1. War on the Home Front
WWII

2. War Comes to Canadian Shores: Halifax
Halifax: a major city for incoming refugees (British Children)
Halifax: centre for Canadian naval operations and base for allied and British shipping
Sometimes convoy ships were torpedoed within hearing distance of Halifax

3. CONVOY
Merchant ships that travel in a group and are protected from enemy attack by naval escort ships or air force planes

4. War Comes to Canada: Newfoundland
Newfoundland still independent but worked closely with Canada
Canadian troops stationed on the island
Royal Canadian Air Force aircraft flew out of Newfoundland

5. British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
Introduced Dec
Brought air crews to Canada from all over the commonwealth for training as pilots, navigators, air gunners, bombardiers, wireless operators
Canada provided the fields, Britain the instructors
Program turned out 130, 000 graduates

6. War Comes to Canada: The Pacific
Japan invaded large parts of China, this worried the west coast
Suddenness of Japanese attack frightened British Columbia
The only Japanese attack on Canada was a submarine shelling of a Vancouver island lighthouse in 1942

7. Japanese Internment
Early 1940’s 22,000 people of Japanese descent lived in British Columbia
Even before the war Japanese Canadians were targeted in anti-Asian rioting
Japanese seen as spy’s and enemy aliens
No sign of treason or treachery was ever uncovered
Because of BC paranoia, Ottawa decided to round up male Japanese without Canadian citizenship and put them in internment camps

8. Japanese Interment Continued
Under the war measures act, the order was extended to everyone of Japanese descent, Canadian or not
Sent to camps in interior of BC, Sugar-beet farms in Alberta, sometimes Manitoba or Ont
Families broken up, bad conditions
Had to give up all their private property – became governments
Shameful treatment continued until 1947
Mulroney’s gov offered $20,000 to every survivor of Japanese Internment

9. Japanese-Canadian cars confiscated by the government

10. The Sad reality of Japanese Internment
Agashi Tigers – Baseball team in Vancouver
After 1941, they never played together again

11. Japanese Internment – before moving to the interior, the PNE barnyard was used to hold the people

12. National Selective Service (NSS)
Unemployment was gone
In fact, government created the NSS to tell Canadian workers about the industries in which their labour was most needed
If workers took jobs without consulting the NSS they could be fined $500 and jailed for a year

13. Canada’s Economy and Industry
C.D. Howe – Cabinet minister in charge of industrial production
Created the Department of Munitions and Supplies
Could tell businesses what to produce, where to sell their products and even when to deliver them

14. Hyde Park Declaration
Canada would be in financial difficulty if they continued to help Britain
Mackenzie King convinced Roosevelt that US buying Canadian goods would help
USA bought more than $1 billion worth of Canadian goods
Marked the beginning of close economic ties with USA

15. Wage & Price Controls
WPTB – Wartime Prices and Trade Board – Froze all prices and wages to prevent inflation
Also decided who could buy scarce goods – needed a permit

16. War Brides
The war brides came from all over the United Kingdom and from nearly every country on the European continent, but the vast majority (93%) were British - and the reasons are fairly obvious. Canadians were among the first to come to the assistance of Britain after war was declared in 1939 and they spent more time there than any other member of the Allied Forces.

17. Conscription – Again?
King Promised no one would be conscripted in WWII
Pressure from English Canada mounted as Hitler continued to have success in Europe
King answered with the NRMA (National Resources Mobilization Act) which was conscription of soldiers but only in the defense of Canada

18. Conscription Continued
Many Canadians referred to NRMA’s as Zombies and many English Canadians believed they were French
King knew this wasn’t good enough – but he couldn’t go back on his word
So he called a plebiscite – a federal referendum and asked Canadians if he could be released from his earlier pledge

19. More Conscription Plebiscite passed
King uttered phrase “Not necessarily conscription, but conscription if necessary”
By 1944 Conscription was needed, King conscripted 16,000 for active duty
However fewer than 2500 conscripts reached the front