World War II

In class we each got a article to read and then we made a power point. From other peoples power points some of the key information that I picked up on was before WWII women did not have the right to vote, there were 3 major reformers ( who I cannot recall their names) and they petitioned for signitures so that women were able to vote. The one thing that they didnt want however was for there to be any violence and there wasnt. Later on there was a play done with all women in it and it was on women's parilment. then in 1916 women were finally granted the right to vote. Going on, there was a major downfall which put us into the depression. With this, children were forced to work and not go to school. Young girls often took the jobs of other older workers, since they could get paid less and lastly there was a very strict policy which was no days off. One of the articles told a story of a lady who gave birth to her child in the bathroom at work because she was too afraid to take the day off because she couldnt afford getting fired.

The Depression did have an effect on different groups and places in Canada at this time. Like it was mentioned about there were children working in sweatshops just to help their family get by. Most children stopped going to school because they were forced to work. The textile mills took advantage of these young children, mostly girls that worked. Children started working at the age of 15. They would earn $8 a week, which is below the minium wage at that time, and was still paying higher than other places. Children would have to crawl into the machines to fix them no matter what the conditions. The powerpoint slides were really effective and interesting to see.

When WW2 started the Prime Minister Mackenzie King was hesitant to join in the war after all that had happened during WW1, but in 1939 when Germany invaded Poland Canada was ready to go back to war. Even the French Canadians supported going to war. During this war about 1.1 million Canadians served and of the gear-up for the war had a positive effect on Canada's economy. Due to the gear-up Canada was able to get out of its Depression. One issue that arose during the war was the question of whether or not there should be a draft. King was hesitant about making another draft so he put it to a vote. The final tally was 80% of English Canadians supported the draft while 70% of French Canadians opposed it. Because of the majority vote there was a draft, but it was a very small draft. (GM)