Scott W. See. The History of Canada. Second Edition

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their opponents. When the British called on Canada to support the

war, primarily by providing troops, it placed Laurier’s government in

a difficult position. Empire enthusiasts claimed that the war was an

ideal moment for Canada to show its full support for Britain. Anti-

imperialists argued that it would be inappropriate—even morally

repugnant—to send Canadians to repress a minority group that was

under British attack.

The war sorely tested Laurier’s abilities as a compromiser. The

government’s solution was to raise and fund a modest volunteer force

while allowing the British to recruit Canadians as well. Over 7,000

Canadians served in the hostilities, with disease claiming the majority

of the nearly 250 casualties. The war’s impact on Canada cut in two

distinct directions. On the one hand, Canadian troops distinguished

themselves in battle, and imperialists, while they may have believed

Canada’s contribution to be modest, were generally heartened.

Conversely, the war had a divisive impact on Canadians, punctuated

by a severe riot in Montreal. To many anglophones, Canada’s place

was at the side of Britain. To an equally dedicated group of

francophones and anti-imperialists, Canada’s interests should be

North American in focus. The wounds created during the South

African War, barely scabbed over, would be reopened in twelve years

when Europe ran headlong into the most horrific armed struggle the

world had ever witnessed: the Great War.

Canada and the United States

While questions of British imperialism loomed large, the United

States continued to have a considerable impact on Canadian national

development in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Tensions in the fisheries along both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts

flared up periodically. At the same time, some Canadians, including

English-born educator and journalist Goldwin Smith, maintained

that Canada’s destiny should be intertwined with that of its southern

neighbor. The continental movement attracted few to its cause; still,

the idea that the country’s focus should be North American rather

than European underscored much of the political and social debate in

120 Canada and the United States

the period. Two episodes illustrated Canada’s ambiguity in its

interactions with the United States.

The boundary between Alaska’s panhandle and Canada was a

vaguely defined space. Following the Klondike gold strikes in the

Yukon in 1896 that brought large numbers of people into the region,

calls for an international tribunal to determine the boundary clearly

intensified. When an arbitration commission met in 1903, the crux of

the issue concerned the panhandle’s width. Canada wanted water

access through inlets from British Columbia to the Pacific. The United

States envisioned a thicker panhandle that effectively landlocked

northern British Columbia. In a classic example of his “big stick”

foreign policy, President Theodore Roosevelt threatened force and

charged the tribunal’s three American members, including the secretary

of war, to render a favorable decision. Two Canadian jurists and the

British chief justice, Lord Alverstone, rounded out the commission.

Alverstone sided with the Americans, thereby reinforcing bitter

perceptions that Canada’s interests were routinely sacrificed to

improve Anglo-American relations. The Alaska boundary decision

fueled Canada’s drive to establish the machinery to pursue a more

independent foreign policy. Coupled with the South African War, it led

to the creation of the External Affairs department in 1909.

Trade issues pointed to another side of Canada’s relationship with

the United States, and they ultimately contributed to Laurier’s defeat.

The protective tariffs of the National Policy had helped manufac-

turers, but a growing number of Canadians wanted to reinstate a

reciprocal trade agreement with the United States. Consumers,

especially in the growing West, resented paying higher prices for

tariff-protected products from Ontario and Quebec. Farmers also

wanted a freer marketplace to export their goods. They dramatized

their concerns by peacefully marching on Ottawa in 1910. The

Americans, now under William Howard Taft’s leadership, were in the

midst of the Progressive era. Taft and some congressmen anticipated

that a reciprocal trade agreement would be an important step toward

Canada’s annexation through economic means. The two countries

hammered out terms that each planned to implement through

legislation. The agreement covered many natural products, as well

as some manufactured goods that farmers required. Congress

promptly passed the appropriate legislation and waited for the

Canadians to follow suit.

Canada and the United States 121

During the election of 1911, one of the most important in

Canadian history, intense debate swirled around the reciprocity issue.

Opponents to the trade plans targeted both economic and nationa-

listic themes. Many pointed out that the National Policy’s tariffs had

successfully created a favorable economic climate for industrial

growth. Equally important, critics seized the moment to argue that

reciprocity would lead directly to Canada’s demise. Also shaping

the election was the controversial Naval Service Act passed by the

Liberals the year before. Under pressure from Britain, then in the

throes of a grim competition with other nations to construct powerful

naval fleets, Laurier’s government created a small navy. Anti-

imperialists deplored the initiative. Conservatives, on the other

hand, belittled the fledgling “tin-pot navy.” Under the leadership of

Robert Laird Borden, they also mounted a withering attack by

claiming that the passage of reciprocity would weaken Canada’s

ability to survive. Conversely, Laurier and reciprocity supporters

asserted during the campaign that the agreement would strengthen

Canada’s economy and offer a greater chance to compete in

international markets. Borden’s nationalistic arguments carried the

day. Following the Liberal electoral defeat, the reciprocity legislation

did not pass in Parliament, so the agreement with the Americans

collapsed. As the Conservatives settled in, however, domestic issues

were rapidly overshadowed by the outbreak of Europe’s “war to end

all wars.”

Canada and the Great War

The tragic events of 1914 to 1918 fundamentally altered Canada’s

relationship with Britain, deeply affected its political structure and

economy, and widened the divide between francophones and anglo-

phones on the issues of imperialism and conscription (compulsory

military service). In fact, a considerable number of historians main-

tain that World War I was the most important event in modern

Canadian history. Although this viewpoint might be disputed, there is

little doubt that Canada in the 1920s was a radically different country

from the one that Laurier governed in the opening years of the

century.

122 Canada and the Great War

The War Abroad

Canada was essentially unprepared for hostilities. Borden’s failed

attempt to raise millions for the construction of British battleships

indicated that citizens were still divided on the issue of imperial

support. Two years later, the swiftly moving events that unfolded in

the wake of the assassination of the heir apparent to the Austro-

Hungarian throne led to widespread European hostilities. Britain

allied with the French and Russians against the Central Powers of

Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. Britain’s

declaration of war implicitly involved its extended empire. Lacking a

distinct foreign policy and linked constitutionally to Britain,

Canadians found themselves involved in a war that was not of their

making.

Nonetheless, an emotional outpouring greeted the war news in

Canada. Parades and political addresses illustrated a general enthu-

siasm for supporting Britain and France. The House of Commons gave

its overwhelming and largely symbolic approval to the war and in

the flush of the moment passed the War Measures Act in 1914.

Broadly worded to encompass “war, invasion, or insurrection, real

or apprehended, ” this statute gave Borden’s cabinet extraordinary

powers. During the Great War, it was used to direct the economy,

steer men and women into jobs that the government deemed critical

for the war effort, oversee the conscription of men into service, and

detain and incarcerate people who by virtue of their ethnicity or

ideas were considered threats to the state. With patriotic fervor, the

ranks of the originally minuscule military of several thousand rapidly

swelled. Troops flocked to unfinished camps, which were overseen by a

zealous but incompetent minister of militia named Sam Hughes. These

soldiers became the backbone of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

By the time the guns fell silent in November 1918, over 600,000

Canadians had served in the army. An additional 9,000 had enlisted

in the Royal Canadian Navy, mostly for dangerous convoy duty

protecting the steady stream of ships that plied the North Atlantic

with men and war materiel. In addition, Canadian pilots comprised

about one-quarter of Britain’ s Royal Flying Corps.

Although some Canadian soldiers served in the Mediterranean

and in Russia, the overwhelming majority fought in the trenches

along the Western Front that extended from the Swiss border to the

Canada and the Great War 123

North Sea. In the dreadful battles along these lines, where generals

continued to use antiquated tactics of having troops rush at one

another to gain a victory, the casualties on both sides were staggering.

Machine guns, artillery, and poison gas took a devastating toll. The

Canadian Corps, under the command of British officers, performed

admirably during the war and rapidly earned a reputation on both

sides of the trenches as fierce fighters. Canadian soldiers were among

the first troops to be victims of German mustard gas at Ypres in 1915

and suffered huge losses, yet they held their ground without protective

equipment. They fought with distinction in the ill-conceived Somme

offensive in 1916, which yielded more than one million casualties

for a paltry gain of land. In April 1917 Canadian forces received

international attention after they took Vimy Ridge in France, one of the

most significant Allied victories of the war. Due to their performance in

battle, the Canadian Corps finally received a Canadian commander

later that year, General Arthur Currie. The country also received great

attention due to the bold exploits of its pilots who served in the Royal

Flying Corps. Ontario’s Billy Bishop, for example, became one of

the Allies’ greatest aces, although the number of his victories may have

been inflated in the interest of promoting the war effort (see “The

Necessity for Victory” in the Documents section).

In the total context of a grisly war that claimed over seven million

battle deaths by the armistice in November 1918, Canada’s 60,000

casualties seem modest. Yet given its relative population size,

Canada’s losses were extraordinarily high. One soldier in ten who

put on a uniform died during the hostilities. Canada’s position in the

British Empire and its international stature escalated considerably

after 1914, changes wrought largely by the commitment of its

fighting forces. Numerous monuments to the soldiers who served in

World War I, dotted throughout the country, serve as a poignant

reminder of the conflict’s role in shaping Canadian nationalism.

The War at Home

The war’s impact on the home front was equally important for

shaping the country’s history, for it touched all Canadians at some

level. Women served as nurses, in various voluntary organizations

such as the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire, and in

124 Canada and the Great War

government-funded social services. Thousands of women entered the

heavy workforce, including dangerous occupations such as manufac-

turing munitions. Eager to help in the war effort, women also wanted

to break the long-standing obstacles to their presence in vocations

outside of education, clerical work, and light factory employment. The

country’s economy expanded dramatically as it gained a major role in

providing war materiel and foodstuffs for the Allied effort. Canadian

factories churned out goods that ranged from clothing to ships. The

war effort considerably boosted grain production and increased the

market for minerals and timber products.

The federal government expanded its power during the war to

orchestrate economic production. By 1918 it actively regulated

everything from crop distribution to the right of laborers to strike.

Under the leadership of the successful businessman Joseph Flavelle,

for example, the Imperial Munitions Board became a model of

efficiency. The war’s legacy for Canada’s economy was in fact two-

edged. The furious expansion of its productive might, particularly in

the East, edged the country closer to an industrial-oriented economy.

There was little question that war was good for business and massive

employment. Detracting from the glow provided by a flush economy

was an increase in inflation, the institution of income and business

profits taxes, and a rationing of goods and foodstuffs. Although a

series of Victory Bond drives raised millions of dollars—over eighty

percent of the total cost of the war effort—they ultimately placed the

country in tremendous debt. The government also moved during the

war to take control of the vast railroad networks that had been

constructed in a bout of enthusiasm at the turn of the century. With

western expansion peaking before the war, the Canadian Northern

and the Grand Trunk Pacific soon faced bankruptcy. The govern-

ment’s absorption of these and other troubled railroads led to the

creation of the Canadian National Railways by the early 1920s.

The war exacted its most severe domestic toll on Halifax, which

served as a staging ground for convoys of merchant ships before they

headed across the Atlantic. In December 1917 two ships collided in the

city’s harbor. In a devastating moment, the explosion of a French ship

packed with munitions flattened a great portion of the city, created a

tidal wave, and set off fires that ravaged the surrounding area. More

than 1,600 perished, and thousands were wounded. The Halifax

tragedy stands in history as the largest man-made explosion before the

Canada and the Great War 125

United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945.

By the war’s close, the lives of Canadians from all age groups, regions,

and ethnic backgrounds had been irrevocably altered.

Conscription and the Union Government

Mindful of the country’s divided opinion during imperial conflicts such

as the South African War, Borden’s government promised that the

Great War would be fought exclusively by volunteers. The war lasted

far longer than its supporters had originally anticipated, however, and

by 1916 there was an alarming decline in the number of recruits.

Convinced that the war effort was imperative for Canada’ssurvival

and that the level of the country’s armed forces should be maintained

despite the mounting casualties, Borden risked criticism and broached

the idea of conscription. Opposition to the war had already been dealt

with severely by the government. Upwards of 8,000 people had been

interned under the terms of the War Measures Act, including German

and Austro-Hungarian immigrants and radical dissenters. None-

theless, the call for conscripts sparked intense opposition.

Conscription resisters included farmers, laborers, married men,

and pacifists. Yet contemporaries focused primarily on opposition

among French Canadians. The latter were still upset about

Regulation 17, a provincial measure that eroded French language

rights in Ontario’s educational system before the war. Quebec was

the traditional seat of the anti-imperial argument. Moreover, there

was a widespread opinion that the protection of France, the old

imperial master that had abandoned the Canadiens to their fate in

North America at the Conquest, was not an endeavor that warranted

the spilling of Canadian blood. In addition, the military discriminated

against French-Canadian volunteers in a variety of ways. Still, the

government forged ahead with the Military Service Act in the summer

of 1917. The Conservatives also tried to broaden their political base

to include Liberals who supported the war effort. An appeal to

Wilfrid Laurier to join with the Conservatives to form a Union party

failed. Other Liberals, however, embraced the idea (see “An

Argument Against Conscription” in the Documents section).

With the machinery for conscription underway, Borden instituted

plans to reformulate the government for the war effort. He called for

an election in the fall of 1917 to have voters give approval to the

126 Canada and the Great War

newly constituted Union government, which included Liberal war

supporters. To ensure a Union victory the government passed two

statutes that extended the vote to women in the military and female

relatives of servicemen, and prohibited the vote to conscientious

objectors. By stacking the deck in favor of a pro-Union election, the

government opened the franchise to selected women and inadver-

tently accelerated the campaign for female suffrage.

A Union victory in 1917 brought in a reformulated government

that lasted until 1920. It also exacerbated relations between Quebec

and the rest of the country. Without the support of Laurier and anti-

imperialists such as Henri Bourassa, francophone Quebec voters

roundly rejected the Union government and, by definition, conscrip-

tion. Antidraft riots broke out in Montreal and Quebec City in 1917

and 1918. Conscription was a painful reaffirmation of the different

visions that Canadians held for the country’s future. To many

anglophones and imperialists, the country’s obligation was to support

the British Empire at all costs. To most francophones and other war

critics, Canada’s proper destiny lay in North America. The call for

conscripts yielded an extraordinarily large number of claimants for

exemptions, mostly for farming or family hardship. In total, fewer than

25,000 conscripts made the journey overseas. Most historians agree

that the negative cost of conscription in disunity far outweighed its

positive results by replenishing the depleted military forces. The bitter

memories of the conscription crisis had barely subsided before another

global conflict reintroduced the question of whether Canadians should

be required to serve in the military in a foreign war.

Peace and the Framework for a New World

The Great War highlighted contradictory impulses in Canada. Many

historians have argued, for example, that the war acted as a bonding

agent to give Canadians a sense of national purpose. Others maintain

that Canadian national unity, both political and social, was damaged

by the event. Various crosscurrents cleaved the country along ethnic,

language, ideological, and class lines. Another paradox concerned the

country’s role in the empire. Undoubtedly Canada’s military and

domestic war efforts underscored its commitment to Britain. At the

same time, the Canadian government consciously used the crisis as a

platform to gain more autonomy in the postwar era.

Canada and the Great War 127

A test for this approach came with the protracted peace talks that

concluded the Great War and established a new world body, the

League of Nations. Both British Prime Minister David Lloyd George

and American President Woodrow Wilson originally opposed the

idea that Canada and the other dominions should attend the

negotiations as separate nations. Borden and the other dominion

leaders, pointing to their casualties and America’s belated entry into

the war, prevailed in their arguments for separate representation.

Consequently Canada attended the treaty meetings as both a separate

country and as part of the British Empire ’ s delegation. Although the

actual impact of Canada’s contribution to the peace process was

negligible, these events were of utmost significance for two reasons.

The principle that Canada deserved its own representation at the

negotiations was an important leap forward in the country’s

evolution to become an independent nation. Canada also joined the

League of Nations, an international body that had been the last of

President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points, which were designed

to avoid another global conflict. Canada and over sixty countries

joined the organization, although ironically the Americans declined

after Wilson lost an acrimonious power struggle with the Senate.

Canadians had reservations with the League’s collective security

clause; nonetheless in the 1920s and 1930s, the country participated

in its deliberations and committees. Canada’s active relationship with

the League of Nations became an important training ground for its

developing independence. World War I had thus wrought yet another

change for the country by accelerating the political and popular

resolve to seek a foreign policy independent of Britain’ s.

Women and the Vote

The war created a favorable environment for the final phase of the

struggle for women’s suffrage at the federal level. Women in early

nineteenth-century British North America sometimes had access to

the franchise because they held property or capital, but all the

colonies by midcentury had passed legislation to restrict the vote to

property-owning males. At the time of Confederation, only about

one-fifth of Canada’s males could vote. The struggle for female

128 Women and the Vote

suffrage in Canada, part of an international impulse that included

Britain and the United States, was linked to women’s improved access

to higher education and their activity in reform issues. After 1875 the

Women’s Christian Temperance Union, for example, targeted the

prohibition of alcoholic beverages, but it also advocated women’s

suffrage and other reforms. The Toronto Women’s Literary Club,

formed about the same time by Dr. Emily Stowe, was really a forum

for discussing women ’s suffrage.

Canadian women made the greatest suffrage inroads in the

prairies during World War I. Due to the energies of articulate suffrage

champions such as Nellie McClung, a Manitoban writer, the

movement gained momentum in the 1910s. In 1916 Manitoba

became the first province to open the franchise to women, followed

quickly by the other western provinces. Ontario (1917), Nova Scotia

(1918), New Brunswick (1919), and Prince Edward Island (1922)

took the western provinces’ lead. The combined impact of opening

the franchise at the provincial level, coupled with the statutes passed

by the Conservative government to ensure a Union victory in 1917,

led to the national franchise for women in 1918. The province of

Quebec, which no doubt responded according to its traditions and

the conservative power of the Roman Catholic church, resisted the

progressive impulse; it denied women the right to vote provincially

until 1940. The federal election of 1921 witnessed Canada’ s first

elected female member of Parliament, Agnes Macphail, an Ontario

schoolteacher who endorsed improved conditions for farmers.

Although women broke the suffrage barrier in most of the country

by the 1920s, they continued to be a small minority of the House of

Commons, the Senate, and other elected and appointed offices (see

“A Case for Women’s Suffrage” in the Documents section).

Canada in the Twenties: Roaring

or Whimpering?

The experiences of Canadians from the end of the Great War through

the advent of the Great Depression in 1929 varied substantially. On

one level, the country emerged from the war a stronger nation, with a

greater industrial base and expanding cities. At the same time, class

Canada in the Twenties: Roaring or Whimpering? 129