Canadian Culture and Technology

Canadian Culture  Canadians were listening to American radio stations and going to see American made films  Sparked fears that the American entertainment industry was threatening Canadian culture and causing Canadians to lose their identity

Formation of the CBC  Fear that American programs were dominating Canadian airwaves  Bennett created Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission in 1932  Purpose was to provide information and entertainment to the whole country.

National Film Board of Canada  1939 Mackenzie King founded the NFB  Canada’s public film producer and distributor  An agency of the Government of Canada  John Grierson “Father of the Documentary” was appointed its first film commissioner and played a pivotal role in the agency’s development.  Purpose was to tell Canadian stories to Canadians and others around the world.

Artists – Group of Seven  Original Members: Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris, A.Y. Jackson, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J.E.H. MacDonald, F.H. Varley.  Wanted to paint the Canadian landscape in new ways  Wanted to express the feelings that the landscape inspired in them  Emily Carr began to do similar things.  Important part of Canadian identity

What is Lawren Harris trying to express?  The loneliness, the cold, and the isolation of the north shore of Lake Superior.

What is Emily Carr trying to express?  The nobility of a British Columbia tree that has been rejected by loggers who had cut down all the trees around it.

Mary Pickford Watch “Coquette”  Canadian Actresses, stared in 4 talking films.  Married Douglas Fairbanks (director), they founded United Artists  World renowned  America’s Sweetheart

Sports and Recreation  1930s: “Golden of Hockey” in Canada  Foster Hewitt  During the Depression, hockey provided many Canadians will hope. Creation of Maple Leaf Gardens : Toronto Maple Leafs treated like royalty after their Stanley Cup win.

Women and Sports  In the 1920s pressure from women forced the AAU to create a women's committee and the IAAF to include women's events in the Olympic Games, but the new opportunities were never equal to those enjoyed by men. Rosenfeld, Bobbie Rosenfeld was Canada's female athlete of the first half-century

Women and Sports  Edmonton Grads Women’s basketball team % winning record Won the North American Championships in 1934, 1935, and Get to know the Grads

Dionne Quintuplets  On May 28, 1934, five identical girls are born to Elzire and Oliva Dionne in Callander, Ontario.

Dionne Quintuplets  When the quints are still babies, the Ontario government takes the sisters from their parents, apparently to protect their fragile health, and makes the girls wards of the state. For the first nine years of their lives, they live at a hospital in their hometown that becomes a tourist mecca called "Quintland." The Ministry of Public Welfare sets up a trust fund in their behalf with assurances that the financial well- being of the entire Dionne family would be taken care of "for all their normal needs for the rest of their lives."  Between 1934 and 1943, about 3 million people visit Quintland. The government and nearby businesses make an estimated half-billion dollars off the tourists, much of which the Dionne family never sees. The sisters are the nation's biggest tourist attraction – bigger than Niagara Falls.

Dionne Quintuplets After nine years and a bitter custody fight, the girls moved back with their parents and their other siblings. They received only a fraction of the promised financial returns. There is still a mystery surrounding what happened to the money the Ontario government placed in a trust fund for the quints, though it's believed that most of the funds went to pay for the many employees of "Quintland." After years of wrangling over compensation, the Ontario government formally apologized to the surviving quints on March 6, The government offered the quints a $4- million lump-sum payment, which the quints accepted after having rejected a previous offer of only $2000 a month.

Technology – Communication  Telephone More popular, rotary phones meant no longer needed to go through switchboard. Long distance networks – call from Montreal to Toronto  Radio – The Golden Age of Radio. Brought mass entertainment to Canadians In evenings families would gather around the radio in the living room CBC radio reached 90% of Canadians by 1929

Technology - Domestic  Refrigerators, iron, washing machine vacuum  Promised that these “mechanized servants” would reduce the time spent doing household chores.  However, expectations of the homemaker became more demanding – they were expected to keep their homes cleaner, their families better fed etc.

Technology – Transportation  Automobiles By vehicles were registered in Canada (tripled from 1920) Model T – Mass production allowed Henry Ford to manufacture them cheaply. Change in landscape – highways etc.  Bush Planes 1926 – modified planes so that they could land on water, snnow or the ground to deal with the heavily forested north and lack of open areas.

Technology – Medicine - Insulin  on the research team that discovered insulin.  Used as a lifesaving treatment for Diabetes  Sold their idea for $1 to the University of Toronto – they used the fees for medical research.  Won the Nobel Peace Prize 1923

Technology – Medicine - Pablum  Frederick Tisdall, Theodore Drake and Alan Brown (doctors) invented Pablum, the pre-cooked, vitamin- enriched, easily digestible cereal in  Royalties for the product went to the Hospital for Sick Kids (Toronto), where they funded pediatric research for 25 years.

Technology – Medicine - Neurology  Mapping of the Brain - Dr. Penfield  Heritage Moments “Burnt Toast”“Burnt Toast”