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Indian Act
The government of Canada wanted Europeans to come to Western Canada, but also wanted to avoid similar clashes. For this, the government made western First Nations which included Siksika and Cree to sign treaties which gave some benefits to return for giving up most of their land. In the eyes of First Nations they didn't want to give up any of their land but to share the fruits of their land. In 1876 the Parliament passed the Indian Act which meant they had all the control... -
Indian Act Continued
They wanted over the First Nations people on reserves. The benefits of this act gave the government-funded health care and education. Not only that but, the act took away their right to vote and to govern themselves. It also stopped them from earning a living and they had to ask permission to leave their reserve and didn't allow them to consume alcohol. It really limited many actions for the First Nations people. -
Evolution of the Telephone
After Alexander Graham Bell created the telephone it greatly improved. The first telephone call was made in 1876 by non other than Bell himself. During that time the telephone came in two pieces, an earpiece and a speaking piece. At first people would have to call an operator which would then connect them to the person they were calling. Phones were considered a luxury item to have that most wealthy people owned. Over time innovations made the phone service much easier and cheaper. -
Evolution of the Radio
Although the radio was invented during 1895 by Guglielmo Marconi, it got so much better. During the 1920s radios became more popular since the technology improved and the prices declined. By 1928 there were some Canadian radio stations, many of these stations were produced in the United States. There were powerful transmitters that brought the programs over the border. Many Canadians listened to dramas, comedy shows, music, and sports broadcasts. -
Spanish Flu
The Spanish influenza pandemic during 1918-1919 killed around 20 and 40 million people worldwide. This made it the most dangerous outbreaks of diseases in history. The earliest signs of it was seen in Newfoundland and Labrador in September 1918, which killed more than 600 people in less than 5 months. This disease was really contagious that it would spread to one continent to another while there were people travelling around the world during the last months of WWI. -
Bloody Saturday
June 21, 1919, it was coming to the end of the Winnipeg General Strike, but soon enough they saw the tragic event of "Bloody Saturday". On June 21 streetcars started to run again and the strikers started their protest. There was a streetcar that was going through Main St in front of the City Hall, the angry strikers stopped it and set it on fire, At 2:35 pm mayor Gray saw the riot in front of the City Hall. -
Bloody Saturday Continued
For this, the North West Mounted Police came in around Main St and on front of the Royal Tower. They came in with baseball bats and firearms. After the mounted police ran through the crowd there were 2 strikers killed after this. -
Residential Schools
Duncan Campbell Scott was one of the main advocates of assimilation. Scott thought it was best to get rid of all the Indians in Canada until there was no single one left. Scott was convinced that in order to succeed, education was the key to assimilation. There were already a number of First Nations children attending school. In 1920 that changed, and the Parliament established another rule for the Indian Act which was that all children were required to attend school between the ages of 7 to 15. -
Residential Schools Continued
This meant there was a lot of travelling a long distance from home. The main goal for this was to "civilize" the children so that they could fit Canadian standards and in the society. By 1931 there were already 80 residential schools across Canada. Through the years there were about 150,000 Aboriginal students attending. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
This act banned Chinese immigrants from coming to Canada for about 24 years. The exceptions for Chinese people coming into Canada were students, merchants, diplomats, and Canadian-born Chinese returning from education in China. If you were a person of Chinese descent, whether Canadian-born or naturalized you would have to register for an identity card within 12 months. If you didn't then you would be placed in prison or fined up to $500. -
Pensions
Many old people were in poverty during the 1920s. There were less people who lived on farms, young and old people shared the work jobs. Pensions during this time were only given to veterans with disabilities and widows of soldiers who were killed in WWI. In 1927, King's government established the Old Age Pensions Act. -
Pensions Continued
It paid a maximum of $20 a month, this was only for the people who were British and 70 or older, lived in Canada for more than 20 years and in their province that they currently lived in for more than 5 years, had less than $365 of annual income, and were not Indians. Before they could get the pension, seniors had to do a test to see if they met the requirements. -
Person's Case
At the end of 1919 women in Canada were allowed to vote and hold elected office. There was still a problem with having women being judges and senators. In Alberta 1916, Emily Murphy was the first woman judge in the British Empire. Many male lawyers who were there before Murphy decided not to listen to her judgements. In 1917, a group of women put Murphy's name forward to be a candidate for the Senate. -
Person's Case Continued
But, Prime Minister Robert Borden refused to consider her as a "qualified person: on the grounds. As for that, Borden's words stated the motion which soon became to be called the "Person's Case" which took 12 years to fix. Murphy, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, and Irene Parlby worked together and brought the case to the Supreme Court of Canada. On October 18, 1929 the privy councillors reversed the decision of the Supreme Court and said that Canadian women are persons. -
Child Labour Laws
There were many children working at young ages in Canada. Many people didn't like this and a lot changed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As Canada became more urban there were less children working at farms or entering apprenticeships for skilled occupations. During the 20th century, social reformers were against this and made school attendance required. They believed if children were at school they couldn't be at work. They looked to provincial governments to pass laws that required -
Child Labour Laws Continued
They believed that if children were at school they couldn't be at work. They looked to provincial governments to pass laws that required children to attend school instead of working. This banned children from working at some workplaces and it basically forced children to go to school. By 1929most Canadians passed laws which banned children under the age of 14 to work in factories and mines. -
Crop Failure
In 1929, there was an awful drought that lasted almost 10 years. From the dryness of the environment this led to many crops drying up and the soil became dust. The soil would be blown away since it was dry enough for this to happen. From the drought there was about 14,000 farms that were abandoned during the depression. -
Canadian Wheat Board Continued
Of grain. These pools were very helpful as it paid the farmers part of the expected selling price when they delivered their grain to pool elevators. As soon as stock markets crashed in the fall of 1929, the prices of wheat dropped and the pools couldn't fix the first payments made to farmers. They faced bankruptcy and the pools were brought up to the federal government for help -
Canadian Wheat Board
During the early 20th century companies that were privately owned bought wheat ad stored it in elevators. When WWI started all of this changed. There wasn't enough grain, therefore, the government established the Board of Grain Supervisors to make sure that the delivery prices for grain were stable. After the war was over they stopped using the board but, many farmers liked this tactic. For this, Prairie farmers started their own wheat pools so that they could co-ordinate the sale and delivery -
On-to-Ottawa Trek
Thousands of young, unmarried men hopped onto trains across the country to look for jobs. Andrew McNaughton, a veteran `who fought in WWI and in Vimy Ridge, thought it was a good idea to set up relief camps in remote areas, like B.C. and Ontario. In April 1935, many men in B.C. who worked in these shacks planned a walkout to demand for higher wages and better working conditions. They did this by leaving the camps by walking or hitched rides on the way to Vancouver. -
On-to-Ottawa Trek Continued
They also planned to hop onto trains to take this to the prime minister in Ottawa. The next 2 months passed and 1500 men were seen in Vancouver holding rallies and collected money for food. When the trekkers arrived in Golden B.C., there were many people waiting for them with pots of soup. In Calgary there were a number of people who donated food and supplies. The CPR officials also helped out by showing the trekkers the right way on how to board the trains safely. -
Regina Riot
By June 14, 1935 there were already 2000 trekkers who arrived in Regina , Saskatchewan. From this, the federal government needed to stop them there. Because Bennett did not want more unemployed men to join them as they crossed the country. He planned to meet the trek leaders in Ottawa and wanted the rest of the trekkers to stay in Regina. Bennett also said that he would pay for their food while they waited for their leaders to return. The Ottawa meeting didn't go as planned, nothing got better -
Regina Riot Continued
Bennett said that there was nothing wrong with the relief camps and that these trekkers were communist agitators. A public meeting in Regina's Market Square on July 1 had the police and the RCMP involved, and they tried to arrest the trek leaders. When the police decided to attack it caused many problems from people getting scared to people breaking store windows, overturning streetcars, and some even tried to fight back against the police. After all this the trekkers just returned home. -
The St. Louis
William Lyon Mackenize King was concerned about the problems of German Jews. He also thought that if we allowed Jewish refugees in Canada it would threaten national unity and his political support in Quebec. The tragic event of the St. Louis showed the depth of anti-Semitism in the higher chambers of the Canadian government. Spring 1939, there was a passenger liner St. Louis that left Hamburg, Germany. There were more than 900 Jews on board. They were trying to escape from the Nazi's -
The St. Louis Continued
They headed to Cuba. Their plan was to carry tourist visas to let them in as refugees, when they arrived they didn't let them in. Since they couldn't get into Cuba they went to Canada and the United States and both of course didn't accept them. The St. Louis had trouble sailing back across the Atlantic. Some refugees got accepted into some European countries which soon was taken over by Germany during WWII. From that almost half of the passengers on board were killed by the Nazis.
