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Period: to
Most Important events in Canadian History
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Canada During World War I
World War I first started as a conflict between Austro-Hungary and Serbia in Europe. As they prepared for war against each other, they made sure that they had support from their allies. As the war begins, it starts to spred and soon, the British Empire becomes involved which also includes Canada. Canada becomes a part of the war through the British Empire. -
Canadian Efforts During the Armenian Genocide
The Armenian Genocide occured in the Ottoman Empire around the time of World War I. The Turkish people there dispised the Armenians because of their culture and religion. When Canada became knowledgable of this, they felt it was their duty to help because they were both the same religion. Canada began by starting charitable organizations and collecting donations. Hundreds of Canadians were involved raising over one million dollars for the Armenians. -
Battle of Vimy Ridge
During World War I, one of Canada's most memorable battles was the battle of Vimy Ridge. This was an important battle in Canadian history because it is thought of as the battle that made Canada mature. During the battle of Vimy, There were few Canadians and they had little support. Even with this disadvantage, they created a plan and went through with it. They were able to take over Vimy Ridge with some casualties. -
The Conscription Crisis
The conscription crisis happened during the war. During this time, many Canadian soliders were being wounded or killed in battle and there weren't enough peopleapplying for war to replace the amount of soliders lost. Many French-Canadians apposed this idea and were against conscription. They were not given equal rights compared to Canadians and felt that they should not be fighting the battle of the British Empire. -
Winnipeg General Strike
The Winnipeg General Strike was a strike by labour workers who felt they were not given fair comprimises for work. They wanted 85 cent wages, eight hour work days and to be able to bargin for better working conditions. The employers ignored them so the labour workers created what was called One Big Union (OBU). Together, they striked against the employers and leading citizens of Winnipeg. The Canadian Government became alarmed by this and changed the Criminal Code. -
Canada is Recognized as an Independent Nation
After World War I ended, there was much celebration. Because of the Canadian's success during the battle of Vimy Ridge, they became more respected and were allowed to make more decisions not under the British Empire. Canada became able to do things like declare war and many other things. Canada had gained independence for their performance in war. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
During this time, there were many immigrants coming to Canada. Chinese immigrants made up a majority of the immigrants coming to Canada. Many of them came to Canada looking for jobs and were willing to work for less. This led to many Canadains losing their jobs to Chinese immigrants. The Canadians did not like the Chinese for taking their jobs so the Canadian Governmne tput a head tax on Chinese immigrants to Canada and later on, created the Chinese exclusion act preventing Chinese from coming. -
The Stock Market Crash
After the war, the economy had been affected and was not good. The government tried to help. One thing they did to try and help was increase teriffs on good. The felt that by doing this, they would prevent Canadians from buying good in other countries and instead, buy goods from Canada to help both businesses and people. Instead, this prevented Canadians from getting goods for cheaper leading to the stock market crashing. This also lead to the Great Depression. -
The Great Depression
The Great Depression started after the war when soliders began returning from battle. Many of them could not find employnment and expected the government to give them funds for being in the war. However, the government could not because it was bankrupt. Also, many of the soliders who returned from battle could not afford simple things such as butter because of inflation. The government created relief camps for the needy but this was very demorilizing for men. -
Canada During World War II
Worl War II began after Adolf Hitler invaded Poland. Adolf Hitler had been gaining suport from angered Germans for a while before he brought up an army and went against many of the agreemnets in the Treaty of Versailles. Near the beginning of the war, Canada did not have much involvement, but when Canada found out that its allies France and britian were already part of the war, they became part of the war. They provided much support through men and goods. -
Labour Movement
The labour movement was a movemnent by the labour workers. During this time, there were many stikes caried out by the labour workers for more fair pays and working conditions. Later, two major umbrella organizations came together and formed a political party called the New Democratic Party (NDP). Many of the workers supported the NDP and through that support, were given higher wages. -
Japanese internmnet
The Japanese internment happened during World War II when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour. Many Canadians disliked Japanese Canadians and the attack on Pearl Harbour gave them a reason to send them away. They were forced out of their homes and put into isolated shlters where it was very crowded. Many of their rights were taken from them and so was their property which was then sold to Canadians for a third of its worth. -
The Baby Boom
The Baby Boom was a period of time where many people began having children. Because of this, the population of that generation became a large portion of the population creating many issues. One issue was school. When the children became of age to go to school, there were so many children that they had to create more schools and hire more teachers. The Baby Boom generation was a large buch, some of which are still alive today. -
Aboriginal Political Movement
After the war, many people became concerned about civil rights. Aboriginals who had faced injustices could not stand down any longer. After they began to speak out, they were heard and were given the right to vote. One concern they had though was education. After residential schools were removed, many Aboriginal children began attending normal schools, although they did not provide for their cultural needs. Later, schools held by Aboriginals were opened. -
Women's Rights Movement
Many women became involved in working for social change "The women's movement." After the war, many women were forced to give up their jobs to men returning from battle. The women who did keep their jobs were payed less than men. Ther were also few women in politics. Women felt that they weren't being treated fairly and that they should be treated equal to men. Women brought about change but there were still many women elsewhere who faced inequality. -
Canada Recieves it's own Flag
Canada for a long time had been using the Union Jack and the red ensign as their flag for a long time. Soon, Canada started to feel that as a growing nation, they needed their own flag to represent them. Because they were very multicultural, they went through many different designs. After looking through many different options, Canada decided on the maple leaf in between two bars of red (from another design symbolizing two oceans on either side of Canada). -
Immigration Act
Before the Immigration Act, immigration was determined through the point system which mostly favoured people fluent in english and frence. The Immigration Act was meant to do three things: attract people who would promote the domestic needs of Canada (through the point system), reunite families and to accept the displaced and the persecuted. -
Referendum for Quebec's Independence
Many French-Canadians wanted to become seperat from Canada. They wanted to be seen as an independent country to Canada. Canada on the other hand did not want to seperate from them. They were known as comprimisers and friendly. If Quebec were to seperate from Canada, it would show that Canada is unable to make fair comprimises with its neighbouring nations. -
Canadian Multiculturalism Act
As time went by, Canada became a more multicultural country. Canada was the first country to adopt multiculturalism as a policy. The government began to accept the rights and distict identities of the many different cultures within the country. This policy soon became a law when the Multiculturalism Act was passed. This created equality between different cultures in work, housing and education. Many cultural events also gained government support. -
Referendum for Quebec's Independence
When the Charlottetown accord was tuned down, this led many French-Canadians to believe that their wishes were not supported by everyone else. Later, the Parti Quebecois won the election and vowed to hold another referendum. When he first mentioned it, many people were for seperatism but over time, it died down and the oposition was in the lead when the referendum began. In the end, it was a close battle but the vote against seperatism won 50.6 to 49.4 percent.