Post-WW2 Canada

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Post-WW2 Canada
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Exploring Canada and Canadian Identity

• After WW2 the attempts to establish an identity
  that is uniquely Canadian becomes quite the focus
  for Canadian government
• Therefore, the focus of our unit will be to
  identify, to analyze and to assess the ways in
  which Canadas identity was altered and/or formed
  in the years after World War 2

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How would you describe this country and its
inhabitants?

• You are travelling to a country somewhere outside
  Canada, you meet a native of said country. They
  ask you about Canada and Canadians
• Using the sticky note provided, write down as
  many things as you can that you would tell this
  person about Canada and/or Canadians.
• Next step
• When given the signal, pair up to create a Top 5
  list from the info you wrote on your sticky
  notes.
• Be prepared to share your list with the class.

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How would you describe this country and its
inhabitants?
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How do some people describe Canada and its
inhabitants?

• Canada was a country with "not enough history,
  too much geography. _ Prime Minister Mackenzie
  King

A Canadian is someone who knows how to make
love in a canoe without tipping it. _Pierre
Burton
A Canadian is an American with healthcare and no
guns. _ The Economist
Canada was built on dead beavers. _ Margaret
Atwood
Canada is the essence of not being. Not
English, not American, it is the mathematic of
not being. And a subtle flavour - we're more like
celery as a flavour. _ Mike Myers
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Questions to guide viewing

• List all of the things the video indicates were
  created/developed in the 1950s to create a
  Canadian identity?
• Why do people in the clip say these were
  necessary?
• Who is Vincent Massey?

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The Fifties Video

• http//www.cpac.ca/forms/index.asp?dsptemplateac
  tview3pagetypevodhleclipID5234
• (watch to 1345)

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Debrief Answers

• List all of the things the video indicates were
  created/developed in the 1950s to create a
  Canadian identity?
• Why do people in the clip say these were
  necessary?
• Who is Vincent Massey?

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From Massey Report Nature of the Task

• "That it is desirable that the Canadian people
  should know as much as possible about their
  country, its history and traditions and about
  their national life and common achievements that
  it is in the national interest to give
  encouragement to institutions which express
  national feeling, promote common understanding
  and add to the variety and richness of Canadian
  life, rural as well as urban."

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Life in Canada after 1945

• What happens before 1950s to lead to this need
  for a Canadian identity?
• Soldiers return from war
• Arrival of War Brides
• Displaced Person Movement
• New Immigration Policy
• The Baby Boom

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The Return Home

• Local officials and volunteer agencies organized
  civic welcome ceremonies.
• Citizens were urged to give every soldier a
  hero's welcome and many did, often armed with
  coffee, sandwiches and apple pies.

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Opportunities Available

• Veterans Charter (1944) provided clothing
  allowances, war-service gratuities and one year's
  medical treatment.
• Disabled soldiers received pensions, ongoing
  treatment for their disabilities and special help
  in finding jobs.
• Veterans' Land Act offered low-interest loans to
  buy farms.
• Another program paid for vocational training or
  university
• Law guaranteed servicemen their prewar jobs but
  not pay raises/promotions they might have missed
  out on.
• Between 1946 and 1950 the single largest
  government expenditure went to rehabilitation for
  former servicemen.

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Extension ActivityOpportunities Available to
All?

• Read the handout that outlines the story of James
  Nahanee
• Respond to the questions on the flipside of the
  page.
• Be prepared to share your responses with the
  class.

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War Brides

• Canadian Wives' Bureau was set up by the
  Department of National Defense in 1944 to arrange
  for war brides and their children to travel to
  Canada by ship and to their husbands' homes by
  train.
• Some 48,000 War Brides came to Canada after
  meeting and marrying Canadian servicemen. Most
  brides were from Britain but there were also some
  from Holland, Belgium, France, Italy and Germany.

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Elizabeth Rae and her daughter Ann on the train
from Liverpool to the S.S. Mauretania (below)
bound for Canada (April 2, 1946)
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• To help familiarize war brides with Canadian
  practices, the Canadian government distributed
  booklets such as Welcome to War Brides, Canadian
  Cook Book for British Wives and How to Deliver
  Your Own Baby.

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Displaced Person (DP) Movement

• In 1946 the Canadian Citizenship Act is adopted
• In November 1946 the PM calls for measures to
  help resettle European refugees
• However, it is not until April 1947 that Canadas
  doors open to those without relatives in Canada
• Between 1947 and 1952, 186,154 displaced persons
  come to Canada

Source Alan G. Green. Immigrationand the
Postwar Canadian Economy.Canada Maclean-Hunter
Press, 1976.
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Immigration

• Prime Minister Mackenzie Kings directive from
  the House of Commons on May 1, 1947
• The policy of the government is to foster the
  growth of the population of Canada by the
  encouragement of immigration. The government will
  seek by legislation, regulation, and vigorous
  administration, to ensure the careful selection
  and permanent settlement of such numbers of
  immigrants as can advantageously be absorbed in
  our national economy.

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Discrimination(?)

• King
• Canada is "perfectly within her rights in
  selecting the persons whom we regard as desirable
  future citizens.
• On the other hand, "the people of Canada do not
  wish, as a result of mass immigration, to make a
  fundamental alteration in the character of our
  population. Large-scale immigration from the
  Orient would change the fundamental composition
  of the Canadian population."

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Chinese Immigration Act repealed

• At the same time, the government, following
  pressure (e.g. by the Committee for the Repeal of
  the Chinese Immigration Act, formed by church and
  labour groups), repeals the Chinese Immigration
  Act (Head Tax Exclusion Act 1923).
• Chinese immigration was henceforth regulated by
  the 1930 rules for Asiatics which allowed only
  the sponsorship of wife and children by Canadian
  citizens.

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1951 Census

• TOTAL Population 14,009,429
• 14.7 were immigrants (i.e. born outside Canada)
• 47 female, 80 in Canada 10 years, 29 rural
• 44 UK-born, 13.7 U.S., 9 USSR, 8 Ireland
• There were 37,145 immigrants from "Asiatic
  countries" of whom 24,166 were from China.
• There were 18,020 "Negroes" reported (fewer than
  in 1921, 1931, 1941 censuses).
• About 97 of the population was of European
  origin.

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Baby Boom

• Between 1940 and 1965, the Baby Boom produced
  about 1.5 million more births than would
  otherwise have occurred (about 8.6 million), an
  increase of more than 18
• In 25 years, the annual number of births in
  Canada rose from 253,000 in 1940 to 479,000 in
  1960, but dropped to 419,000 in 1965

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• Next class 1950s then now significant
  cultural elements (and pop culture!)