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Canada’s H0me Front:Social and Political Issues– 5.3
Propaganda
Conscription Crisis
The War Measures Act
Japanese Internment
Canada’s Home Front
Many men and women went overseas to fight, but those who stayed at home played an equally important part in this “total war effort.”
Along with volunteers, and other matters that benefited individuals, some laws such as The War Measures Act gave the government enormous powers over the people of Canada.
This power was used in questionable ways
The Home Front encompasses everything that was happening back home, away from the fighting in Europe and the Pacific.
Propaganda
The National Film Board (NFB) turned out hundreds of documentaries and short films which were shown all over Canada
Posters and radio messages were everywhere as well
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4497GEGOOg
Conscription Crisis
In 1939, Mackenzie King made an election promise that he would not introduce conscription for overseas service.
The following year, King’s government passed the National Resources Mobilization Act (NRMA), which included conscription for home defense only.
Young men were called up for 30 days of training.
In April 1941, it was extended for the duration of the war.
Conscription Crisis
In 1942, in the face of growing casualties overseas, the need for reinforcements grew.
King held a plebiscite, (a vote), asking Canadians to release him from his promise of not conscripting for service overseas.
Many Quebeckers saw this request as a betrayal
Conscription Crisis
The majority of Canadians (64 %) generally supported the idea of compulsory overseas military service.
However, 79 % of English Canadians voted yes, while 85 % of French Canadians voted no.
About 13,000 conscripts were sent overseas but only 2,400 reached the front lines before the war ended
A very similar situation to that of WWI
The War Measures Act
The King government revived the War Measures Act of
1914, which gave it enormous powers over the people &
industries of Canada.
There were 28 Crown corporations producing munitions,
airplanes, uniforms, synthetic rubber & various other
essential war products.
The War Measures Act
The government had the power to assign workers to jobs
in these industries as the need arose.
Certain products were rationed during the war & strikes &
lockouts were replaced with compulsory arbitration.
The War Measures Act
Censorship and the control and suppression of publications, writings, maps, plans, photographs, communications and means of communication
Arrest, detention, exclusion and deportation Control of the harbours, ports and territorial waters of
Canada and the movements of vessels Transportation by land, air, or water and the control of
the transport of persons and things Trading, exportation, importation, production and
manufacture Forfeiture and disposition of property and of the use
thereof.
Japanese Canadians
After Japan attacked Pearl harbor in 1941, Canadians feared an attack on Canada’s West Coast, either by naval shelling or an actual invasion.
Anti- Japanese feeling grew quickly.
Japanese Canadians
Some people feared that Japanese Canadians would help the invaders, although there was no evidence to cast doubt upon the loyalty of Japanese Canadians
The fear of espionage (spying) within the country led to the arrest, with no legal basis, of 38 Japanese Canadians
Japanese Internment
In February 1942, the government announced that people of Japanese ancestry living near to the coast of British Columbia would be moved inland.
Approximately 16,000 of the 21,000 evacuated Japanese Canadians were Canadian
Japanese Internment
Japanese Canadian businesses & homes were seized with little or no restitution & people were sent to internment camps.
Japanese Canadians continued to be denied the right to vote until 1949.
Japanese Internment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljpb21QDPqc
Other Minority Groups
Until 1942 the government ignored employers’ restrictions on hiring Blacks.
After protests from Black university students & a campaign by the press & the Canadian Jewish Congress, this practiced ended.
Prejudice was also evident with regard to refugees.
Other Minority Groups
Canada made it difficult for Jewish refugees to enter Canada before the war.
As news of concentration & death camps began to reach Canada, there was no change in government policy or in the attitudes of the immigrant branch.
Many of the immigrants who managed to immigrate to Canada were placed in internment camps
http://www.funtrivia.com/html5/index.cfm?qid=307654
http://www.funtrivia.com/html5/index.cfm?qid=7927
