In the middle to late 1940s, Canada received a great influx of British immigrants. Numbering 48,000, these young women were brides who had wed the nation’s servicemen. Although they came unprepared for the land that would become their new home and faced huge culture shock upon disembarking, Canada’s spirited war brides inevitably transformed the culture that surrounded them. Now, around sixty-five years later, one in thirty Canadians can count a war bride in their family tree (Jarratt, 2009). Through determination to stay in Canada despite huge culture shock, sheer hard work, and despite their hasty marriages, the British war brides of the Second World War have, and are continuing though new generations, impacted the Canadian culture of today.
During the war, army regulations and rationing made it extremely difficult for soldiers to marry. Marriage of soldiers to civilians was not encouraged by commanding officers; in fact, it was forbidden in most cases (Jarratt, 2009). This rule was not heeded by many Canadian soldiers; it was difficult to forbid any young man to pursue love, especially under the circumstances provided by the Second World War. Because many young British soldiers were in all corners of Europe, it is unsurprising that the young women of Britain turned to the Canadians when they arrived. Emotions seemed heightened by the war and relationships blossomed. Quite often, couples were engaged within months after meeting because of the uncertainty of the times. Their hastiness was hindered, though, by the many army regulations imposed. “Forms had to be filled out, appointments made, medical exams taken… A Canadian serviceman had to obtain permission to marry from his commanding officer before a wedding date could be set...
... middle of paper ...
.... They built themselves a life in Canada and now one in thirty Canadians can proudly claim to have a war bride in their family.
Works Cited
Granfield, L. (2002). Brass buttons and silver horseshoes. (1 ed.). Toronto: McClelland
& Stewart Ltd.
Hutt, Vera. personal communication
Jarratt, M. (2008). Captured hearts: New brunswick's war brides. (1 ed.). Fredericton:
Goose Lane Editions.
Jarratt, M. (2009). War brides: The stories of the women who left everything behind to
follow the men they loved. (2 ed., pp. 15-213). Toronto: Dundurn Press.
Shirley, G. (n.d.). "ballad of the brides". Legion Magazine,
War brides. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pier21.ca/research/collections/the-story
collection/online-story-collection/war-brides
Wicks, B. (1992). Promise you'll take care of my daughter: the remarkable war brides of
world war II. Don Mills: Stoddart.
The years since the Battle of Vimy Ridge may have passed quickly, but the legacy of the Canadians whose accomplishments were great in that pivotal First World War battle lives on. Many people claim to this day that Canada came of age as a country on those hard April days in 1917. At first, through the meticulous planning of the battle, the world saw a nation capable of working together and making decisions as a team. Afterwards, with the range of technical and tactical innovations involved in the attack, the world saw a strong nation unafraid to protect and defend. In the end, through great sacrifice the world bore witness to the birth of the Canadian legacy. To conclude that the nation was born on April 9th 1917, on the Artois plains is to deny over three centuries of history during which the ancestors of millions of Canadians devoted their lives to building the country. This is why the Battle of Vimy Ridge wasn’t the birth of Canada itself, but the birth of our legacy- the ‘true’ origin of our nation.
Before the war, Canada’s most important sector in its economy was agriculture. However, this was changing drastically after and during the war as industry began to take over as being more important. Canadian production of war material, food supplies, and raw materials had been crucial during the war. After the war, it was only natural that big investments were being made in mining, production, transportation, and services industries. Canadian cities were becoming very important contributors to the economy. This was also bringing in waves of post-war immigration, the backbone of Canada’s multicultural society we know today.
Harris, Carol. "Women Under Fire in World War Two". BBC News. BBC, 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 19 Apr. 2014
Canada’s women and economy experienced some of the positive effects of World War 1, while the Canadians originating from different countries either than France and Great Britain (e.g. Germany, Austria and Ukrainians) experienced a higher level of discrimination. Increased discrimination against “ethnic Canadians” or “enemy aliens”, a bigger and wealthier Canadian economy and a new role and greater independence for women are 3 of the main effects from World War 1 on Canada’s homefront. The homefront of Canada was never the same after the effect of World War 1.
Smith, Winnie. American Daughter Gone to War, On the Front Lines withan Army Nurse in Vietnam. New York: William, Morrow, and Company, Inc., 1992.
Generations of native people in Canada have faced suffering and cultural loss as a result of European colonization of their land. Government legislation has impacted the lives of five generations of First Nations people and as a result the fifth generation (from 1980 to present) is working to recover from their crippled cultural identity (Deiter-McArthur 379-380). This current generation is living with the fallout of previous government policies and societal prejudices that linger from four generations previous. Unrepentant, Canada’s ‘Genocide’, and Saskatchewan’s Indian People – Five Generations highlight issues that negatively influence First Nations people. The fifth generation of native people struggle against tremendous adversity in regard to assimilation, integration, separation, and recovering their cultural identity with inadequate assistance from our great nation.
The Japanese living in Canada during World War II (WWII) faced one of the harshest and inhumane living conditions in Canadian history. One unidentified woman remembers, “it was terrible, unbelievable. They kept us in the stalls where they put the cattle and horses.” Before WWII, the Japanese were targeted for their culture. An example is the Anti-Asiatic League that was created to limit the number of Japanese men that could immigrate to Canada. Canadians did not want the potential competitors in farming and fishing. 22,000 Japanese Canadians were interned during WWII, even though 14,000 had been Canadian born citizens. This was because the Japanese had bombed Canada’s ally, the United States. With this in mind, the Canadians viewed the Japanese as the enemy. This made the innocent Japanese Canadians become the victims of unfair suspicion and they began to fall through the cracks of Canada’s developing society and government. Internment camps were created to forcibly keep the “dangerous” Japanese from the seemingly “innocent and civilized” Canadian citizens.
The adjustment from years on the frontlines of World War I to the mundane everyday life of a small Oklahoma town can be difficult. Ernest Hemingway’s character Harold Krebs, has a harder time adjusting to home life than most soldiers that had returned home. Krebs returned years after the war was over and was expected to conform back into societies expectations with little time to adapt back to a life not surrounded by war. Women take a prominent role in Krebs’s life and have strong influences on him. In the short story “Soldier’s Home” Hemingway uses the women Krebs interacts with to show Krebs internal struggle of attraction and repulsion to conformity.
During World Wars I and II, Canada had no formal military. Canadian soldiers, whether volunteers or conscripted, were trained and lead by the British military. Although Canada had their own units, these were treated as an extension of the British military, not as an independent, Canadian branch. It was after the end of World War II that Canada took steps to truly separate themselves from their British roots, which included the creation of a formal Canadian army, navy, and air force. The c...
Due to the a sentence of working men's, women were suggested to do men’s work, such as making clothes for oversea men, filling bullets and shell bombs with materials, and many more occupations and works that were once the ‘privilege’ only to men. After WWI ended, women were forced to leave their occupation and return back to their life as typical ‘house maids’. This did not only cause the women’s anger and rebellion due to the fact that their jobs were taken away from them, but it also planted seeds deeply within women’s hearts of the consciousness of gender inequality. Before women in Canada had ever taken on jobs before, their lives were all about pleasing their men and baring, caring for their children. Women did not have a life of their own before the famous The Person’s case, led by Emily Murphy, Irene Marryat Parlby, Nellie Mooney McClung, Louise Crummy McKinney and Henrietta Muir Edward; however , that is to say after the women in the prairies had granted votes for them. To resume, the newly funded experience for the women due to their new jobs had sparked the courage and anger in them. This can also explain the year of women first received their rights to vote in 1916, barely two years after the outbreak of WWI. While women’s men were away fighting during WWI, votes were given to women during conscription so that the wives could vote in place of their husband.
"From Home Front to Front Line." Women in War. Ed. Cecilia Lee and Paul Edward Strong. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. The Churchill Centre. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
Ode, Kim. "Sexual Trauma: Women Vets' Secret War." ProQuest, 18 Dec. 2010. Web. 20 Mar. 2012.
Canada over the years have made itself known with it’s aspect of military combat. It’s soldiers have proven themselves undoubtedly strong willed and the prowess of Canadians shown bright in the battlefields of WWI and WWII. However, the brilliance of the Canadian forces was not without its own indigenous faults. In WWI alone, there have been 100,000 men conscripted into the armed forces, upping the count to meet the number Robert Borden, the PM at the time’s promised 500,000 by 1917. Simple math presents that over 20 percent of the men that then made up of Canada’s armed forces were conscripts, and the men were unwilling to do battle. Out of the French, 93% of those who were enlisted had applied for exemption. The lack of discipline out of the French Canadian soldiers even resulted in riots in Quebec. The savagery of the riots shocked conscripts and volunteers alike, and lowering the morales of both Conversely, the majority of soldiers who applied for the exemption of the military did not receive their goal. Nevertheless, those men still found other ways to avoid the frontlines, by assuming non-combat roles with duties of cleaning and other labour. While these militia servants were frowned upon, and even harassed by other soldiers, it did not stop the population of conscripts from ...
During World War II many U.S soldiers and service-men left America and went off to other countries to fight in the war. Many of these soldiers ended up falling in love with women in these foreign countries. The soldiers would then marry these women and have their new wives move to America with them. These wives were known as War Brides. About a million service-men married foreign women that were English, European and Asian. When married to a soldier, the War Bride had to sacrifice and leave many things behind. The War Bride’s thought that coming to America would be a great opportunity to live a better and extravagant life, However when they came to America, it turned out that wasn't true at all. They came to America as strangers unemployed,
Canada’s reputation on the world stage is one that is peerless, or at least it would be were it not for the Japanese-Canadian internment. Canada, a country of equality, racial acceptivity, and of ideal human rights, was one of the countries that participated in the internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. Canada's decision to intern had many impacts, and not simply on the Japanese, but also on Canada. The Internment of Japanese-Canadians, during the Second World War, directly impacted Canada’s identity in a negative way by molding it into one that was racially intolerant. Canada’s identity was negatively affected due to the fact that the internment showed Canada as a country destitute of proper human rights, a people with