Canadian History 1920s & 1930s Timeline

Canadian History 1920s & 1930s Timeline

1918-19

Spanish Flu

The Spanish Flu was an outbreak that happened right after the war. While everyone was happy their loved ones were home, safe, that quickly changed once the Spanish Flu broke out.

The Spanish Flu is said to have killed more people than the Great War. In Ontario alone, in five months, over 9,000 people were killed by the disease. It affected everyone, young, old, men, women but especially the men from the war as their lungs were severley damaged during the war.

This pandemic was so severe that the life span was reduced by 10 years. There was no cure to this. Once you had it, you were basically awaiting your death.

1919

Winnipeg General Strike

Many workers were for the revolution. Labour delegates gathered with the intent of earning rights for Canadian workers through a series of strikes.

The cost of living was going up due to the war. Many of the workers approached council for a wage increase. Their request was denied, leaving them with really no choice but to begin a strike.

This strike was one of the most influential strikes in Canadain history. After this it became the platform for future labour reforms.

1920

League Of Indians

The League of Indians was formed to help protect the rights of the Aboriginal people. This was one of the first attempts at building an organization for the Aboriginals.

From the League of Indians we saw the Indian Act. This was a series of laws regulating the lives of the Aboriginal people and protecting their land.

The purpose of this act was to give the Indians more political power as before now, they had virtually none. The main purpose behind this was to protect their lands. Fred Loft was the first president-chief.

1922

When diagonsed with diabetes, it was a death sentence. There was no cure for it and it would slowly but surely kill you. Frederick Banting discovered insulin which could give your body what it needs to survive.

The experiments began by taking the pancreas out of a dog to test it, and it worked. Later, a 14-year-old boy was chosen to be the first person with diabetes to receive insulin. This was a success and insulin was discovered.

Banting was not in it for the money or the fame, he wanted to make a difference in the lives of Canadians. He sold the rights to the formula to the U of T for just $1. This way it was affordable to those in need. He was an amazing humanitarian and Canadian.

1923

Chinese Exclusion Act

The day that the Chinese Exclusion Act was brought into effect is known as "Humiliation Day"

This act stopped all Chinese immigration to Canada. Canada wanted Chinese people to come because they could use them at a cheap labour price. Once they were finished, there was no need/want for the Chinese to enter Canada anymore. The Chinese people were also stripped the right to vote in elections. Chinese were now frowned upon.

The Exclusion Act was in effect until 1947. The Chinese also regained the vote this year.

1925

Prohibition

Prohibition was origianlly introduced in 1918 by the women. The Federal Government passed the Prohibition which banned the production, import and transportation of liquor across the country.

Sam Bronfman ran hotels with his brothers. A big part of this was the bar. Prohibition really hurt his business. Between 1916 and 1918 they supplied liquor to the people in the west from Quebec. Quebec was a province that never went dry. In 1919 the United States went dry and 95% of the cases sold went to the Americans.

In Canada, every province except Quebec went dry. In Ontario from 1916-1917 the LCBO was established. Sam Bronfman decided to become a distiller.

1926

Mackenzie King

Mackenzie King earned himself fewer seats in the 1925 election than Arthur Meighen. With the help of the Progressives, they formed a coalition government allowing Mackenzie King to be Prime Minister.

Arthur Meighen introduced a bill to put tariffs on all products to protect domestic manufacturing. King is aware of the corruption of his customs minister yet, does nothing about it. By not punishing the corruption in the customs department, he lost the support of hus coalition partners. He has now been defeated in the House of Commons.

King asked the Governor General to dissolve parliament and call another election. Julian Byng denied his request, saying he was going to allow Meighen a chance to govern.

1927

Group of Seven

The Group of seven was composed of seven of Canada's best male artists. These men were Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris, A.Y Jackson, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J.E.H. MacDonald and Frederick Varley.

Group of Seven went over seas to work as official war artists. They painted landscapes of the Northern Ontario wilderness and Canadian Shield. Their thick brush strokes are violent compared to traditional techniques. They are dedicated to painting all five of Canada's regions to see the potential of our land.

They would paint with impressionism. They were interested in the transitory effects of light and spontaneous compositions

1929

Person's Case

When looking at a legal document before 1929 the term "person" did not refer to women. Henrietta Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby and Emily Murphy or "The Famous Five" were set out to change this.

The "Famous Five" took their case to the Supreme Court of Canada. After debating, they turned them down. They then took it to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and acknowledged the problem and officially made women "persons"

Thanks to the dedication of these women, women are officially "people" and can even make and propose laws. These women changed the way that the laws look at women.

1929

Black Tuesday

Black Tuesday really signified the beginning of the Depression. October 29, 1929 was the date of the Wall Street Crash.

Many people lost confidence in the value of the markets. On this day, the market lost about 12% of its value. Many of the investors were completely wiped out.

This stock market crash was the most devastating crash in the history of the United States.

1930

Five Cent Speech

Mackenzie King insisted that social welfare was responsibility of the provinces.

He said that he would not give a "five-cent piece" to any province without a Liberal government.

This speech was one of the big reasons that the Liberals lost the election. Power then shifted to R.B Bennett and the Conservatives.

1930

New Deal

R.B Bennett wanted to calm the angry Canadians. He was trying to fix some of the economic and social problems brought by the Great Depression.

The problems he wanted to fix were to establish unemployment and social insurance, set minimun wages, limit the hours of work, guarantee fair treatment of employees and control prices so that businesses could not make unfair profits.

Many people felt he left this much too late so in the 1935 election, King came back into power in a landslide victory.

1931

Statute of Westminister

This was an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom. This established legislative equality for self-governing dominions of British Empire.

The historical importance of The Statute is this marked the effective legislative independence of these countries.

This Statute applied to Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand, Australia, the Union of South Africa and the Irish Free State.

1935

On to Ottawa Trek

This was a social movement of unemployed men protesting the terrible conditions in the federal relief camps. These camps were scattered across Western Canada. These camps were put in place because of the Depression

After protesting in Vancouver, they went east to take their complaint to the Federal Government. This is where the name "On-to-Ottawa Trek" comes from

This strike was suppressed, not lost. After the vote a couple months later, the Liberal government felt compelled to remove the camps.

1936

CRBC - Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission took over a network of radio stations, the Canadian National Railway. This network was used to broadcast programs to the passengers on the train.

The CRBC became a full Crown corporation gaining its current name, CBC - Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

CBC

CBC is the oldest existing broadcasting network in Canada. Leonard Brockington was CBC's first chairman.

By: Bryanna Buckborough

Discovery of Insulin