues

• Should social services be cut toreduce the national debt?

• Should Aboriginal peoples be givenmore rights and special status inCanada?

Legal Issues

• Is today’s government responsible forinjustices of the past?

Economic Issues

• How involved should the governmentbe in the economy during adepression?

• Should the federal governmentnegotiate more free trade agreements?

Cultural Issues

• Does Canada need a multiculturalismpolicy?

• Can the Canadian government protectCanadian culture?

U N I T I Canada in theTwentieth Century

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3

What was the impact onCanadians of the Quebecreferendum of 1995?

Why did thisphotographbecome one ofthe most famousimages ofCanadians inWorld War I?

What methods did theNazi Party use toappeal to the emotionsof the German public?

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▼

What impact didthe “dust bowl”years of theDepression haveon Canadianfarmers? ▼

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4 Unit I ■ Canada in the Twentieth Century

Tanoo, Queen Charlotte Islands by Emily Carr,1913. Carr lived and worked in British Columbia, wheremany of her paintings were inspired by Aboriginal life andculture.

Expressing ideas What is the mood of this painting?How do you know this is an abandoned settlement? Whatdo you think inspired the painter to record this scene?

A Different Canada

FOCUS ON

• What were commonattitudes about socialbehaviour in the early1900s?

• What were the popularcultural pastimes ofCanadians before WorldWar I?

• What was Canada’srelationship to Britain atthe turn of the century?

• What attitudes did manyCanadians have towardsAboriginal peoples andnon-Europeans?

• What technologicaldevelopments benefitedCanada’s economy duringthis period?

• What impact didindustrial developmenthave on the naturalenvironment?

Counterpoints Issue

• Is today’s governmentresponsible for injusticesof the past?

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Chapter 1 ■ A Different Canada 5

IntroductionOn a cool October evening in 1904, a tall, digni-fied man stood in front of a crowd in Toronto’sMassey Hall. He was Wilfrid Laurier, Canada’sprime minister. Laurier stepped to the podiumthat night and presented a bold vision of Canadafor the new century:

Let me tell you, my fellow countrymen, that thetwentieth century shall be the century of Canadaand of Canadian development. For the next seventy-five years, nay for the next 100 years,Canada shall be the star towards which all menwho love progress and freedom shall come.

Source: Toronto Globe, October 15, 1904.

What was Canada like at the beginning of thetwentieth century when Laurier made his boldprediction? The map of Canada in 1905 (Figure 1-1) shows that Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebecwere much smaller than they are today.Newfoundland was still a self-governing colony,and the Territory of Nunavut had yet to be cre-ated. The census of 1911 reveals that Canada’s

1896 Wilfrid Laurier, leader of the Liberals,becomes prime minister.

Klondike Gold Rush begins.

1899 Canada sends volunteers to fight in BoerWar in South Africa.

1903 Alaska Boundary dispute is settled.

1905 Alberta and Saskatchewan becomeprovinces.

1906 B.C. Native chiefs take land claim to KingEdward VII of England.

1907 Vancouver race riot occurs.

1908 Anne of Green Gables is published.

1909 First airplane flight in Canada takes place.

1911 Laurier era ends.

1912 RMS Titanic sinks off coast ofNewfoundland.

1914 World War I begins.

Passengers on the Komagata Maru are refusedlanding at Vancouver.

Figure 1-1 Canada in1905.

Gathering information

Which provinces havethe same boundaries astoday? Which oneshave differentboundaries?

ONTARIO

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

BRITISH COLUMBIA

ALBERTA

District ofMackenzie

YUKONTERRITORY

MANITOBA N.B.P.E.I.

QUEBEC

Districtof

Ungava

ALASKA(U.S. )

GREENLAND

NEWFOUNDLAND

SASK.

NOVASCOTIA

Districtof

Keewatin

N O R T H W E S T T E R R I T O R I E S

D i s t r i c t o f F r a n k l i n

ATLANTICOCEAN

ARCTICOCEAN

PACIFICOCEAN

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6 Unit I ■ Canada in the Twentieth Century

population was only 7.2 million, less than a quar-ter of what it would be by the end of the century.

People’s attitudes about the role of women,minorities, good manners, and behaviour in gen-eral were also different then. In this regard,Canada would have fit the claim that the “past islike a foreign country; they do things differentlythere.” In our study of history, it is important totry to see the world through the eyes of Canadiansat that time if we want to understand why theytook the actions that they did.

Society and Manners By the early twentieth century, most Canadianslived on farms or in small villages. It was a mi-nority of English-Canadian middle- and upper-class people, however, who set the standards formorals and manners of the day. These people weregreatly influenced by the attitudes of VictorianEngland. This period—named after QueenVictoria, who was the British monarch from 1837to 1901—was known for its appearance of moralstrictness. Families were expected to attendchurch regularly; they supported Britain and themonarchy, and believed in honour, virtue, andduty. It was an age in which right and wrong, goodand evil seemed clear; they were not seen as issuesthat needed discussion or debate. Families wereexpected to take care of their own members, with-out depending on the assistance of government.Laziness was thought to be the cause of poverty.Those families that couldn’t support themselveswere often dependent on private charities for foodand clothing.

There was little tolerance for those who didnot obey the law, and the application of the lawcould be quite harsh. In 1914, twenty-seven menwere sentenced to death for murder. Eleven ofthe sentences were carried out, with the rest com-muted to life imprisonment. Most convictions,however, were for crimes against people’s prop-erty. Drunkenness was a close second.

For young adults, courtship was a formal affairunder the watchful eyes of the community. Oncemarried, women had few rights over property orchildren, and divorce was rare. Women were not

considered persons under the law—unless theycommitted a crime. Even a woman’s salary waslegally the property of her husband. Women whoworked outside the home, usually before mar-riage, were employed mainly as servants or fac-tory workers. Some women were teachers andnurses; a few even became doctors.

A group of women, known as suffragists,wanted the right to vote. With the vote, womenbelieved they could influence government to ad-dress social problems of the day, such as childlabour, pollution, and widespread poverty. Thesuffragists wanted the sale of alcohol prohibitedbecause they believed alcohol was the cause ofmany of society’s problems. Nellie McClung wasa well-known suffragist who, together with otherwomen, campaigned for women’s rights.

Figure 1-2 The McLean family, 1910. These peopleexhibit the confidence and proper formality of thetypical upper-class, English-Canadian family in theyears before World War I.

Gathering information What does the style ofdress tell you about the manners of a wealthy familyin Victorian society?

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Chapter 1 ■ A Different Canada 7

Arts and Leisure As Canada started to become more urbanized, itsliterature and art became more sentimental, expressing a preference for rural life, simple values, and happy endings. In 1908, Lucy MaudMontgomery published the much-loved novelAnne of Green Gables, a rural romance. StephenLeacock gently mocked small-town Ontario lifein his humorous Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town(1912). Ernest Thompson Seton wrote movingand realistic stories about animals. PaulineJohnson, daughter of a Mohawk chief and hisEnglish wife, read her poems about Mohawk her-itage to packed halls and opera houses across thecountry. Ontario painter Homer Watson gainedinternational recognition with his farm scenes ofOntario. In Quebec, Ozias Leduc painted reli-gious works and landscapes filled with a sense ofspirituality.

People enjoyed outdoor entertainment suchas distance running, cycling, and rowing. In thesummer, trips to the beach were popular despiteconfining “bathing costumes.” In the winter, to-bogganing was a must.

Still a British Nation At the beginning of the twentieth century, some ofBritain’s colonies, including Canada, had theirown governments, but could not resolve disputeswith other countries. This was the responsibility ofthe British government in London, which did notalways have Canada’s interests in mind. For ex-ample, in a dispute over the Alaska Boundary, theBritish negotiated an agreement that favoured theUnited States over Canada. The dispute was overthe exact border of the Alaskan “panhandle,” astrip of land running down the Pacific Coast be-tween British Columbia and Alaska. Of particularconcern was the question of ownership of a fjordcalled the Lynn Canal. This waterway providedaccess to the Yukon, where gold had been dis-covered in 1896.

Figure 1-3 Bathing was great fun during the long, hotsummer of 1914.

Thinking critically In what ways is the bathing attiretypically Victorian?

PACIFICOCEAN

ALASKA

BRITISHCOLUMBIA

N.W.T.

300 km1500

Canadian claimU.S. claimBoundary accordingto award of Tribunal,1903

YUKONTERRITORY

Dawson

LynnCanal

Skagway

N

Figure 1-4 The Alaska Boundary dispute.

Using evidence From the map, explain how theCanadian claim would have allowed easier access toDawson.

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8 Unit I ■ Canada in the Twentieth Century

subjects. French-Canadians tended to be na-tionalists, believing that Canada should be moreindependent from Britain. For example, nation-alist leader Henri Bourassa resigned from Laurier’scabinet when Laurier agreed to send volunteersto fight with the British in South Africa. Bourassa’sstand against Canada’s involvement in Britain’swars became an even bigger issue during WorldWar I.

Language rights was another issue that di-vided French-speaking and English-speakingCanadians. After a bitter dispute, French-Canadians lost the right to French-language in-struction in Catholic schools first in Manitoba,then in Saskatchewan and Alberta. Henri Bourassavoiced the concerns of many French-Canadianswhen he suggested that Canadiens might have no reason to stay in Canada if their rights as a minority were not protected, as the people ofQuebec believed they would be at the time ofConfederation.

SOUTHAMERICA

EUROPE

ASIA

AUSTRALIA

ATLANTICOCEAN

PACIFICOCEAN

PACIFICOCEAN

INDIANOCEAN

The Colonial Empires of Western Europe by 1910

AFRICA

NORTH

AMERICA

British Empire(includingprotectorates)

Spanish

French

Dutch

Italian

Belgian

Turkish

Portuguese

German

Using evidence The British Empire was the biggest of the Europeanempires that controlled much of the land and people of the world. Whatdoes the expression, “the sun never set on the British Empire” mean?

In 1903, the matter was finally settled. TheBritish, weary from fighting the Boer War in SouthAfrica and unwilling to become involved in an-other international conflict, determined that theLynn Canal was part of Alaska, not BritishColumbia.

Canadians were angered by this decision.Many believed Britain had sold out Canada’s in-terest in order to keep peace with the UnitedStates. However, most English-speakingCanadians were proud to be British subjects, andthey shared Britain’s dreams of expanding theBritish Empire throughout the world. These imperialists had eagerly supported Britain in theBoer War in 1899.

French-speaking Canadians, however, did notshare this enthusiasm for the British Empire. Theywere the descendants of people who had settledNew France more than 200 years earlier, and theysaw themselves as Canadiens rather than British

Figure 1-5 World empires in 1910.Canadians were proud that their countrywas the senior dominion in the greatestempire since the Roman Empire.

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Chapter 1 ■ A Different Canada 9

A C T I V I T I E S

1. Imagine you could go back to the Canada of 1914.What attitudes would you find most difficult to dealwith? Why?

2. Describe the situation of women in Canada in theyears before World War I.

3. Explain why Canadiens did not share any enthusi-asm for Canada’s ties to Britain. Do you think their ob-jections were justified? Explain your answer.

Canada’s ChangingPopulation Soon after Laurier became prime minister, he re-alized that if Canada were to prosper, it neededmany more people, especially in the West. Hisgovernment circulated posters in the United Statesand northern and eastern Europe promotingCanada as an attractive place to live. The postersdescribed the Prairies as the “Last Best West,” socalled to distinguish it from the American West.His government’s efforts resulted in an enormousincrease in immigration during this period.

Entry into Canada was easy if you were rea-sonably healthy and had sufficient funds to es-tablish yourself. The federal government offeredimmigrants willing to farm the Prairies 160 acres(65 ha) of land for only ten dollars. These home-steaders had to build a house and begin cultivat-ing the farm within three years of purchase. Lifeon the Prairies was often very lonely, and harshconditions proved too much for some, who movedto urban centres. For those who stayed, however,there were rewards as well as hardships.Cooperation was common in work and play.Community dances and picnics, and church con-certs and suppers, gave settlers social lives.

Not Everyone Is Welcomed Many Canadians did not welcome changes toCanada’s ethnic composition. They feared out-siders. Most Canadians were ethnocentric, be-lieving their own race or group was superior. Asa result, many newcomers to Canada experienced

discrimination. Many French-speaking Canadianswere also concerned that the arrival of so manyimmigrants would further reduce the percentageof the population that was Francophone.

Eastern Europeans, particularly theUkrainians and Poles who settled in the Prairies,were targets of ethnic prejudice. Their languageand their dress—embroidered skirts, baggytrousers, long boots, and sheepskin coats—wereunfamiliar to Canadians, who often ridiculed andscorned these people and their customs.

Many Chinese, Japanese, and East Indian im-migrants settled in British Columbia, where they,too, suffered from discrimination and racism. R.B.Bennett, a future prime minister, reflected popu-lar prejudice when he declared in 1907, “BritishColumbia must remain a white man’s country.”As long as Asian immigrants did work that otherCanadians considered too unpleasant—such ashauling coal, packing fish, and washing dishes—their cheap labour was generally accepted. Butwhen workers began to fear that Asian immigrantswould compete against them for other jobs, theyjoined in denouncing them.

Figure 1-6 The Darby family in Vulcan, Alberta,1903. The Darbys were one of the few African-American families allowed to immigrate to Canadafrom the United States. Mr. Darby was a hotel chef.

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Is Today’s GovernmentResponsible forInjustices of the Past? In 1885, because the federal government wanted todiscourage Chinese people from coming to Canada, itcreated the Chinese Immigration Act. Under this act,every Chinese person immigrating to Canada had topay the government fifty dollars, a fee called a head

tax. When immigrants continued to arrive, the tax wasincreased to $100 in 1900, and to $500 in 1903. On July1, 1923, the Chinese Immigration Act was replaced bythe Chinese Exclusion Act—an even stricter act thattried to stop Chinese immigration altogether. Chinese-Canadians refer to this day as Humiliation Day becausethey felt insulted by this restrictive legislation. It wasn’tuntil 1947 that the act was repealed.

In 1984, the Chinese community in British Columbiaasked the federal government to redress—that is, tomake up for—past injustices suffered by them. A groupof Chinese organizations asked for an apology from thegovernment. The organizations also asked the govern-ment to pay $23 million to the Chinese families fromwhom the head tax was originally collected. The $23million, they said, was exactly what was collected from81 000 Chinese immigrants who were forced to paythe tax.

In 1990, the Conservative government of the dayapologized to Italian-Canadians who were interned dur-ing World War II. The government also apologized toJapanese-Canadians for their internment during the war,and it paid $12 million to Japanese-Canadians whoseproperties were seized in 1942 (see Chapter 5, pages126–127).

The Chinese organizations maintained that whenthe federal government paid out $12 million toJapanese-Canadians, it created a duty to treat otherclaims for compensation—requests for repayment ofmoney—in a similar way.

In 1993, the Liberal government promised to re-dress the Chinese community for past injustices. Thenext year, however, the government rejected the com-pensation claim for $23 million by Chinese-Canadians,along with claims by six other groups. The minister ex-plained the government’s position on claims for com-pensation in the following way:

The government must focus on erasing inequalityin the future, instead of compensating people forpast mistakes. Canadians wish those episodes hadnever happened. We wish we could rewrite his-tory. We wish we could relive the past. But wecannot. We believe our only choice lies in usinglimited government resources to create a more eq-uitable society.

Source: Multiculturalism Minister SheilaFinestone in a 1994 letter.

Alan Li, president of the Chinese-Canadian NationalCouncil (CCNC), disagreed with the minister’s decision.His position was that Chinese-Canadians were asking:

… for only the return of the $23 million actuallytaken and [were] willing to forgo any interest ben-efit that government has received from the moneyover seventy years. Returning the money is onlybasic justice. It is a strong statement of principlethat a government cannot, and should not, andmust not, benefit from racism.

Source: Speech by Alan Li, President of theChinese-Canadian National Council, 1994.

In 1995, the CCNC asked the United NationsHuman Rights Commission in New York to look intothe issue. In its submission, the CCNC stated that:

… after over eleven years, the [Canadian] govern-ment has acted in bad faith and without due re-gard to the … uniqueness of this Chinese-Canadianredress claim. The unconscionable delay in resolv-ing this human rights issue has meant that overhalf of the approximately 2000 surviving head taxpayers in 1984 have now passed away.

c o u n t e r p o i n t s

10 Unit I ■ Canada in the Twentieth Century

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Chapter 1 ■ A Different Canada 11

A n a l y s i n g t h e I s s u e

1. Imagine you are a lawyer representing a Chinese-Canadian family whose member paid the head tax.Outline the case you would make to the federal gov-ernment on behalf of your client.

2. Compare the response of the multiculturalism min-ister with Alan Li’s response. Which position do youagree with? Why?

3. Organize a debate on the topic: Can we right thewrongs of past generations?

Figure 1-7 Immigration certificate for Lee Don, 1918.

Gathering information How old was Lee Don when hewas admitted to Canada? How much was the head taxhe had to pay? Where do you think he might haveobtained the money to pay the tax?

1902 Royal Commission on Oriental Immigrationdeclares that “… further immigration of Chineseto Canada would be injurious to the interests ofCanada….”

1903 Head tax increased to $500.

1923 Head tax on Chinese immigrants replacedby Chinese Exclusion Act.

1947 Repeal of Chinese Exclusion Act andenfranchisement of Chinese-Canadians.

1958 Douglas Jung becomes first Chinese-Canadian Member of Parliament.

1988 David Lam becomes first Chinese-Canadianlieutenant-governor of British Columbia.

1996 Jenny Kwan and Ida Chong become BritishColumbia’s first Chinese-Canadian MLAs.

The CCNC is considering taking the governmentto court to determine whether the government has alegal duty to redress Chinese-Canadians for the headtax and the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Figure 1-8 The Chinese in Canada.

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12 Unit I ■ Canada in the Twentieth Century

In response, the federal government tried tolimit immigration from Asia by placing a “headtax” on immigrants from China. In 1907, an angrygroup of whites attacked stores and homes owned by Chinese and Japanese immigrants inVancouver. This race riot resulted in severe re-strictions on Japanese immigration. A year later,there was a virtual ban on East Indian immigra-tion. In the summer of 1914, the Komagata Maru,a ship carrying mostly Sikhs, was forced to returnto India from Vancouver, when its passengers wererefused entry into Canada.

Aboriginal Peoples As thousands of immigrants settled into the west-ern provinces, the Aboriginal peoples found them-selves more and more displaced. Their movementsand lives were regulated under the federal IndianAct passed in 1876. By the 1880s, Aboriginal peo-ples of the Prairies were living on reserves, ordesignated areas of land. The main purpose of re-serves was to free the open land for settlers andimmigrants from Europe, and to avoid the violentclashes that had taken place between Aboriginalpeople and settlers in the United States. Onceon the reserves, Aboriginal people were supposedto take up farming instead of traditional hunting.But the soil was often unsuitable, equipment was

limited, and many people went hungry. As moreimmigrants arrived, the government allowed sec-tions of reserve lands to be transferred to home-steaders for farming or to companies for mining.Aboriginal leaders protested this incursion by thefederal government, but their protests did littleto stop the government’s actions.

Loss of land wasn’t the only problem facedby Aboriginal people. By the early 1900s, theirpopulations were declining. Disease was a majorcause. In some residential schools, schools forAboriginal children run by the churches, over-crowded dormitories and unsanitary conditionscaused tuberculosis to spread quickly. Most ofthe Aboriginal population suffered from poor dietand inadequate housing, which also contributed todisease and the decline in population.

Residential schools, reserves, and enforcedfarming were all part of the federal government’spolicy of assimilation, which was intended tomake Aboriginal people abandon their traditionalculture and become part of the European way oflife. This policy had been in place since 1871. By1913, an article in Maclean’s magazine claimedthat “the white man of Canada … is slowly,steadily and surely absorbing his red brother.”Aboriginal people did not agree. For many, thestruggle to establish land claims and reclaim theirculture was just beginning.

Figure 1-9 An Aboriginalman ploughing land on areserve.

Thinking critically

Aboriginal people hadtraditionally led a nomadiclife, and many survived byhunting, trapping, and fishing.How would farming changetheir traditional lifestyle? Whywould many resist farming?

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Chapter 1 ■ A Different Canada 13

A C T I V I T I E S

1. Why did the Canadian government make entry intoCanada so easy for most European immigrants?

2. Why were some people upset by the changes toCanada’s ethnic composition?

3. Describe the steps taken in British Columbia to re-strict Asian immigration.

4. Describe the policies of the federal government thatwere designed to assimilate Canada’s Aboriginalpeoples.

Urbanization While thousands of immigrants were settling farmson the Prairies, thousands more were moving totowns and cities. Some immigrant groups, partic-ularly Jews, who were not allowed to own land inEurope, chose urban life, which was more famil-iar to them. The population of Canada’s westerncities exploded in the early 1900s. For example,Winnipeg expanded from 42 340 people in 1901to 136 035 people in 1911. It called itself, opti-mistically, the “Chicago of the North.”

The growing cities were filled with contrastsbetween the wealthy and the poor. The rich livedin luxury. They usually had servants; their houseswere lit by electricity, warmed by central hot waterheating, and had running water. Across town, theworking class lived in shacks and overcrowdedtenements. Lack of clean water and proper sewers,together with pollution from neighbouring indus-tries, caused widespread health problems.Pneumonia, diphtheria, tuberculosis, and typhoidwere common in poorer districts. Still, peopleflocked to the cities, attracted by jobs as well as bycultural and social opportunities unavailable inrural Canada.

An Economy Transformed As Canada’s population grew, so did its economy.The export of natural resources such as timber,wheat, and minerals was an important part ofCanada’s economy. Canada’s export industries also

benefited from cheap shipping costs across theAtlantic Ocean. As well, the opening of thePanama Canal in 1914 created a shorter shippingroute for Canadian products en route to Europefrom the West Coast. Mining, too, contributed tothe economic boom in the early 1900s.Prospectors and investors invaded the Yukon andBritish Columbia after the discovery of gold nearthe Klondike River in 1896.

The use of electricity in factories was an enor-mous boost to Canada’s industrial growth. Withelectric power, bigger and better machines couldbe used to produce many more goods. This in-dustrialization created more jobs in manufacturing.With jobs came an increase in the demand forconsumer goods. Canada Dry, Shredded Wheat,Palmolive soap, Heinz ketchup, and other brandsbecame familiar to Canadian shoppers, along with

Figure 1-10 Top: Wealthy home in Toronto, ca. 1910.Bottom: One-room home in Winnipeg, 1912.

Using evidence Find evidence in these photographsof the contrasts between rich and poor described inthe text.

Chapter01 11/05/2004 9:00 AM Page 13

Victims of accidents might be taken to anewly built hospital. For centuries hospi-tals had been places of last resort for thedesperate and dying poor. By the turn ofthe century, however, the invention ofX-rays, rubber gloves, and facemasks brought many changes. Hospitalsbecame more sterile, staffed with uni-formed nurses and specialized doctors andsurgeons.

In 1901, at Signal Hill in Newfoundland,Italian-born inventor Guglielmo Marconireceived the first radio message sentacross a long distance, in this case fromBritain. Quebec-born inventor ReginaldFessenden made the first public broadcastsof voice and music in 1906.

The Wright Brothers made the firstairplane flight in the United States in1903. In Canada, Alexander Graham Belland Douglas McCurdy also experimentedwith airplanes. They developed the SilverDart, a gasoline-powered biplane. WhenMcCurdy first flew the airplane in 1909 atBaddeck, Nova Scotia, residents wereastounded.

Automobiles were one of the newestmeans of transportation. They were fasterthan horses, and offered more privacy andpersonal freedom than trains. Until the1920s, cars were only for the rich, butmany people in cities rode the electrictram or trolley downtown.

For recreation, people could visit the musichall to enjoy the performances of singersand comedians or go to a “magiclantern” show (which used an early formof slide projector) to see pictures of foreignplaces. At home, the stereoscope pro-duced three-dimensional images of distantplaces or romantic subjects.

Canadians were experimenting with newways of getting from place to place. Thenew craze at the turn of the century wasbicycles. One in twelve people bought abicycle. They were much cheaper andcleaner than horses and easier to park.

Mechanization was transforming theworld of work. West-coast canneries useda new machine for beheading and guttingfish. Fishermen equipped their boats withgas engines, and sent their catch to marketin refrigerated railcars. Threshingmachines and combines made farmers’work easier, but the long leather belts onthese machines and exploding steam boil-ers made it more dangerous.

I n n o v a t i o n s

Changing Technologies

▼

▼

▼

14 Unit I ■ Canada in the Twentieth Century

Canadian AlexanderGraham Bell inventedthe telephone inthe 1870s. In theearly 1900s, however,only a few people hadtelephones, and theyhad to share lines andgo through an opera-tor to use them.

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Chapter 1 ■ A Different Canada 15

the first five-cent chocolate bar. By 1914, wire-less radios were used on board many ships, fol-lowing their much-publicized role in the rescueof passengers on the ill-fated RMS Titanic in1912. The 1911 census showed that over 300 000telephones were in use in Canada, and some au-tomobiles were appearing on Canadian streets.

Corporate Giants Corporations grew larger during this period of in-dustrial expansion. Huge companies, such asMaple Leaf Milling, Dominion Steel, Massey-Harris, and Imperial Oil controlled much of in-dustry. With little competition, employers could sethigh prices for the goods they produced and paylow wages to their workers. Some workers beganto form trade unions to press for better pay, re-duced hours of work, and better safety conditions.When employers refused to give in to union de-mands, some unions went on strike. Most em-ployers opposed union demands. As a result,strikes could get violent, and in some cases, thepolice and military were called in to break up theprotests. The coal miners in Nanaimo, for exam-ple, were involved in a bitter strike that lastedmore than two years. The miners were strikingover unsafe working conditions and low pay. This

strike eventually led to the largest mass arrests inCanadian history until the arrest of environmen-talist activists at Clayoquot Sound eighty yearslater.

By 1914, Canada was in a recession after al-most two decades of rapid growth. Industries cutback on production, and many workers becameunemployed. On the Prairies, most farmers wereplanting the new, higher-yielding Marquis wheatdeveloped by William Saunders and his sons, butthe boom was over—the international demandfor wheat was down.

Resources and the Environment For most Canadians in the early 1900s, the de-struction of the environment was not the issueit is today. In 1914, however, residents of BritishColumbia saw how human interference could se-riously damage an important natural resource.Workers for the Grand Trunk Railway were blast-ing a new railway line in the Fraser Canyon whenan explosion caused a rockslide at Hell’s GateCanyon. The railway company had been dumpingrocks in the canyon throughout the constructionof the line, but this rockslide had disastrous ef-fects on the spawning beds of the sockeye salmon.The fallen rocks were massive and partially

Figure 1-11 Workers at theRobert Simpson Companymail-order office, 1909.Mail-order companiesbecame a popular andpractical way for manyCanadians to shop.

Expressing ideas Basedon the photograph, whatwould you like and dislikeabout working in an officelike this?

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16 Unit I ■ Canada in the Twentieth Century

blocked the river. This blockage increased theriver’s current, which prevented many salmonfrom swimming upstream to spawn. The rocksremained in place for almost thirty years before afish ladder was constructed to allow the spawningfish to swim up the rapids. Catches of FraserRiver salmon, however, would never again equalthe twenty-to-thirty million catches of the pre-war years.

The rockslide posed a particular hardship forthe Sto:lo, a First Nations people whose liveli-hood depended on fishing in the Fraser River. Asstocks improved, commercial fishers were givena monopoly on fishing to help compensate fortheir financial losses. The Sto:lo, however, werenever given back the allocations they had prior tothe Hell’s Gate slide.

The federal and provincial governments werealso involved in setting aside land for parks. By1914, British Columbia had three national parks—Mount Revelstoke, Kootenay, and Glacier NationalParks. The B.C. government had already set asideStrathcona and Mount Robson as provincial parksin 1913.

1914 2000

Population 8 million 32 million

National Anthem God Save the King O Canada!

Nationality British Canadian

Flag Union Jack Maple Leaf

Governor General Duke of Connaught Rt. Hon. Adrienne Clarkson(British) (Canadian)

Foreign Affairs British Foreign Office Canadian Dept. of Foreign Affairs

Final Court of Appeal House of Lords Supreme Court of Canada

House of Commons 221 MPs 301 MPs(all male) (60 women)

Senate 96 Senators 105 Senators(all male) (32 women)

Prime Minister Robert Borden, Conservative Jean Chrétien, Liberal

Cabinet Size 8 37

Federal Revenues $126.1 million $162 billion

Federal Expenditures $184.9 million $158 billion

Figure 1-12 Canada in 1914and 2000.

War and ChangeWhen Laurier predicted the twentieth centurywould be the century of Canadian development,he had no way of knowing that before long,Canada would be involved in a devastating warinvolving many countries throughout the world.He also could not have predicted the events andissues that have shaped Canada’s identity duringthe past century. In the following chapters, youwill learn about these events. You can be the judgeas to whether or not the twentieth century wouldreally become “Canada’s century.”

A C T I V I T I E S

1. Describe the contrasts between rich and poor incities during this period.

2. What technological changes were taking place inCanada prior to World War I?

3. Explain why employers and unions had stormy rela-tions in these years.

4. Imagine you are a reporter sent to cover the FraserCanyon rockslide. Send a telegram to your newspa-per describing the tragedy. Include a headline.

Gathering information Select the four changes that you think are mostsignificant, and explain your choices.

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b u i l d i n g y o u r s k i l l s

Analysing Primary and Secondary Sources

Chapter 1 ■ A Different Canada 17

Rank Nationality Number of % of Total

People Immigration

1 U.K. 150 542 37.4

2 U.S. 139 009 34.5

3 Russian 18 623 4.6

4 Ruthenian (Ukrainian) 17 420 4.3

5 Chinese 7 445 1.9

6 Italian 6 601 1.6

7 Jewish 6 304 1.6

8 German 4 938 1.2

9 Bulgarian 4 616 1.1

10 Polish 4 488 1.1

Other 42 446 10.5

Total 402 432 99.8Source: Canada Year Book 1916.

Figure 1-13 Countries of origin of immigrants coming toCanada in 1913.

Throughout this textbook you will be presented withmany points of view concerning issues in history, gov-ernment and law, and geography. You are not expectedto agree with these points of view, but to use them tocome to your own conclusions. The following guide-lines will help you in analysing historical information.

Dealing with Evidence

There are two main categories of evidence: primary andsecondary.

Primary sources are sources of information thatare created at the time of an event. Eyewitness ac-counts are the most obvious primary sources. Theseare often found in diaries, memoirs, minutes from cab-inet meetings, government documents, photographs,newspaper articles, and political cartoons.

Secondary sources are accounts created after theevent, often describing or analysing it. The perspectiveof time may provide a more balanced analysis in sec-ondary sources.

Understanding Bias

When you interpret evidence, you cannot help but seeit through personal biases. Similarly, primary and sec-ondary sources carry the authors’ personal “filters” orbiases. Having a bias is not necessarily wrong. It is im-portant, however, to be aware of biases when youanalyse evidence. These might include political, reli-gious, racial, ethnic, gender, economic, or vocational bi-ases.

Reliability and Credibility

When you read a document, it is important to deter-mine how reliable a source of information it is. You mustask yourself questions such as:

• Who is the author, and how close was he or she tothe event?

• What was the author’s motive in recording theevent?

• What other sources of information did the authoruse?

• What are the author’s biases or points of view? • What was the purpose of the document, and who

was the intended audience?

Photographs should also be examined closely whenthey are used as a historical piece of information. Thereader should ask: Who took the photo? How was thephotograph to be used?

Sources of information must also be credible, thatis, they must be accurate and record the truth. One wayto determine the credibility and accuracy of a source isto see whether the information can be corroborated, orsupported by similar sources.

A p p l y i n g t h e S k i l l

Each of the following sources offers a different way ofdiscovering information about the years before WorldWar I. Study these sources of evidence and answer thequestions that follow.

Source 1

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18 Unit I ■ Canada in the Twentieth Century

Let me tell you of one little foreign girl. She lives ina room in a disreputable old tenement…. Her fa-ther has no work…. The place is incredibly filthy.The little girl has been ill for months—all that timeliving on the bed in which three or four personsmust sleep and which also serves the purpose oftable and chairs. For weeks this little girl has had anitch which has spread to the children of the sur-rounding rooms. She has torn the flesh on her armsand legs into great sores which have become poi-soned.

Source: Quoted in Kenneth McNaught, J. S.Woodsworth (Toronto: Fitzhenry & Whiteside,1980), 15.

Source 5

Speech by Prime Minister Laurier after Alaska Boundarydispute was decided in favour of the United States:

What can I do? I have often regretted … that weare living beside a great neighbour who, I believe Ican say without being deemed unfriendly to them,are very grasping in their national actions and whoare determined on every occasion to get the bestin any agreement…. While they are a great andpowerful nation, we are only a small colony—agrowing colony, but still a colony. I have often re-gretted also that we have not in our hands thetreaty making power which would enable us to dis-pose of our own affairs…. It is important that weshould ask the British Parliament for more exten-sive powers so that if ever we have to deal withmatters of similar nature again, we shall deal withthem in our own way, in our own fashion, accord-ing to the best light that we have.

Source: Debates of the House of Commons,October 23, 1903.

Now answer the following questions:

1. Classify each of the sources as primary or secondary.Explain your choices.

2. How reliable might the statistics in Source 1 be?What are some possible reasons for inaccuracies inpopulation statistics?

3. To whom do you think the poster “The Last BestWest” is directed? Explain.

Source 2

Source 3

Observations of Olga Pawluk, who was eighteen whenshe and her family moved from Ukraine to Canada:

I didn’t want to go to Canada. I was in school, Iwas popular…. I didn’t know where Canada wasreally, so I looked at the map. There were hardlyany cities there. It looked so wild and isolatedsomehow and I felt that it would be very difficult tolive there…. I felt I was going to a very wild place.

Source: “Moving Experiences,” Living HistoriesVideos (Toronto: Five Corners Communications,2000).

Source 4

Conditions in the slums as described by J.S.Woodsworth, a minister and social activist, in a letterto a Winnipeg newspaper in 1913:

Figure 1-14 Canada as “The Last Best West.”

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Chapter 1 ■ A Different Canada 19

Develop an Understanding

1. Select one of the photographs in this chapter. Writea descriptive commentary on the photo, explainingwhat it illustrates about the pre-World War I period inCanada.

2. Choose three examples from this chapter to explainthe statement: The past is like a foreign country;they do things differently there.

3. Make a collage of images and words that shows theBritish influence on Canada prior to World War I.

Explore the Issues

4. Brainstorm with members of your group to create alist of the aspects of British institutions and culturethat are still part of Canadian society. Compare the listwith the features that are described in this chapter.What differences do you notice? As you continueyour study of Canada in the twentieth century, tryto explain how these changes occurred.

5. From what you know of Canadian history before 1913and from what you’ve learned in this chapter, howwas the French-Canadian view of Canada differentfrom the English-Canadian view? What issues wereviewed differently by these two groups of people?

6. Racism was not unusual in 1913. Write a statementthat would explain to a person in 1913 why the atti-

tudes of the time towards certain immigrants andAboriginal peoples are not acceptable today.

7. Should historians criticize the people of the past bythe standards of the present? Discuss with refer-ence to the immigration policies, treatment of poorerpeople, and Aboriginal peoples in Canada in 1913.

Research and Communicate

8. Imagine you are a foreign correspondent working inCanada for a European newspaper in 1914. Send areport home on your observations of life in Canada.

9. As a group, research the experiences of one of theethnic groups that was not welcomed into Canada.Make a list of the difficulties a family from thisgroup would face upon arriving in Canada.

10. Public hearings on complaints by Canada’sAboriginal peoples about their treatment in resi-dential schools have become quite common.Investigate some of their stories. What action doyou think the government should take in redressingthese injustices?

11. What do you think Laurier meant when he said thatCanada would be the star towards which all peoplewho love freedom and progress would come?Rewrite Laurier’s speech as though he were giv-ing it before an audience today.

4. Examine the quote in Source 3. What does this doc-ument say about some immigrants’ perception ofCanada at that time? How accurate was Olga in herdescription of Canada? Upon what was she basingher opinion?

5. How reliable is Source 4 as a source of information?What does it tell us about Winnipeg in 1913?

6. What information does Laurier give us about Canadaat the turn of the century in Source 5? According to

this document, how did he feel about Canada’s re-lationship with Britain? Who do you think might haveshared Laurier’s feelings?

7. Assume you are a historian studying this period ofhistory. What picture of Canadian immigration wouldyou form if just the information in these documentswas available to you? Make a list of the types ofsources you would search out to get a more com-plete picture of the subject.

L O O K I N G B A C K

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