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Poland is invaded
Germany and the Soviet Union agreed to invade and split Poland in half. After the Germans invaded Britain demanded Germany leave Poland by Sept. 3 or Britain would declare war. Germany did not leave. -
Battle of the Atlantic starts
The Battle of the Atlantic was the fight between Britain (and its allies) and Germany to control the Atlantic Ocean. This ocean was very important for Britain to get supplies from Canada and the USA during the war. It did not end until Germany surrendered in 1945. This would be the longest battle of the war and because of the connection to supplies, one of the most important battles. -
Wartime Prices and Trade Board was created
The Wartime Prices and Trade Board was established to control inflation and to ensure that social unrest did not interfere with the upcoming war effort. In WWI the prices for important items like food went up very quickly because so much was needed for the war. The government wanted to prevent this from happening so the Wartime Prices and Trade Board put limits on how much prices could be increased. -
Canada enters WWII
After Britain declared war on Germany, Canada had to decide if it would as well. Canada's Parliament debated it and voted almost unanimously to declare war on Germany. Only 1 Canadian MP voted not to go to war, J.S. Woodsworth, who was a pacifist Christian minister. The official declaration of war was sent from Canada to Britain by telegraph for the King to sign and send back. This was the first time that war was declared electronically. -
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan Established
The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan was established. Operating from 1940–45 the BCATP trained some 131,000 airmen — one-half the total Commonwealth aircrew — a decisive Canadian contribution to victory in the Second World War. -
War Production begins to be co-ordinated by the government
To make sure that Canada had enough supplies for the war, the government created a whole new department, the Department of Munitions and Supply. This allowed Canada to produce materials for Britain quickly since the British lost so much when they escaped Dunkirk. The government co-ordinated making over 800,000 vehicles, 50,000 tanks and 1.4 million guns. Thousands of men and women also produced ships and aircraft for the Canadian and British Air Forces. -
Québec Women Get Vote
Québec women were the last in Canada to earn the rights to vote and run for office in provincial elections. Every other province in Canada had allowed its female citizens to vote during WWI and the 1920s. The Canadian government has also allowed women to vote well before this. -
Nazis, Communists, and Fascists Declared Illegal
Nazi, Fascist and Communist groups were declared illegal in Canada, and their leaders were jailed. This would help the government to put restrictions on people like Adrian Arcand. It also results in the arrest of Montreal Mayor Camillien Houde who told French-Canadians not to register for conscription. -
Lend-Lease began
Officially the United States did not enter WWII until December 1941. As a result they were not allowed to make weapons for the war or sell weapons for the war. To get around this, the US, Canada, and Britain signed an agreement for the US to lend and lease weapons, food, supplies, and money to both countries to help with war production. -
Hyde Park Declaration is made
Mackenzie King and F.D. Roosevelt signed the Hyde Park Declaration, uniting the economies of the two countries for war. This would make programs like Lend-Lease much easier to operate. -
Women Allowed to Enlist in Military
The federal government passed legislation that allowed women to enlist in the military. A separate women’s division of the army was created in August 13 of that year. Over 21,000 women served in the army. On July 2, women began to enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force. 17,000 women served in the RCAF Women’s Division. In July a separate branch of the navy was created from women. Almost 7,000 women served in the navy in WWII. -
Hong Kong is attacked
The day after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the Japanese attacked the island of Hong Kong which was defended by 3 divisions of Canadian soldiers. Hong Kong was lost on Christmas Day. One Canadian won a Victoria Cross for bravery here when he jumped on a grenade to protect his fellow soldiers. The soldiers there spent the rest of the war as prisoners of Japan where they were treated very poorly. -
Conscription Voted On
At the start of WWII, PM William Lyon Mackenzie King promised to not conscript soldiers for service outside of Canada. This is because many in Canada opposed this in WWI, especially French-Canadians. Canadians were asked to give the government permission to break its previous promise, if necessary. Most of Canada (65%) voted to allow the government to break its promise, though most in Quebec voted against allowing the government to break its promise. -
Veterans' Land Act created
The Veterans' Land Act made it possible for returning veterans to get loans in order to buy land. There were also programs to help veterans buy and build homes after WWII. After the war the program was expanded to help veterans go back to school and learn important skills that would help them find work after the war. These programs were not open to indigenous veterans. -
Dieppe Raid
The Dieppe Raid was a short invasion of Dieppe, France to get information from the Germans who controlled France. The goal was to test German defences and give Canadian soldiers some practice as well as some combat action. It was a disaster and resulted in hundreds of Canadian deaths, especially from the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry. It did teach lessons that were used on D-day 2 years later. Rev. John Weir Foote of the RHLI was given a Victoria Cross for bravery. -
German Agent Landed in Canada
The first German agent landed from a U-boat off New Carlisle, Québec and was promptly arrested by the police. This was the first evidence of Canada being attacked or threatened directly on Canadian soil by the Germans in WWII. Later the Germans would build a weather station in Labrador, which Canada did not learn about until the 1980s. -
Princess Margriet of the Netherlands Born in Ottawa
During the Second World War, Juliana and her children took refuge in Canada. Because Juliana was expecting her third child, the maternity ward at the Ottawa Civic Hospital was declared to be Dutch territory so that the baby had Dutch citizenship at birth and not Canadian citizenship. Princess Margariet was the 3rd daughter of the future Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. After she left the hospital the ward was given back to Canada. -
First Quebec Conference opened
The First Quebec Conference was a secret military conference held during WWII by Britain, Canada, and the USA. It took place in Quebec City on August 17–24, 1943. The main people at the conference were British PM Churchill and US President Roosevelt. It was hosted by the Canadian PM Mackenzie King who had a very small role. The conference was used to plan the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France on June 6, 1944. Canada was chosen as a neutral place between Britain and the USA. -
British-Canadian Nuclear Research Program Merges with American Manhattan Project
At the start of WWII Britain had a nuclear research program. It was moved to Canada for safety reasons in 1942 since Britain was being bombed by Germany. Then this program was combined with the American Manhattan Project in 1943. Canada supplied and processed uranium for the researchers in New Mexico, researched how to make plutonium, and provided scientists and facilities. -
Invasion of Italy begins
Canada, along with Britain and the USA invaded Italy at the island of Sicily. After capturing Sicily the mainland was invaded. Eventually Italy would surrender, leaving only Japan and Germany as opponents in WWII. Canadian diplomats like future PM Lester Pearson, worked to get Canada included in the invasion rather than just be the British and Americans. This forced Germany and Italy to spread their armies across Europe from France to Russia to Italy. -
D-Day Invasion
D-Day is the name for the invasion of Normandy France by Canada, Britain and the USA. Canada invaded at Juno Beach and captured more land from the Germans than either of its allies. It was the largest invasion from sea to land ever. This battle gave Canada and its allies a foothold in Europe to begin pushing the Germans back, to liberate France and the Belgium and the Netherlands. -
Conscription for Overseas service begins
Earlier in the war Canada imposed conscription but only for service in Canada. By 1944 there were enough losses that the government decided it needed to send conscripted soldiers overseas. As with WWI, French-Canadians did not want to fight overseas and resisted conscription. The Mayor of Montreal encouraged young men not to register to be conscripted. This was illegal and he was arrested for it. -
Indigenous Men not allowed to Be conscripted
Early in WWII Canada conscripted men across Canada to defend Canada IN Canada. By 1944 there was pressure to force men to serve Canada overseas. This created a problem because the treaties between Canada and the different indigenous people stated that indigenous men from bands that signed Treaties 3,6,8, and 11 (mainly in Western Canada - 20% of all indigenous men) could not be conscripted. The government then decided to honour this part of the treaties and stopped conscripting these men. -
CBC Shortwave Radio Service began
The CBC began its international shortwave radio service. The first broadcasts were directed mainly to Canadian forces overseas. The broadcasts were in both English and French. These broadcasts were not encrypted and could be listened to by any listener in Europe and east Asia, as well as into Central America. -
Canada Attends UN Conference
Canada was invited to attend the United Nations Conference in San Francisco. PM William Lyon Mackenzie King. Canada would eventually join the United Nations at its official founding on June 16, 1945. PM King was at the conference when it was announced that Germany surrendered to end World War Two in Europe. -
Netherlands are Liberated
Germany had controlled the Netherlands since the start of WWII. The Canadian army was given the job of freeing the Netherlands from German control. To do this, Canada first had to clear the Germans out of Belgium so that they could bring in supplies. The Dutch were extremely appreciative of Canada's success at doing this although Canada suffered over 7500 soldiers being killed while liberating the Netherlands. Canada receives over 10,000 tulips from the Dutch people every year as a thank you. -
V-E Day
On May 7, 1945, the German army surrendered entirely to the Allies. The next day, Canada and its allies declared it V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day). Celebrations were held all over Canada, especially in Halifax which is where most soldiers left Canada from and where they returned to Canada. This left Japan as the only remaining opponent in the war. -
Atomic Bomb is dropped for first time
The United States Air Force dropped the first atomic bomb used in warfare on the Japanese city of Hiroshima to encourage Japan to surrender in WWII and avoid the need to the US to invade. The bomb used uranium that was mined in Canada as its radioactive material. Later the US would drop another atomic bomb on Nagasaki. These explosions would go a long way to encouraging the Japanese to surrender. -
V-J Day
V-J Day (Victory Over Japan Day) marks the day that the USA announced that Japan's Emperor Hirohito verbally had surrendered to the USA and its allies. The proclamation was made on the radio so that all Japanese would hear and believe that Japan surrendered. Japan signed the paperwork to surrender on September 2 on an American naval ship the USS Missouri. This fully ended WWII. -
Canadian Prisoners Shot
Nazi general Kurt Meyer personally gave orders for Canadian prisoners of war to be shot by the Geman Army. Two weeks later, Meyer was put on trial by the Canadian military court in Aurich, Germany. He was found guilty of war crimes, sent to Canada and was the only German imprisoned in Canada after WWII. In 1951 he was transferred to a British prison in Germany. The Canadian government reduced his sentence in 1954 and he was released to Germany.