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Residential Schools (social change)
The horrid residential schools continued to spread and grow across Canada and harm generations of Canadian Indigenous children. They were taken from their homes and put into these prisons in which they were forced to grow in British-Catholic teachings and were assimilated. The children weren’t allowed to speak their mother tongues. They lived in conditions in which they were malnourished, sick and often sexually abused. This terrifying history deserves less than my ranking of -2. -
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Women Get the Right to Vote (political change)
Women got the right to vote, after proving themselves during the suffrage movement. Though not all women were allowed to vote. Simply the white, European women were given this right as they discluded women of colour almost completely in their movements. Aboriginal women, Chinese, Hindu, East-Asian, and Japanese women all did not receive the right to vote until later on, unfortunately. For this discrimination, I rank this event +1 only. It still paved the road for all women in the future to vote. -
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Canada Joined WWI (social/political change)
Because Canada was under the dominion of the British Empire, we had to join one of the most harmful conflicts in our history, causing the deaths of almost 60,000 Canadians. This caused so many casualties that still to this day pain us to remember, deserving a -1.5 ranking. -
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“Enemy Alien” Internment Camps (social change)
During WWI, Canada took 8,660 people and 156 children in total were put into internment camps for being “enemy aliens”. This included prisoners of Austro-Hungarian, Ukrainian, German, Bulgarian, and Croatian origins. Their belongings and riches were stolen by the government. 106 went insane and 107 died yet most were buried in unmarked graves.
They were put in extremely harsh conditions, receiving little food.
This deserves a -2 in my ranking, representing a great decline. -
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Black Railway Porters in Canada (social change)
At the time, the Canadian Pacific Railway granted African immigrants access to work on their trains as porters. In these jobs, black men found a steady source of income which they couldn't find anywhere else. These jobs created lots of opportunities for black men but did not come without their pains. They often had to work for long hours and didn't sleep. Employers heavily exploited workers. This was in the direction to a better future, so I rank it +1. -
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Military Service Act (political change)
The Military Service Act, which came into action as Canada was losing more and more soldiers, made all men of suitable age fight a subject of conscription. This sparked an outrage that swept across the country and divided the French and English sides of our country further as the French-Canadiens believed they should not have been included in such laws but the English-Canadians disagreed. This, in my opinion, represented a decline for our country at the time, so I'll rank it -1. -
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The Spanish Influenza (social/economic change)
The Spanish Flu epidemic had swept across the country, startlingly. It killed around 55,000 Canadians. People between the ages of 20 and 40 who’d returned from the war, injured and hungry, only to be overcome by a raging illness. The epidemic had declined our country at the time quite a bit. The economy, on top of the post-war tragedies, was suffering a lot. As well as the environment becoming even further difficult to live in. It was full of the ill, poor, and injured. I rank this -1. -
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End of WWI (political/social change)
With the end of World War I, Canadians could, at least for a while, feel secure in their country. The end of this war was known as "the end to all wars" as it was finally a break from the endless reaping of lives and destruction caused. It was the "end" of chaos in the minds of Canadians and others around the world. Germany had signed an armistice agreement with the Allies on the day Canada now marks as Remembrance Day. I rank this day +2 as it was a time of great progress for Canada. -
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Novelty Culture (economic/social change)
Back in the 1920s, radios, movies, jazz music, automobiles, and aeroplanes were all new to everyone in Canada, growing in popularity. The culture of flappers was a new generation of women who challenged their outdated roles. This was important as women began to express themselves as the strong Canadians they were. This birth of a culture was a large step in the right direction for everyone, causing me to give it a +1 ranking. -
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The Persons Case (political change)
The Persons Case was created by 5 amazing Alberta women, Emily Murphy, Henrietta Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney and Irene Parlb. The case had deemed that a woman is a person as it was formerly law that we weren’t. Though Canada first disapproved of it, it was later taken and presented to England and approved. This was only a milestone for most women, as it discluded many minorities of women such as Indigenous and Asian women. I rank it +1.5.