Chapter One A Different Canada

1. 1900 - 1914 Chapter OneA Different Canada Overview Sir Wilfred Laurier, Prime Minister

2. What was Canada like at the beginning of the 20th century? • Population = 7.2 million • Most Canadians lived on farms or in small villages • Victorian attitudes prevailed • Families took care of their own • Laziness caused poverty and the poor depended upon private charity

3. What was crime like in 1914? • 27 men sentenced to death for murder • 11 carried, 16 commuted to life • Crimes against property were most common • Drunkenness was a close second • Only if women broke the law were they considered persons

4. What was the status of women? • Women were not even considered persons • A woman’s salary was her husbands • Women worked as servants or factory workers and usually quit after they were married • Some were teachers or nurses, rarely doctors

5. Who were the suffragists? • A group of women who wanted the vote • They believed this would allow them to influence the government to address the social problems • They wanted prohibition since they believed alcohol was the cause of many of society’s problems.

6. What were art and literature like? • Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote Anne of Green Gables • Stephen Leacock wrote Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town • Ernest Thompson Seton wrote about animals and Pauline Johnson wrote about her Mohawk heritage • Homer Watson painted farm scenes and Ozias Leduc painted religious works

7. excerpt: • When Maud was growing up, a woman's life was very different from what it is today. Women couldn't vote or own homes. Most had little schooling. Instead of having careers, women married young and stayed home to raise their children.But Maud dreamed of another kind of life. She wanted to be an author, even though almost all writers of the time were men. Maud faced many obstacles, but she eventually succeeded. In her lifetime, she wrote 24 books, 530 short stories and more than 500 poems. Her most famous book, Anne of Green Gables, has been published in over 20 languages and has sold tens of millions of copies...

8. Stephen Leacock Stephen Butler Leacock was a well known humorist, essayist, teacher, political economist, and historian. The recipient of numerous honorary degrees, awards and distinctions Leacock was the English-speaking world's best-known humorist 1915-25. Leacock's 2 masterpieces are Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town (1912) and Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich (1914).

9. Ernest Thompson Seton Seton ("the Chief") AKA "Black Wolf" was an award winning wildlife illustrator and naturalist who was also a spell-binding storyteller and lecturer, a best selling author of animal stories, expert with Native American Sign language and early supporter of the political, cultural and spiritual rights of First Peoples.

10. E. Pauline Johnson West wind, blow from your prairie nest.Blow from the mountains, blow from the west.The sail is idle, the sailor too;O! wind of the west, we wait for you.Blow, blow!I have wooed you so,But never a favour you bestow.You rock your cradle the hills between,But scorn to notice my white lateen.

11. E. Pauline Johnson I stow the sail, unship the mast:I wooed you long but my wooing's past;My paddle will lull you into rest.O! drowsy wind of the drowsy west,Sleep, sleep,By your mountain steep,Or down where the prairie grasses sweep!Now fold in slumber your laggard wings,For soft is the song my paddle sings. --"The Song My Paddle Sings"

12. Homer Watson

13. Ozias Leduc

14. How did each of these show Canada was a British nation? • Alaska Panhandle dispute • Boer War • Canadien nationalists • Imperialists • Language rights issue • THE LAURIER YEARS 1896-1914

15. Canada’s Changing Population • Laurier and his Minister of the Interior, Clifford Sifton, campaigned for new immigrants in the west. • Immigrants who were healthy were offered 160 acres for $10.00. • As a result of ethnocentricity many immigrants experienced discrimination.

16. Canada’s Ethnocentrism • Canadiens (French Canadians) were concerned about the immigrants reducing the percentage of Canadian francophones (French speakers). • Eastern Europeans, especially Ukranians and Poles, were ridiculed and scorned. • Chinese, Japanese and East Indians suffered even harsher discrimination.

17. Canada -- A racist society • Racism was evident in Canada at the turn of the century. • R.B. Bennett, a future prime minister, stated, “British Columbia must remain a white man’s country.” in 1917. • The federal government placed a “head tax” on Chinese immigrants in 1885 and increased it in 1900. On July 1, 1923 the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed and remained in force until 1947.

18. Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples • By 1880s most Aboriginal peoples were living on reserves, The main purpose of which was to free land for settlers. • The reserves were supposed to turn Aboriginal peoples into farmers rather than hunters, but the land was often unsuitable and equipment was limited. • Residential schools were another part of the government’s policy of assimilation. • As Maclean’s stated in 1913, “the white man of Canada is slowly, steadily and surely absorbing his red brother.”

19. Urbanization • Thousands of immigrants moved into the cities. Jews, who were not allowed to own land in Europe, chose cities. • The growing cities were a contrast between a few very rich and a large number of poor. • Still people were attracted by jobs, cultural and social opportunities.

20. An Economy Transformed • Canada’s exports of timber, wheat and minerals benefited from cheap shippin g costs. • The opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 created shorter shipping routes. • The Klondike gold rush started in 1896 and continued into the 20th century. • Electricity and telephones helped modernize industry and society.

21. Corporate Giants • As corporations grew larger competition was lessened and prices were set higher while wages were lower. • Trade unions were formed to press for higher wages, safer working conditions and reduced hours of work. • By 1914, however, Canada was in a recession; industries cut back on production and the demand for wheat was down.

22. Resources and the Environment • Environmentalism was unheard of at the turn of the century. • But the rockslide at Hell’s Gate Canyon on the Fraser River caused by the Grand Trunk Railway blasting resulted in serious restriction of the salmon which was not resolved until thirty years later when a fish ladder was built.

23. War and Change • Canada’s first French Canadian prime minister stated that, "as the 19th century was that of the United States, so I think the 20th century shall be filled by Canada." • Whether history had fulfilled this prediction is a question we will bear in mind throughout the history section of this course.