PostWW 2 Canada Exploring Canada and Canadian Identity

Post-WW 2 Canada

Exploring Canada and Canadian Identity • After WW 2 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 Canada’s identity was altered and/or formed in the years after World War 2

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.

How would you describe this country and its inhabitants?

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

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

The Fifties Video • http: //www. cpac. ca/forms/index. asp? dsp=te mplate&act=view 3&pagetype=vod&hl=e&clip. I D=5234 • (watch to 13: 45)

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

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. "

Life in Canada after 1945 • What happens before 1950 s 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

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.

Opportunities Available • Veterans Charter (1944) provided clothing allowances, warservice 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 former servicemen.

Extension Activity: Opportunities 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.

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.

Elizabeth Rae and her daughter Ann on the train from Liverpool to the S. S. Mauretania (below) bound for Canada (April 2, 1946)

• 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.

Displaced Person (DP) Movement Source: Alan G. Green. Immigration and the Postwar Canadian Economy. Canada: Maclean-Hunter Press, 1976. • 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 Canada’s doors open to those without relatives in Canada • Between 1947 and 1952, 186, 154 displaced persons come to Canada

Immigration Prime Minister Mackenzie King’s 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. ”

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. "

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.

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.

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

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