The Battle Of Vimy Ridge: A Defining Moment In Canadian History

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A defining moment is a moment in someone's life that really impacts their lives during the present and the future. Looking back over the past 150 years, there have been many events that make Canada what it is today. However, it can be said that there are three principal events that were key in defining Canada’s History. The Battle of Vimy Ridge, The Paris peace conference, and the great depression altered the image of Canada to how it is known today. These events proved Canada to be a strong, independent nation and boosted their value on a global platform. The first defining moment that changed Canada's identity and importance on the world stage was the Battle of Vimy Ridge. The message of Vimy Ridge is one of bravery and sacrifice. …show more content…

The Paris peace conference convened in January 1919 at Versailles, just outside Paris. This Conference was held to establish the terms of Peace after World War I. Canada, United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy dominated the proceedings that led to forming the Treaty of Versailles, a treaty that ended World War I. The treaty broke up and redistributed the German Empire and held German liable for all financial reparations during the war. Negotiations at the Paris peace conference were complicated. The United Kingdom, France, and Italy together were the Allied powers during the first World War but they all had different arguments about what would happen to Germany after the war. US President Woodrow Wilson, French Premier Georges Clemenceau, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George led the conference, they were known as The Big Four. Regardless, Canada had an impact on the final shape of the treaty. Canadian Prime Minister Robert Borden lead a successful and historic fight for separate Dominion representation at the Paris peace conference. Canada was able to assert itself on the world stage as the Canadians had separate signatures on the treaty. With Canada's paramount participation during the war and with 60,000 war dead, they had paid the price of such a recognition. This gave the nation the opportunity to get out of Britain shadow and make its views known. The signing of the Treaty of …show more content…

It began to unfold on 24th October 1929, Black Tuesday. It was when the value of the New York Stock Market fell dramatically, the Great Depression was a time when Canadians suffered groundbreaking levels of poverty due to unemployment. The employment rate went up to 30%, the highest it's ever been. “On Wall Street, 16.4 million shares were sold, almost 4 million more than Black Thursday’s unprecedented totals.” (Historica Canada). This dread spread to Toronto's markets, resulting in the suffering of municipal and provincial government as the extent and duration of unemployment during these years rapidly exhausted the ability of the government. The 10-year depression led to many lives lost through homelessness, starvation, etc. Most people lost their jobs leaving them and their family to die or live off of vouchers which were used to get food and water. The government had to do a lot to cope with these challenges. Private relief like charities, church groups, soup kitchens was developed to provide the people with second-hand clothes, food donations, and homeless shelters. At this point, a lot of people suffered mentally and physically, they were desperate for the great depression to end. Another thing the government developed was emergency relief, they made vouchers that you could trade in for food. A lot of people were forced to use this but there weren't enough vouchers and neither did they solve

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