The Effects...

01/17/06

The Effects of World War I On the Canadian Home Front

I. Effects on Everyday life:

-World War I was a total war; this meant that everyone, soldiers and civilians worked towards victory. No sacrifice should be spared to ensure victory; indeed everyone worked for victory. Examples of this effort included:

	- the planting of victory gardens
	- to produce as much food as possible as Canada feed the civilians and soldiers of other countries
	- reduce food consumption

- waste nothing

II. The Economics of War:

- By 1918 the war was costing Canada 1 million dollars a day. How was the Canadian Government to pay?

	1. Canadians bought Victory Bands: a way in which citizens could lend money to the government for the war effort, after the war they could be cashed for a profit.
	2. Private and commercial investors loaded the government over 1 billion dollars.
	3. Children bought thrift stamps. Four dollars worth of stamps could be cashed in for five dollars in 1924.
	4. The Canadian government introduced income tax to finance the war.

*As a result of all this financial capital industrial production reached new heights during World

War I. [refer to page 110].

III. Women During the War Years:

- The lives of women under went great changes during World War I. Once the war began the view of women staging in the home vanished. As soon as the war began:

	1. Hundreds of women volunteered to work overseas as nurses, ambulance drivers.
	2. Thousands went to work in factories.
	3. Women drove busses and streetcars, others worked in banks, on police forces and in civil service jobs.
	4. Many women worked farms alone
	5. Women volunteered to raise funds and fund parcels for soldiers.

* Most of these activities were forbidden to women prior to the war.

IV. Women Gain New Rights:

	- Since women were contributing so much to the war effort, they wanted a share in making decisions. At the beginning of the 20^th century women in many countries began to organize themselves to gain the right to vote. Suffragists: women who organized themselves to gain the right to vote.
	-World War I indeed helped women in their effort to obtain new rights. While working and volunteering during the war they began to share ideas and discuss political equality with men, and push for equal opportunities in careers such as medicine and law, and for the right to own property.
	- Suffragists worked hard for women’s suffrage (the right to vote). The first breakthrough in 1916, in Manitoba, women were given the right to vote. Within a few months Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario also granted women suffrage.
	- The main goal to vote in federal elections had not yet been won. However in 1917's federal election the mothers, sisters and wives of soldiers in the armed services were granted the vote, Wartime Elections Act. Nurses in the armed services could also vote. By the end of the war most women over the age of 21 could vote. By 1920 women could run for election in Parliament. [Native Men and Women could not vote].

V. Conscription:

	-At the beginning of World War I Canadians were enthusiastic about the war as a result, thousands volunteered. However as the war dragged on it became obvious that there would be a shortage of Canadians as volunteers declined. [refer to page 114].
	-Prime Minister Robert Borden was under pressure to send more Canadian troops as a result he introduced Conscription: when all able bodied men between certain ages are required to join the army.
	- The idea of Conscription brought many protests:

	1. Quebec did not feel their men should be forced to fight for Britain, Quebec also felt little loyalty for France since France has abandoned them following being conquered by British forces.
	2. Farmers resented the loss of their remaining sons and farm hands.

-The only men exempt from conscription were those in vital wartime production jobs, the sick and conscientious objectors.

-The introduction of conscription divided the county as many English Canadians felt French Canadians weren’t doing their share.

-The election of 1917 demonstrated this division. Boarder and the Conservatives were joined by Liberals (who had deserted Laurier because he did not support conscription) and formed the Union Government. The Union Government won a majority but only had three seats in Quebec.

- The split in Canada that Laurier had feared so long occurred. There were riots in Montreal and Quebec City, four were killed and many injured. Troops were eventually sent in to restore order.
Effects of the War:

	-60,661 Canadians died
	- 173,000 were wounded or gassed. For many of these injured the suffering never ended.
	- Resentment between English and French over conscription
	-Great Boom in Canadian industry.
	- Near full employment
	- Canada emerged from the war more independent

-Canada had gained international respect

This site was last updated 12/17/01