Canada s Response to the War

Canada s Response to the War

Canada is isolationist Prime Minister William Lyon MacKenzie did not want Canada to get involved in another war. Canada was very divided about conscription and Canada lost a lot of soldiers If Canada decided to conscript soldiers MacKensie could lose the vote in Quebec The economy was getting better and he did not want Canada to go back into debt He hoped that the British policy of appeasement would work with Germany

Appeasement

Jewish Refugees Governments knew that the Nazi s were discriminating against Jewish people Many Canadians believed that what was happening in Germany was a German issue only, and did not affect Canadians Some Canadians supported the dictators, or also hated Jewish people Anti Semitism (against Jewish people) was shared by many people in mainstream society

Jewish Refugees Because of anti Semitism the government cabinet did not allow more Jewish people to immigrate to Canada even though they were in danger in Germany. Jewish refugees were seen as a burden on the state. Canada wanted immigrants from Britain or the USA who could support themselves, and would not need to be supported by the government The number of immigrants to Canada fell during the 30 s and the number of deportments rose

SS St Louis The SS St Louis was a ship that left Hamburg Germany with 907 Jewish passengers trying to escape Germany The St. Louis was not allowed to enter Cuba, South America, the United States and Canada was their last hope. Canada refused to let the boat dock, because the passengers did not qualify as immigrants The ship was forced to return to Europe Many of the people aboard the ship later died in concentration camps

Canadians Speak Out Many Canadians did not share the government s anti Semitic views Cairine Wilson Canada s first female Senator and chair of the Canadian National Committee on Refugees, spoke out against the banning of Jewish refugees from Canada Prime Minister MacKenzie was asked to let more Jewish refugees into Canada After the St Louis was turned away, and had to go back to Nazi Germany, newspapers started to write angry editorials to the Prime Minister Canada only admitted 5000 Jewish refugees from 1933 1945. 11 million people were killed during the holocaust.

Canada Declares War During the First World War Canada was automatically at war when Britain declared war. During the Second World War, Canada was an autonomous country and this was not automatic. Parliament needed to decide if Canada would go to war.

Canada Declares War Parliament was called into a special session on September 8 MacKenzie King gave a strong speech in favour of declaring war His position was supported by the opposition Conservative party. Only JS Woodsworth, leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) argued against going to war JS Woodsworth was a pacifist he didn t believe that anything could be solved by going to war

Canada Declares War Canada declared war on Germany on September 10th, 1939

Conscription The Minister of Justice, Ernest Lapointe also spoke in favor of declaring war, but said: I am authorized by my colleagues in the Cabinet from Quebec, to say that we will never agree to conscription and will never be members or supports of a government that will try to enforce it MacKenzie King knew how badly conscription was thought of during WWI he promised that as long as he was in power, there would not be any conscription

Getting Ready for Fighting Canada was not ready for a war. Armed forces were very small, and not ready to fight Canada only had 4300 troops, a few tanks and no modern artillery 58,000 people volunteered for service

Why Volunteer? Many Canadians volunteered because they thought it was their duty. Many volunteered because of national pride Some Canadians were attracted by a steady income

Fighting Force At first, Canadian volunteers of African descent were rejected, but were later encouraged to join the regular army and the officer corps Aboriginal people volunteered at a higher percentage than any other group in Canada Thomas Prince, a Brokenhead Ojibway from Manitoba became a Sergeant and served in Italy he received 10 medals including the Military Medal for Bravery from King George VI

A different attitude to War At the beginning of WWI many people were excited to join the military. They didn t think the war would take very long, and it would be an exciting adventure. Because WWII took place only 20 years before, many people remembered how terrible war was. There were no crowds cheering when WWII was declared in Canada

British Commonwealth Air Training Plan Mackenzie King hoped that Canada could contribute supplies and training more than soldiers so that he could avoid have to ask for conscription In December 1939 Canada started to host and run the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) Pilots from the Commonwealth came to Canada to train with British instructors

British Commonwealth Air Training Plan Airfields were built on the Prairies and in other locations near small towns and villages Old aircraft were fixed for training purposes This was a big Canadian contribution to the war effort The BCATP trained more than 130 000 pilots, navigators, flight engineers, and ground control The total cost was more than $2.2 billion and Canada paid 70% of the cost

Total War With total war the federal government was more involved in planning and controlling the economy April 1940 the department of Munitions and Supply was created and industrialist C.D Howe was put in charge C.D Howe was given a lot of power to do what was needed to get ready for the war

Total War C.D Howe convinced business leaders to manufacture goods they had not made before Vancouver started building ships for the navy, Montreal constructed new planes and bombers such as the Lancaster The Canadian car industries started building military vehicles and tanks Munitions factories opened in Ontario and Quebec

Total War Howe created Crown corporations to make the things he needed, if a private company couldn t The government started to run telephone companies, refine fuel, stockpile silk for parachutes, mine uranium and control food production. Some people called C.D Howe the Minister of everything.

Questions: What did Mackenzie King tell French Canadians during the debate on whether Canada should join the war? What was the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan? Why was Canada chosen to host it? Why did King support the plan? How did Canadians react to the announcement of the Second World war? Why did many people still volunteer? How did Canada s policy of total war change the economy? Why was the policy necessary?