Canada’s Total War

World War II

• This war involved most countries in the world as full, participatory combatants

• In Canada, nearly all aspects of life revolved around the war

Halifax

• Ships were set up in convoys to guide troops and supplies (guns, tanks, shells, food) to Europe

• Germany actively sought to intercept this route and mined and torpedoed the convoys

• German U-boats sank 175 Allied ships, 500 merchant ships and downed 50,000 sailors

Nazi’s on the St. Lawrence River?

• German attacks on ships went all the way into the St. Lawrence River

• In 1942, U-boats sank a ferry (SS Caribou) going from N.S. to Nfld. (137 deaths and considered to be the worst inshore disaster of the battle)

• U-boats tried and sometimes accomplished landing men in the Gaspe (Quebec)

Internment

• Following the attack on Pearl Harbour Japanese-Canadians were perceived as threats.

• Under the War Measures Act and Defense of Canada Regulations Japanese Canadians were moved to Internment camps or work farms.

• Approximately 22,000 men, women and children were moved

Extension Activities

• Reading: The Early Years vs. The War Years

• Short film: http://www.nfb.ca/film/Minoru-Memory-of-Exile

• Artifact Activity• Reading: Rebuilding and Revival

National Selection Service

• NSS was established to direct workers into needed wartime industries such as Hamilton Steel Plants, Toronto munitions factories, Montreal aircraft factories and Winnipeg munitions and communication technology industries

• Workers who took jobs not designated by NSS were fined $500

Agriculture

• After the depression, the prairies experienced bumper crops

• High school and university students were sent to Saskatchewan to help harvest the crops that were needed to feed the British and the soldiers

• 800,000 women worked on farms (doing heavy farm work, servicing equipment, running the house and caring for children)

Industry

• Women 20 – 24 were required to sign up with NSS

• 25,000 worked in aircraft plants, 260,000 in munitions, 4000 in shipbuilding, 4000 in construction

• Women were paid less than men, but the differences were less than in WW1

Elsie MacGill

1st woman in Canada to earn a degree in electrical engineering

Oversaw design and production of the 1450 Hawker Hurricane airplane during WWII

Queen of the Hurricanes, a comic about Elsie MacGill, was published in the US in1942

• Veronica Foster worked for the John Inglis Co. Ltd. in Toronto where they produced the Bren Gun

• In a series of propaganda photos from 1941, Foster appears both at work and at play. She was nicknamed Ronnie the Bren Gun Girl.

• Rosie the Riveter didn’t appear in the US until 1942.

Making uniforms for the soldiers

• Clip from Canada: A People’s History

• “War Machine” section

Aboriginals

• While Aboriginals had little reason to be loyal to Britain, they provided military service, money, land for food production and labour in factories

• Over 3,000 Aboriginal men and women volunteered for WWII

• Most volunteers came from western Canada

• Over 200 Aboriginal soldiers lost their lives

British Commonwealth Air Training Plan

• Many pilots and other support workers in the RAF were trained in Canada

• BCATP provided the biggest training base for pilots from New Zealand, West India, Australia, Canada and Britain

Aircrew members training for altitudes in excess of 7 miles 1941

Why do you think Canada served

as a key location for training?

Espionage

• Camp X (just outside Oshawa) was a top secret training base for spies, secret agents and saboteurs

• Part of Camp X was Station M, where agents were provided with false documents, money, disguises, and specialized training to allow them to “fit in” and be part of the Underground

Dagger lipstick (left) and Poison gas fountain pen (right)

Enigma machine (decoding machine)

Hydra

"HYDRA" would become a direct link between Roosevelt and Churchill, through a series of direct telephone lines in the US, Canada, and the UK. When a leader wanted to speak directly to another the HYDRA system was used.

A hollowed-out book and a revolver

Simulation of spies being discovered in a wagon

Government• C.D. Howe, Minister of

Munitions and Supplies, had the power to direct private enterprise and tell businesses what to produce, where to sell products, and when to deliver

• Crown corporations were established to produce other needed war supplies (e.g. Port Hope secretly produced uranium for atomic bombs)

Inflation and Rationing

• To guard against inflation, the government controlled taxes, forced savings and sold Victory Bonds

• The Wartime Prices and Trade Board was established for food rationing (sugar, butter, coffee and meat) and froze all prices and wages to prevent further inflation

Conscription

• Conscription became an issue because PM King had promised no conscription in his election campaign

• In 1940, more people were needed so the government adopted conscription for home service (National Resources Mobilization Act)

• The NRMA was still not enough and King had to go to the public with a plebiscite (asking them to release him from his promise)

• It was passed but further divided English and French Canada

Promoting Conscription in Toronto April 27, 1942

Opposition to Conscription