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Ya Like Jazz?
After the first World War, the cultural part of Canada was changing. Instead of slow ballads the African-Americans started to introduce a higher tempo type of music; Jazz. The older generation disapproved thinking that it was ruining the respectable white community, while the younger generation enjoyed it more so because they were more rebellious against traditions. Because Jazz was so widely appreciated in Canada, it helped make it a multicultural country. -
No Longer "Die-abetes"
Before the discovery of insulin that Frederick Banting made, people who had diabetes very rarely lived for long. In fact most would die within a year, but in January 11th, 1922 they for the first time injected insulin into a diabetic person. Of course nothing is perfect the first time with medicine, and the child who was injected with the very impure insulin had a severe allergic reaction. Over the next twelve days, someone named James Collip worked on it and by January 23rd, they succeeded. -
Radios! Hear All About It!
Canada had been using radios for a while, but not for the common people. Up until 1922 they had strictly prohibited the use of it except for WW1 purposes, but after the war they allowed it to return to the people. Over the time from when people were not allowed radio use to it being a common household device, it had advanced greatly, being originally only Morse Code to being able to Broadcast live with peoples actual voices. -
Women Are People Too!
Before 1929 women were not considered persons, and due to the poorly worded legal document, they lacked rights including the right to be elected for senate. The Persons Case was lead by a group of activist women called the Famous Five, who initiated an appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. They won the case and the J.C.P.C. reversed the Canadian Courts decision which made women eligible to be senate. Since they were now persons they couldn't be denied their rights. -
A Great Crash!
Black Tuesday was the day of the biggest stock market crash ever recorded. Five days before on Black Thursday was also a huge crash but Tuesday was by far worse. On Wall Street 16.4 Million shares were sold and employees and brokers worked till they almost collapsed from exhaustion doing paperwork to try to fix the problems. The market stabilized but only briefly, and then the setbacks returned and persisted. This disaster led to the one of the worst historical events: The Great Depression. -
Well That's Kinda Depressing...
All through the 1930s up until WW2 Canada's economy was hit hard. Canada was not the only one, The Great Depression was world wide. During this time many Canadians lost their jobs and even became homeless. Since Canada relies on trades, when the international trades collapsed, Canada was suffering. The burden was uneven though. The western countries had it worse due to more reliance on trade, and because of the unevenness of the economic pressures, Canada suffered even more. -
Got Something In My Eye
During the 30s there were multiple droughts that ravaged the prairie lands in Canada and America and caused famine. Because of how dry the dirt became sometimes the wind would pick up huge plumes of dust and blow it across Canada. These violent dust storms earned the 30s the name of "Dust Bowl" and "The Dirty 30s". April 14th, 1935 was known as Black Monday because 20 of the worst dust storms swept across Canada and it appeared as if it were night. This heavily damage to the economy. -
We're On Our Own Now!
On December 11th, 1931 Britain agreed to pass the Statute of Westminster, which declared that Canada was constitutionally equal in status with them. The law let Canada have complete legal freedom in most areas except for a few. Before 1931, Canada's legislative powers were not very well defined, and Canada's involvement in WW1 made the Canadian government feel like they deserved independence. Their want for autonomy led them to pushing this statute and be able to define their legislative powers. -
For Better Or For Worse?
Uranium has been used for ages as a yellow dye, but in 1935 a scientist named Arthur Dempster found an isotope of uranium, called uranium-235. Dempster previously made a tool for finding isotopes of elements that was 100 times more accurate than previous iterations. This lead to the discovery of U-235 in 1935, the only isotope of uranium that is capable of a nuclear fission reaction. Scientists would later use this isotope to create energy in giant power plants, and in atomic bombs. -
War! What Is It Good For?!...
Canada had felt that Nazi Germany was threatening the existence of western society and, on it's own accord, decided to join the second worldwide war. Canada, even though it was a small country, played a indispensable part in the war. Canada sent over soldiers and aircraft pilots and helped the allies win at Normandy Beach. Even though Canada suffered a great amount of losses, WW2 helped end the great depression, improved industrial factories, and led to women's rights.
