Canada became a country on July 1, 1867 when the British Parliament passed the British North America Act. Since then, Canada has grown into a political and economical powerful nation that we know today. However, developing from a mere dominion to its own nation did not come without immense obstacles along the way. Social development changed the identity of a Canadian and brought nationalism. The economic augmentation during the turn of the century to the start of World War ll, helped our country to become one of the highest income countries in the world today. Political progression assisted in making Canada its own nation. The factors that progressed Canada socially would be, the Group of Seven, the famous Jazz Age and sports, a current major …show more content…
industry. Economically, development was through the vast number of immigrants that came to Canada in the early 1900s, Canadian and American relations and the spread of new technology. The progression Canada has made politically since the end of the nineteenth century, was through its first major battle victory, the advancement of women and through the economic hardship that numerous countries went through. First of all, with what is arguably the birth of the nation and a significant part of Canadian history, the victory Canadians conquered in the Battle of Vimy Ridge, is an example of how Canada progressed politically. For example, because of Canada’s military substantial contribution and victory, as a result, Canada was represented in the British Empire Delegation to the Paris Peace Conference and separately signed the Treaty of Versailles with Germany, the first time Canadians had signed a multilateral treaty. The victory at Vimy Ridge, upgraded Canadian’s political power as their prominence served as a step towards autonomy from the British Empire and brought them “new international status.” Secondly, women rights further became a controversial issue that politically developed Canada. To illustrate, women were excluded from the inner circle of the male-dominated political parties and were rarely put forward as candidates for political office. Thus, in 1928, five Alberta women: Nellie McClung, Emily Murphy, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Irene Parlby, and Louise McKinney joined together to challenge the definition of “persons” in the constitution. Although it was ruled that women were not “persons” due to the British North America Act, in 1929, the “Alberta five” appealed to the Privy Council in England. The decision was reversed and success was achieved. The Persons Case opened the Senate to women, enabling them to work in both The House of Commons and the Upper House. It also meant that women could no longer be denied rights based on a narrow interpretation of the law. The Persons Case, politically developed Canada as politics expanded and demonstrated the advancement of women. Thirdly, the Canadian economy during the 1930s, the Great Depression, not only changed Canada economically, but also progressed politically. During this world wide economic hardship, R.B. Bennett, the prime minister of Canada who came to power in 1930, the start of the Great Depression, became the target at fault for what was happening. He introduced relief camps and believed that increased tariffs would improve the economy, but they did little to nothing to help the high numbers in unemployment and the poverty that had already spread. In response, the Depression spawned a variety of political reform movements to advocate the use of the state to initiate recovery. The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, the Social Credit Party and the Union Nationale were new political parties introduced throughout the 1930s, that offered various new reforms. The new political parties progressed Canadian politics and changed the political landscape as people were now able to vote for other parties. To begin with, a factor that developed Canada economically was the Canadian-American relations during the late 1920s. For instance, Canadians started to depend on their neighbour, the United States. They became their biggest trading partner and American products and culture spread throughout Canada during this period. Consequently, when the stock market crashed in New York on October 29, 1929, the United States would not only suffer, but Canada would soon follow. Therefore, because of the the heavy relations between Canada and the United States, Canada became hugely affected on its economy and thus, the Great Depression in Canada had begun to spread. Secondly, immigration in the 1900s, would prove to be a component of the economic progression in Canada. For example, “in 1901, 5,371,315 people lived in Canada; in the next ten years a 34 per cent increase brought the total to just over 7,200,000”. Canada clearly benefitted to the net inflow of about one million people. The two international factors that contributed to the immense immigration, were the rise of grain prices and falling ocean-freight rates, which made agriculture more profitable. The tremendous immigration caused economic boost in the agricultural industry. Lastly, another aspect of economical progress in Canada would be the growth in technology during the 1920s. For example, new successful innovations such as the automobile brought economic prosperity. Canada became second only to Americans in their use of the automobile. The automobile created new jobs and new industries such as paint and glass. Because of the automobile, credit buying was thoroughly encouraged and many Canadians took the chance to buy the automobile. It also helped the Canadian-American relations as well as it aided in “ensuring technological compatibility between Canada and US goods.” For this reason, Canada’s economy grew largely and started depending on the United States for such technology and mass production began to proceed. Firstly, Canada progressed socially through music in the 1920s, also known as the Jazz Age.
By way of illustration, jazz music, which was the genre of music that grew and dominated the 1920s, brought dances and gatherings of people together. Interest in music expanded beyond professional artists and organizations to embrace a wide range of amateur activities. Throughout this period, the rage of jazz music and culture expanded. The popularity of jazz music progressed Canada socially as it gave Canada a culture and way of life during the 1920s. Secondly, sports was also a factor in which progressed Canada socially. For instance, “opportunities to play and watch sports expanded before the First World War.” Women began to participate in school and university sports, such as ice hockey, basketball and field hockey. For the first time ever, women were allowed to compete in the Olympics in 1900. Further, programs such as YMCA and YWCA began to give sports an unprecedented place in most Canadian lives. Hence, grew a rich culture in sports, broke down proscriptions against female participation in competitive play and grew a small but growing number of nationwide organizations. Lastly, the Group of Seven, a famous group of primarily landscape painters, changed Canada socially. A striking example would be that their paintings created a uniquely art expression of the country. The Group of Seven “tried to establish a more equitable and independent relationship between art and nature.” They focused on the unique landscape Canada had to offer by travelling and revealing their paintings to the public. Hence, the famous artists progressed Canada socially and also shaped Canadian identity by showing how beautiful Canada was, which brought a sense of pride and nationalistic
view. The social aspects of development was the Jazz Age that was influenced by the United States, the Group of Seven who affected the Canadian identity and sports that created a base for Canadian culture, inspiration and identity and also advanced women in sports. Economically, progression was through Canada’s strong relations to the United States as it affected Canada, the vast immigration that helped the agricultural industry as well as the automobile that assisted in encouragement for credit buying. The development of politics was through the Battle of Vimy, where we were brought to the world stage, women’s rights which advanced politics and the Great Depression, which expanded political parties. The progression of social, political and economic development between the 1900s to the 1940s, altered and developed Canadian identity, government and growth. Many events, people and changes became obstacles for Canada and its people, but slowly, Canada became a well-developed country. The three main topics of progression from the turn of the century to the time of the Great Depression, all contributed in developing the young country of Canada: into a powerful nation.
It was once stated by F.R.Scott “ There are two miracles in canadian history. The first is the survival of French Canada, and the second is the survival of Canada.” His quote came to reality as of Canada grew to be a stable and secure country where everyone would want to be. Yet to accomplish this, many obstacles and events occurred such as the Spanish Succession war in 1713 , the seven years war in 1763, the constitutional act in 1791 and finally the Act of Union in 1841. First in 1713, the Spanish Succession war occurred where the British took control of Acadia. Soon after that, in 1763 the Seven Years War ended where the British took over New France and was later renamed British North America. Before the British most of the colonies were
It takes many generations for any single country to evolve from its earliest state into what would be considered a "developed" nation. The changes that take place within the country are generally attributed to a small number of visionary individuals. Many people can be accredited for contributing to the progression of Canada. John G. Diefenbaker, conceivably the single most influential person in the history of Canada, played a crucial role in the development of the country, to what it is today. Diefenbaker's work resulted in the redefining of Canada's cultural identity, the creation of major bills and policies within government legislation as well as developing a stance on foreign affairs and many policies dealing with global issues.
A century ago, Canada was under control by the British Empire. The battles we fought the treaties we signed and the disputes we solved all helped us gain independence from our mother country “Britain”. Canadians fought a long battle protecting others, and from these battles we gained our peaceful reputation and our independence from Britain. Canada became a nation on July, 1st 1867. Although we were an independent country, our affairs and treaties were all still signed by Britain.
‘Roaring’ is an appropriate term to describe Canada in the 1920s because it was a time of economic growth and radical transformation. It was a time of economic growth because there was a high demand for Canadian raw materials, Canada’s manufacturing industry expanded, and because of immigration, which produced job opportunities and generated revenue for the Canadian government. It was a time of radical transformation because women were adopting new roles, the youth were ignoring traditional roles, and sports were creating a sense of nationalism, which created shock, unity, tension, and pride. Technology was becoming popular and lightened the workload for many people. With inventions like the telephone, automobile, vacuum cleaners and washing machines revolutionizing the 20s, life was easier. This was the beginning of the technological age that led to the creation of today’s advanced medicines and gadgets
Canadians were frustrating, wonderful, and hard. Soldiers returning from the war expected jobs, but were faced with unemployment, inflation and strikes. Inflation had doubled the cost of living where wages had not and those fortunate to be employed still faced immense financial difficulty. Many people joined unions for better pay and working conditions, 1919 saw the most strikes at a staggering three hundred and six, people were angry and discontented. The 1920s were a time of crime corruption and extreme poverty, yet by mid era difficult conditions began to improve. Foreign investors gained confidence in Canada and as a result new industries were developed, The twenties really did 'roar' and with this boom of change Canada underwent the transformation that was the gateway to the future.
Canada became increasingly autonomous throughout the 1920's and 1930's. Being established officially as a nation apart from Britain certainly helped, but there were more than just official pieces of paper at play. The negotiation of the Halibut treaty was a large push towards become an autonomous nation from Britain. The final push were the seats Canada was given at various significant events.
The depression years of 1929 - 1939 proved to be the worst, and some of the best years for Canada and Canadians. It was a time of extreme highs and lows socially, emotionally, and economically. It was a time that Canada came into her own being on the world wide stage.
The result of the Second World War fundamentally changed Canada and its economy started booming. There are many reasons for this change and if you remember, World War I also made a big impact on the development of Canada. However, in the next few paragraphs I will talk about how Canada gained much more respect and autonomy from the Second World War than ever before and also the change from a country into an industrialized nation.
Canada has become a superior nation thru, perseverance, courage and even care as they persevered thru many dark battles, and made sure they all came thru together as a unit other than individuals. Their courage made there fighting 100% stronger as they wouldn’t back down to any task and they weren’t afraid to lose their life to help a fellow friend and country out. Care played a major aspect in each Canadian heart. There cared about Britain so they weren’t to go help them when they declared war, they helped other troops with their emotional problems and lastly they even cared a little about there enemies as they are the same person, however the only thing separating them is there culture. Canadians contributed in many ways to help our country's great efforts in the First World War.
Teenage life in Canada during the 1950’s is hard to understand unless having lived there. With this new demographic, many things had to be created in order to satisfy this demographic, such as clothing, music, rules, and schools. Unique aspects of teenage life in this era include a lot of rules, the movie theatre, rock n roll and the way they communicated to each other. Issues teenagers faces include marginalization, condemnation and disapproval. The new demographic helped Canada as it made the “children” demographic smaller, and it gave the teenagers more freedom, independence and they finally felt as they could have their own “stuff” as they would call their music, their clothes, their friends their social life etc.
Organizing a topic as diverse as Canadian history into periods is challenging. Canadian history spans hundreds of years, covers events from varying points of views, and contains dimensions of culture, theme, and politics. To understand how to organize history logically into periods, it is helpful to refer to Canadian history sources.
The post-war time was a period where major changes were occurring. After being involved in two international conflicts, Canada was ready to reestablish their economy. During this time, Canada had started working on ways to become stronger and reputable. It is evident that Canada had matured through the post-war era. Canada’s economic progress left a positive impact on the growth of the country as consumerism became popular, and economic ties with America became stronger. Moreover, the removal of racial and ethical barriers contributed to Canadian social affairs such as the huge wave of immigration and the baby boom. The Canadian government also had become more aware and involved in issues impacting Canadian citizens. Canada as a whole started identifying itself as an independent nation and participating in events that brought a positive reputation amongst them. These economical, social, and legal changes helped Canada mature into the country it is today.
Currently, Canada remains the world’s second largest country, full of vast and rich resources from all corners of the nation. None of the accomplishments and achievements that Canada has made to date would have been possible without Confederation. Without intense pressure from the Americans, and without the common goal that a few men shared of unifying a country, Canada would not be the strong, free, independent and united nation that it is today.
Canada is a strong and independent country made up of thirteen unique provinces and territories. However, it took great efforts for Canada to become the united nation it is today. The British colonies were facing many problems. One solution for these issues was for the colonies to come together and form one county or nation. There were a number of different factors that pushed the colonies of British North America towards confederation. Due to political deadlock, economic challenges and pressure from the United States, confederation was absolutely necessary for the well-being and progress of Canada.
The culture of Canada refers to the shared values, attitudes, standards, and beliefs that are a representative of Canada and Canadians. Throughout Canada's history, its culture has been influenced by American culture because of a shared language, proximity, television and migration between the two countries. Over time, Canadian-American relations have helped develop Canada’s identity during the years 1945-1982; thus introducing changing social norms, media and entertainment. In support of this, due to the United States being approximately 9.25 times larger in population and having the dominant cultural and economic influence, it played a vital role in establishing Canada’s identity. With Canada being its neighbour, naturally, the United States would influence their way of life upon Canada.