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+2 Billy Bishop and the War in the Air
Recruitment Poster: Of the top 12 fighter aces of the First World War, 4 were Canadian. WWI Pilot: Planes evolved into weapons with machine guns, then pilots started dropping bombs. This was the birth of the bomber. -
+1 Leo Le Boutillier, Thomas-Louis Tremblay and French-Canadian Soldiers
“We have been through 4 days of hell. I dare say you have been wandering through pages of casualties and worrying yourselves but never fear; Leo is going to come through without a scratch” (primary)
“We can no longer see the beautiful land of Canada, and we are more determined than ever to prove that the French Canadian blood flows just as purely and warmly in our veins as It did in those of our ancestors. -
-2 Jeremiah Jones and Black Canadian Soldiers
“Coloured men should be allowed to go, but the regiments being formed do not want them.” “But would Canadian Negroes make good fighting men? I do not think so.” (Black Battalion 1916-1920)
“They have been told that they are not on the payroll, no entitled to sub-sistence money, and that in fact they are only Militia men. These men are all poor men, some with families…they threw up their jobs to enlist and fight for their Empire and King.” (John T. Richards). -
-2 Consequences for Returning Soldiers
The picture shows soldiers who had survived the war came home only to succumb to illness once in Canada. An estimated 50,000 Canadians died from the Spanish influenza epidemic. The loss of so many Canadians had a profound social and economic impact on a country that had already suffered 60,000 war dead. It left thousands of families without a primary wage earner and orphaned thousands of children. -
-1 Consequences for Women
British Columbia artist Emily Carr summarizes many of the issues she hoped would receive more attention once women had the vote. Prime Minister Borden extended the vote, in March 1918, to all women aged 21 and over. However, most women of colour - including Chinese women, "Hindu" or East Indian women, Japanese women - weren't allowed to vote at the provincial and federal level until the late 1940s.
Image courtesy of Western Woman's Weekly, Vancouver,
7 Feb 1918 -
+2 Mae Belle Sampson, Katherine Mae Belle Sampson, Katherine
“War provided Canadian women with many opportunities to prove their worth as citizens.” (Nellie McClung, In Times Like These, Toronto: McLeod and Allen, 1915 - secondary source)
When Katherine MacDonald died, they said she had a wonderful funeral in which many attended. It showed the high esteem in which she was held by her fellow soldiers. (Front Lines – Nurses at the Front by ONFB, -
-2 Consequences for Workers
A sluggish postwar economy and increasing numbers of available workers made it impossible for the economy to meet all their needs.
“I say unhesitatingly that every enemy alien who was interned during the war is today just as much an enemy as he was during the war and I demand of this Government that each and every alien in this dominion should be deported at the earliest opportunity. Cattle ships are good enough for them.” -
+2 Mary Pickford
Toronto-born Mary Pickford became the most popular actress of the 1920s in Hollywood and a very powerful and rich woman at the time. She was really the first movie star and appeared in many film magazines, which were first produced for her fans. -
+2 Robert Gray, Automobile Manufacturer
Robert Gray began building car bodies for the American Ford Motor Company but in 1915, he bought the rights to build the Dort Auto in Chatham, Ontario. In the booming 1920s economy, the demand for cars was large and two model cars were produced, the Model 4 roadster and the Model 5 touring car. -
+2 Frederick Banting
In 1922, he and a colleague discovered insulin, and changed the lives of millions of people. In 1923, McLeod and Banting were awarded the Nobel Prize for their Canadian discovery.