Transcript Canadian Reaction to the Events in Europe

What was the Canadian Reaction to the Events in Europe?
• Following the lead of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, William
Lyon Mackenzie King pursued a policy of appeasement with Germany
and Italy.
• In 1937 King visited Hitler and found him to be a man of “deep sincerity
and a genuine patriot” who “truly loves his fellow man”
• When Germany seized the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, the Munich
Agreement (signed by Britain, Germany, France and Italy) allowed the
territorial grab without any objection. King sent a message to Chamberlain
thanking him for his work towards peace.
• Hitler quickly followed up by capturing the rest of Czechoslovakia and
started the Second World War by invading Poland on Sept 1, 1939.
Events in Europe continued
• At the outbreak of the war, a small minority of Canadians called for
neutralism and pacifism. Ten years of depression, unemployment,
and hard times had sapped the national will, and there were too
many who remembered the dead and maimed from the Great War.
The most notable figure being the CCF leader J.S. Woodsworth.
• Canada went to war not because Hitler was a monster who had
invaded Poland, not to fight for democracy, not to save the Jews of
Europe but simply because Britain had gone to war. Britain had
promised to defend Poland if Hitler invaded.
• Canada now had independent control of its foreign policy. King
waited a week after Britain declared war before doing so himself.
Why?
• To prove that Canada could do so; there was never any doubt they
would back their mother country.
What was the military role of Canada in the war?
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Initially King asserted Canada’s role would be one of limited liability
during the war: Canada would contribute what it could and use the war to
rebuild its economy.
Mobilization: King created the Department of Munitions and Supply in
1940 – it was the driving force behind Canada’s industrial contribution to
the war.
The Royal Canadian Navy was part of the successful Allied forces in
chasing German U-boats from the sea and winning the Battle of the
Atlantic.
Canadians, in participation with Americans and the British, launched a
hard fought campaign in Sicily and Italy that saw Rome captured by
June 1944. In these battles, soldiers fought room to room to overtake
Italian and German soldiers.
D-Day: Canadian forces successfully landed at Juno beach and
commenced their Eastward march across Europe.
The death toll for Canada’s participation in WWII included 23,000 in the
army, 17,000 in the RCAF and 2200 in the Navy. (approximately 42,000)
By the end of the war Canada the third largest Navy and the fourth largest
air force in the world.
Inter-American Diplomacy
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Both Canada and the USA were worried about their own national security by the
summer of 1940 and decided to move towards greater cooperation. Roosevelt and
King were friendly.
The Ogdensburg Agreement: In August 1940 King called FDR and suggested a
meeting at Ogdensburg, New York. They established a Permanent Joint Board on
Defense to plan for the defense of the continent and to coordinate the deployment
of their forces.
Significance: marked the shifting of Canada out of Britain’s sphere of influence
and into that of the USA. Responses to the Ogdensburg Agreement were positive in
North America but Winston Churchill was understandably critical.
Hyde Park Declaration: King again visited FDR in April of 1941 at the
President’s home in Hyde Park, New York. The USA agreeing to buy more raw
materials and manufactured goods in Canada as well as allowing components to be
imported into Canada under Lend-Lease.
Canada’s economic problems were quickly erased and the Canadian war economy
boomed.
As a result, Canada was soon in a position to give away billions of dollars in
munitions and foodstuffs. In total, Canada gave Britain $3.5 billion in aid.
Impact of the War on the Role of Government
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The state began to intervene in every
sphere of life, allocating resources,
controlling production, and
determining wages.
The Wartime Prices and Trade
Board froze prices and wages in 1941
to avoid spiralling inflation.
Ration cards or tokens were issued for
scarce items such as gasoline or meat
Housewives were encouraged to plant
Victory Gardens to produce their own
foodstuffs as well as to save fats and
metals for the war effort.
The government mobilized for war in
a way that made WWI efforts look
amateurish.
Impact of the War on the Role of Government
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With the depression clear in everyone’s memory, people wanted jobs, security and a
good standard of living.
In response and under the influence of Keynesian economics, parliament became
convinced that it needed to play a major role in directing the economy:
In 1940 unemployment insurance was created.
In 1944 Canada began a baby bonus - a monthly payment for
each
child.
These and other numerous programs created the modern welfare state or social
welfare net that Canadians have come to expect.
Technology: Canada had assisted the USA in its Manhattan Project atomic bomb:
Canada provided uranium from its western mines to be used in the atomic bombs.
Although Canada never armed itself with atomic bombs, it did participate in the
Cold War by joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
What was the impact of war on labor, business and the economy in
Canada?
Impact of the War on Labor
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Unemployment disappears: Increased demands for wheat, lumber, fish and minerals
made Government and businesses desired peace on the labor front in order to
maintain production
Ottawa passed regulations that recognized collective bargaining. Union strength
doubled from 359,000 in 1939 to 711,000 in 1945.
Impact of the War on Business
• Just as in the US, Business was good. Products to be made in every factory
and the cost-plus contracts with the government eliminated the usual risks
for owners
• The government aided the construction of plants, gave easy write-offs for
costs and depreciation and, although taxes were high, profits were still
good.
What was the impact of the War on the
economy in Canada?
• Living standards improved all across the country during the war.
• The Gross National Product (GNP) rose from $5.6 billion in 1939 to
$11.8 billion in 1945 and average wages, personal savings and
government expenditures rose with it.
• The cost of living remained static because of price controls and, in
spite of high taxes, there was more money in Canada than there had
been for years.
• There were few things to buy due to military production so
Canadians gave billions back to the government when they bought
Victory Bonds.
• It was a people’s war in Canada, fought by the people with
equipment produced by the people and paid for by the people, and
for once the people seemed to get some of the benefits.
How did the controversial issue of conscription play out in
Canada in WWII?
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King did not want to see a repeat of the Conscription Crisis that had damaged French-English
relations during World War I.
French and English Canadians needed to remain united, but this would be impossible if
conscription was imposed on a reluctant Quebec by the English speaking majority
The National Resources Mobilization Act was passed in 1940 to create a conscripted force
but for home defense only.
As the war deepened, King came up with the idea of a national plebiscite to free his
government from its promise to not impose conscription.
In early 1942, Quebec voted 72.9% against conscription while in Ontario (and most of
English Canada) only 17.7% voted against forced military service overseas.
King now found himself in a difficult position: should he listen to the majority and impose
conscription or preserve national unity and not alienate Quebec?
The National Resources Mobilization Act was amended to make overseas conscription
possible. King craftily claimed it was “not necessarily conscription, but conscription if
necessary”
By 1944, there was a shortage of Canadian troops in Europe and King sent 16,000 NRMA
men overseas. In the end 2463 NRMA soldiers made it to the front and, of these, only 69
were killed.
Quebec was not happy, but by stalling until the end of the war, King had avoided a major
division and the bloody riots that had accompanied the conscription crisis during WWI.
Evaluate Japanese Internment in Canada and compare/contrast it to
Internment in the US.
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With the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor led to panic on the West
Coast.
Drawing on a long tradition of antiAsian sentiment, politicians,
newspapers and citizens’ groups
called for action against the 23,000
Japanese-Canadians living in British
Columbia
Most of these fisher-people and
market gardeners were Canadian
citizens and posed no threat to
Canadian security.
Internment of Japanese-Canadians
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Despite this, the Japanese-Canadians were rounded up, deprived of their
livelihoods, and dispersed to internment camps in Canada’s interior.
Soon their property was sold at drastically undervalued prices and after the war the
federal government attempted to deport as many Japanese-Canadians as possible
back to Japan.
As the largest forced migration in Canadian history, this episode of systematic
discrimination is widely believed to be one of Canada’s darkest moments.
In 1988 the Canadian government officially apologized for its treatment of Japanese
Canadians. A symbolic redress payment of $21,000 was given to each survivor and
an additional $36 million was put into cultural programming for the JapaneseCanadian community and anti-racism education more broadly.