Canada and World War II · totalitarianism, that stressed the glorification of the state over the individual. Mussolini executed or ... The Rise of Nazi Germany After World War I

434 MHR UNIT 5: Maturing Culture and Identity, 1919–1945

Out of the last war emerged their status, out of this one their stature. – V I N C E N T M A S S E Y

I t seemed unbelievable to Canadians that only two decades after their soldiers hadreturned from the muddy battlefields of the Great War, they would again be calledto arms. The burden of war debt, the conscription crisis, and the memories of those

who had not returned home from World War I were still all too vivid. By the mid-1930s Canadians were still pulling themselves out of the Great Depression, and pre-occupied with troubles at home, did not foresee that the events unfolding on the otherside of the world would ultimately involve them. By 1939, the powers of Europe wereinvolved in a struggle for dominance, and once again, Canadian men and womenwould be asked to do their part.

Canada would play a crucial role in the Allied victory of World War II—changingboth the way Canada saw itself, and the way the international community viewed it.However, World War II would also expose a country still struggling to unite and denyingthe basic human rights of its own citizens.

The Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations were created after World War Ito resolve the issues that had led the world into the Great War. However, by the endof the 1930s both institutions began to unravel and old rivalries began to resurface.The harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles divided existing German colonies amongthe Allied nations and dismantled the Austro-Hungarian Empire, thereby creating thesmaller nations of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Poland. Along with heavy monetaryreparations and restrictions on its army, the War Guilt Clause ensured that Germanyaccepted all responsibility for the war, which played a major role in destroying thecountry’s very foundations. The conditions of the Treaty of Versailles only served toenrage Germany and became a motive for revenge.

C H A P T E R 1 8

Canada and World War II

1 8By the end of this chapter,you will be able to

• demonstrate an under-standing of how Canada’sparticipation in significantinternational conflictschanged the way the country was perceived bythe international community

• describe the ways in whichthe world wars of the twentieth century alteredCanadians’ self-image

• describe the origins andvarious incidents of preju-dice and discrimination inCanada’s history

• analyze the individual and social costs of humanrights violations inCanadian history

• analyze women’s changingparticipation in the paidlabour force

September 1939Canada declares war on Germany

British CommonwealthDecember 1939

Air Training PlanAgreement signed

November 1941Wage and price controls take effect in Canada

Canadians defeated atDecember 1941

Battle of Hong Kong

July-August 1942All Japanese Canadians removed from West Coast

Canadians suffer heavyAugust 1942

casualties at Battle of Dieppe

September 1942S.S. Caribou sunk by German U-Boats

Conscription takes effectNovember 1944

April-May 1945Canadians liberate the Netherlands

VE-Day declaredMay 1945

CHAPTER 18: Canada and World War II MHR 435

The World in ConflictFollowing World War I, some countries adopted apolicy of isolationism, preferring to distance them-selves from world affairs. The United States, forexample, refused to join the League of Nations,partly because they believed that Britain was using itfor its own means, and partly because they wantedto avoid implication in distant conflicts in whichthey were not directly involved. It is Ironic that theU.S. did not join the League, even though the organ-ization had been a vision of American PresidentWoodrow Wilson, and was outlined is his “FourteenPoints.”1 In the years following the Great War, aseries of events unfolded that tested the strength andinfluence of the League of Nations.

Tension in the Pacific

Japan was on the side of the Allies during theGreat War and through the Treaty of Versailleswas awarded German colonies on the Marianas,Marshalls, and Caroline Islands in the PacificOcean. As Japan’s population grew, it put a strainon the country’s resources, and the increasingly mil-itaristic nation gazed hungrily beyond its bordersfor more land. In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria,a Chinese province that Japan had sought to controlsince the turn of the century. Despite a plea madeby China before the League of Nations, Britain,France, and other League members, fearing thatthis event might spark a larger conflict, refused totake action. Canadian Prime Minister R.B. Bennettremarked about himself, “What can one man do whorepresents only ten and a half millions of people?”

The Rise of FascismFascism in ItalyItaly entered the First World War fighting withGermany in the Axis Alliance. Switching sides whenthe Allies promised to grant them land if victorious,Italy was disappointed with the terms of the Treaty

of Versailles as it failed to give them the territoryin the Austro-Hungarian Empire that they hadwanted. In the years following the Great War,Italy, hampered by a series of failed coalition gov-ernments and national debt, entered a severe eco-nomic depression. The people of Italy turned to anew political leader, Benito Mussolini, who promisedprosperity and a renewed powerful Roman Empire.Mussolini came to power in 1922, bringing an endto democracy in Italy. Referred to as “Il Duce”(“the leader”), Mussolini introduced fascism, acombination of potent militant nationalism andtotalitarianism, that stressed the glorification ofthe state over the individual. Mussolini executed orimprisoned anyone who disobeyed him. He estab-lished a cooperative state, in which the governmentcontrolled the economy and clear distinctions weredrawn between classes. In 1935, in an attempt tocreate a great Italian Empire, Mussolini invadedEthiopia. Again, the League of Nations did nothing.

During League negotiations, the Canadiandelegate in Geneva, W.R. Riddell, proposed thatoil be added to a League embargo, an action thatwould have made invasion impossible for Mussolini.Prime Minister Mackenzie King, however, was notconsulted on the matter. When he found out, hedemanded that oil be removed from the embargo.Thus, Canada played a minor role in appeasing Italy.

The Rise of Nazi Germany

After World War I ended, Germany faced eco-nomic ruin from trying to meet the financial obli-gations of the Treaty of Versailles. A young soldierfrom World War I, Adolf Hitler, was determined toreturn Germany to its former glory. In Munich,Hitler took control of a right-wing political partyand renamed it the Socialist German Worker Party—later known as the Nazis. Hitler promised a wearyand battered country jobs, power, and a return togreatness. While in prison for a failed political revolt,Hitler outlined his mission and beliefs in his bookMein Kampf (My Struggle). The book sold over


five million copies and rallied a desperate nation. In Mein Kampf, Hitler stated that the Aryan

race (Caucasians of pure German descent) wassuperior and should rule over all other races, suchas the Slavs and especially the Jews. The Nazis’hatred and blame of the Jews would create one ofthe most horrifying legacies of World War II—theHolocaust. Hitler’s beliefs became so popularacross Germany that in 1933, he was elected chan-cellor of Germany.

Calling himself “der Führer” (the leader), Hitlerdemanded loyalty from his people, and likeMussolini, punished those who resisted. With aflurry of powerful propaganda and public speeches,Hitler’s popularity and influence over the Germanpopulation escalated. Nazi ideals were taught inschools, children were enrolled in Nazis youthorganizations, and men were forced into the LabourService where they carried out manual work andprepared for the army. Hitler even controlled mediasuch as books, newspapers, radio, and film. In 1933,Hitler withdrew Germany from the League of

Nations. He then directly violated the Treaty ofVersailles by introducing conscription in order torebuild the German army and by sending troopsinto the Rhineland.

Policy of AppeasementBritain’s Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain andother world leaders adopted a policy of appeasementfollowing the Great War. Chamberlain believed thatHitler had good reason to make demands on theLeague of Nations and felt that if the Leagueagreed, Hitler would hold to his promises and theworld could avoid going to war. The British public,who believed that Germany had been ill-treated atthe end of the Great War, supported Chamberlain.

Mackenzie King and Appeasement:Abroad and at Home

Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King backedChamberlain in his policy of appeasement.2 King,like Chamberlain, believed that war could be avoidedby giving in to Hitler and Mussolini’s demands. Forthe most part, Canadians, were not ready to relive theGreat War, and welcomed King’s policies. Much toKing’s dismay, however, when the Spanish Civil warerupted in 1936—a war that pitted communismagainst fascism—sixteen hundred Canadians sup-ported by the Communist Party in Canada, volun-teered to fight. The Mackenzie-Papineau Battalionwas formed and sent to Spain in 1937. Only halfof the men returned.

Behind Prime Minister King’s motives duringthese interwar years, was his desire to keep Canadaunited and to ensure that French Canadians sup-ported his military policies. He had made it clear thatit was up to parliament to decide if Canada would goto war. At an Imperial Conference in May 1937, herefused to make any military commitments to aCommonwealth war until it was absolutely neces-sary. When another world war seemed inevitable,Canadians wondered if the country would be pre-


Hitler promised Germany a return to greatness.

pared to contribute. Foremost on King’s mind wasto escape the mistakes of his predecessor Borden.He wanted to avoid the severe war debt, the highcasualty list, and the civil strife of the First WorldWar. King was determined to commit only a “lim-ited effort” to Britain if the world went to war.After being reelected in 1935, King cautiously putfunds behind the Canadian militia, distributingmore money to the Royal Canadian Air Force(RCAF) and the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN)than to the army. King believed that Canadianswould support the idea of “home defence,” forwhich the RCAF and RCN could be used, and hewanted to avoid alarming the country with a majorinfantry expansion.

After the Imperial Conference in May of 1937,King visited Hitler in Germany. He reported thatHitler was a man of “deep sincerity and a genuinepatriot” and that “there were conditions inGermany itself which accounted for much that hadbeen done there.” In his diary he wrote, “He [Hitler]smiled very pleasantly and indeed had a sort ofappealing and affectionate look in his eyes. My sizingup of the man as I sat and talked with him was thathe is really one who truly loves his fellow man....”3

King remained confident that Canada would nothave to be involved in another world war.

In 1938, the German army marched intoAustria in a forced takeover, or what Hitler referredto as Anschluss—the union of the German peopleof Austria and Germany for a “Greater Germany”.The League again stood idly by. Hitler then turnedto Chamberlain and demanded the Sudetenland, inCzechoslovakia, promising that this would be hislast request. At the Munich Conference, in 1938,in a move later known as the Munich Pact, Germany,Great Britain, France, and Italy relinquished theSudetenland to Hitler without consultingCzechoslovakia or the Soviet Union. Britain andFrance pressured Czechoslovakia to release theland without a fight. At first news of the MunichPact, King sent a message to Chamberlain thankinghim on the behalf of the Canadian people for his

“unremitting efforts for peace.” Hitler had fooledeveryone. In March 1939, he abandoned his promiseand sent his army in to takeover the rest ofCzechoslovakia. Hitler then made it clear that hehad no intention of avoiding war and demandedthat some of the territory of Poland be relin-quished to Germany. Britain and France, finallyrealizing that Hitler could not be stopped throughpeace talks, promised to protect Poland if any mil-itant action were taken against them.

That August, Hitler signed the Nazis-SovietPact—a secret agreement between Hitler and Stalinto expand their Empires and divide up Poland andthe rest of Eastern Europe. The Soviet Unionfeared aggression from the east, and saw Germanyas their only means of avoiding invasion on twoborders. Germany saw the Nazi-Soviet Pact as away to isolate Poland from Britain and France, aswell to avoid having to fight on two fronts. Hitler’splan was to take Poland first, turn attention toFrance and Britain and, ultimately, return to takethe Soviet Union.


Mackenzie King in Nazi Germany.

The Nazi army invaded Poland on September 1,1939, in what was known as a blitzkrieg or light-ening war. The world could no longer stand aside.Two days later Britain and France declared war onGermany, and once again, the world was at war.This time, however, Canada was not automaticallyat war through Britain’s declaration.

Canada Off to WarIn 1939 Canada had a much different relationshipwith Britain than it had had on the eve of the GreatWar. Because of the Statute of Westminster, Canadahad control over its own foreign policy and couldmake an independent decision to support the war.4

King knew that a majority of Canadians still felt astrong allegiance to Britain and were becomingincreasingly concerned about the rise of NaziGermany. He was also all too aware of the anti-war, anti-imperialist sentiments still alive in Quebec.The conscription crisis of the Great War was noteasily forgotten. But Mackenzie King’s skillfulability in the interwar years to evade military com-mitments and his parliamentary pledge of March1939 to avoid conscription, brought a united

Canada into the war. King’s decision to contributea Canadian division to the Allied war effort wasbacked by parliament and, although there was noenthusiasm for war in Quebec, there was also littleresistance. For the most part, French Canada wasagainst the war, but stood behind King. Despitethis feeling of unity, the Canadian Prime Ministerwaited ten days to declare war on Germany toassert the country’s new independence.

This state of harmony did not last long as onSeptember 25, Maurice Duplessis, leader of the UnionNationale and premier of Quebec, dissolved hisprovincial parliament. King immediately saw this as amove by Duplessis to renew his party’s mandate andrun his election campaign on an anti-war platform.Quebec members of parliament, Ernest Lapointe,P. J. A. Cardin, and Charles Power, vowed toresign if Duplessis won. French Canadians fearedthat if they voted for Duplessis, Quebec would lose itsanti-conscription contingent in Ottawa, and it wouldsurely bring about conscription. Crisis was averted asthe liberals were victorious and Adelard Godbout wasmade premier of Quebec. King was ecstatic and hepraised Lapointe, Cardin, and Power for their work,declaring that Lapointe was on par with Laurier.

The Phony War

On September 17, the Nazisinvaded Poland from the westernborder, and the Russians invadedeastern Poland as part of the secretpact between the two countries.Caught between two relentlessforces, Poland surrendered and astrange calm fell over the WesternFront. This quiet period, knownas the Phony War, gave the Alliestime to build up forces and sup-plies. In Canada, the unemployedflocked to enlist. In September1939 alone, over fifty-eight thou-sand Canadian men and women


The first Canadian contigent departing from Halifax.

Historians spend a great deal of time analysing causesand effects. No historian gets very far without answeringthe question, “Why?” Historians gather, organize, andinterpret information to explain the reasons why an eventhappened and what were the consequences of that event.They may investigate an event that has many causes ormany effects, or an event that has many causes and manyeffects, or a chain of causes and effects where the firstevent caused the second, the second caused the third, andso on. Examples of historians’ causal questions include, • What imperial and historical factors caused the

growth of the fur trade in the 1600s? • What were the economic causes of the Great Depression? • What were the political, social, and cultural effects of

Canada’s participation in World War II? • What is the chain of causes and effects that has

resulted in Aboriginal Peoples’ land claims?

Causal Analysis

When you analyse, you try to explain “a subject bydividing it into its parts and showing how the partsrelate to the whole.”1 In causal analysis, a writer tries toshow how causes, effects, or causes and effects relate toan event or a situation. When you are planning a pres-entation on causes and effects, your research questionand your thesis statement should guide you towards themost valid and pertinent evidence. When you are evalu-ating a cause-and-effect discussion in your researchsources, you will want to ask yourself, Is this writer’scausal analysis objective? Is it valid and logical? What isthe writer or speaker’s perspective on the subject? Isthere evidence of bias or stereotyping? Is the chain ofcause and effect logical?

Causal Evidence

Whether you are evaluating the discussions of cause andeffect in your research sources or explaining cause andeffect in your own essays, the evidence should be notonly reliable but also2

• Pertinent: The facts and information should be relevantto the relationship between cause and effect under dis-cussion; the evidence needs to clearly contribute to theconclusion reached.

• Sufficient: There should be enough reliable facts andinformation to justify the conclusion reached; withinreason, all of the possible causes or effects shouldbe considered.

• Representative: The evidence should represent avalid, objective, well-substantiated, and unbiasedselection of causes and effects.

• Plausible: Two events that occur close to each other intime may not have a cause-and-effect link; causal rela-tionships need to be substantiated with likely and reli-able facts and arguments.

Interpretation

An historian’s analysis of cause and effect is an inter-pretation of the evidence. The cause-and-effect relation-ship does not exist in the facts or in the data. The waythat an historian interprets the facts and proposes acause-and-effect relationship can often tell you a greatdeal about his or her perspective. In addition, historiansusually establish some hierarchy of causes; they considersome to be more significant and carry more weight thanothers. The creation of this hierarchy can also show thehistorian’s perspective or frame of reference. Indeed,one of the benefits of comparing different historians’


METHODS OF HISTORICAL INQUIRY

Understanding Cause and Effect

1 Kay L. Stewart, Marian E. Allen, Forms of Writing, 2nd edition, Prentice Hall Canada Inc., 1997, page 43.2 Oliu, Walter E., et al, Writing That Works, 2nd Canadian edition, Nelson Canada, 1994, pages 163-165.

interpretations of causal relationships is that such com-parisons can help you see bias or prejudice in the reason-ing process. Finally, a useful analysis and interpretation ofcauses and effects will often not just tell the reader aboutpast events, but also suggest the likely effects of currentevents on the future.

Using Cause-and-Effect Organizers

Graphic organizers can help you record, organize, andunderstand facts, relationships, and interpretations. Theyare especially useful when trying to see patterns and rela-tionships in complex subjects, such as causal analysis.

Practice

Write a research question on the causes-and-effects ofone event in World War II; for example, the battle ofVimy Ridge, the policy of Appeasement, the Battle ofBritain, or the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshimaand Nagasaki. Use one of the cause-and-effect organizersbelow to track the causes and effects of that event. Thenwrite a paragraph summarizing your interpretation.


Event

Causes Effects

Cause and Effect OrganizersMultiple Causes and Multiple Effects

Event Event Event EventCauses Causes Causes

Chain of Cause and Effect

volunteered for service. On December 10, the 1stCanadian Division of seventy-four hundred menset sail for Britain.

The Phony War ended in April of 1940, whenGermany invaded Denmark and Norway. By May,moving with great speed and force, the Germansswept around France’s major fortifications alongthe border of Germany and France, known as the“Maginot Line”, and invaded the Netherlands andBelgium. Overwhelmed by the German force andstrategy, British officials ordered soldiers located inFrance, including some Canadian troops, to retreatto Dunkirk. In what became known as the Miracleof Dunkirk, 350 000 men were evacuated acrossthe English Channel by over nine hundred boats ofall shapes and sizes. By June 13, the Germans occu-pied Paris and, on June 22, France surrendered.

With the fall of France, Britain looked toCanada for additional support and Canada waspressured to increase its commitment to the wareffort. In response, Mackenzie King sent fourdestroyers, an RCAF squadron, and a second andthird infantry division. A single tank brigade wasalso assembled and would eventually make up the4th and 5th Armoured Divisions. King alsolaunched the National Resources Mobilization Act,allowing the government to conscript men forhome defence. These men, nicknamed “Zombies”,could not be forced to serve beyond Canada. Kingargued, that they could and he hoped, would vol-unteer for overseas service. With the NationalResources Mobilization Act (NRMA), King triedto soothe public paranoia over conscription by rel-egating the troops to home defence. Sixteen thou-sand men were conscripted under the Act, sixtythousand volunteered.

Canada’s BCATP

The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan(BCATP) was arguably one of Canada’s greatestcontributions to the Second World War. Britainknew, from the outset, that it was necessary to

concentrate great resources and energy on buildinga powerful Allied air force; Britain also knew thatit was much too small and too close to the war toundertake large-scale training. On the other hand,Canada was a perfect location for the training pro-gram, as it was far enough away from the enemy,but close enough to Britain to manoeuvre troops.Canada also had the capacity to support the pro-duction of new aircraft, easy access to Americanindustry, and the space to build new schools andtrain crew.

Prime Minister Mackenzie King was initiallyreluctant to welcome Britain’s idea of the BCATP.Canada had already made a commitment to thewar and King made it clear that he wished the pro-posal had been suggested earlier. He was also lessthen enthused that Britain expected Canada tocomply with its demands and that Lord Riverdale,the British delegate, announced Britain’s commit-ment of $140 million as a “free contribution” tothe effort. King wanted it to be clear that it wasCanada who was making the generous contribu-tions and it led him to snap “it was not Canada’swar in the same sense it was Great Britain’s”.However, King accepted the offer, reasoning thatthe BCATP would commit Canadians to an efforton Canadian soil, keeping them far away from thefighting overseas.

The prime minister had a number of condi-tions. Britain would have to declare that theBCATP took priority over all other Canadian con-tributions to the war and that Canadians wouldadminister the plan. The final hurdle was that ofCanadian identity. King demanded that Canadiansserve overseas in separate RCAF squadrons.Riverdale’s response was that requests for RCAFsquadrons would be met “in all circumstances inwhich it is feasible”. The Canadians felt this was aweak response and it was merely a way for Britainto keep Canadians under their control. An alterna-tive agreement was put forward on December 14,stipulating that if Canada could provide the groundcrews, then independent RCAF squadrons would be


formed. King and Riverdale argued for the next threedays over the wording. In a race to announce the pro-posal on December 17, the Canadian prime minister’sbirthday, the question of the Canadianization of theBCATP was never truly resolved.

The British Commonwealth Air Training PlanAgreement was signed on December 17, 1939, byCanada, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. TheAgreement stipulated that Canada would bare theburden of the cost. After the fall of France, RAFcrews were transferred to Canada and trainingbegan, and the first BCATP Aircrew graduated inlate 1940.

The BCATP brought economic prosperity tothe country as a whole and also to the small com-munities that welcomed the training camps. Manycommunities rallied to host a new aerodrome;construction created new jobs, and the influx oftrainees meant business for local merchants.Communities across Canada, in every province,bustled with activity.

Canada’s role in the BCATP was one of itsgreatest contributions to the Second World War.

By the end of the war, Canada had spent $1.6 billionon the BCATP, more than one third of the total cost.The BCATP established 151 schools across Canadaand turned out 131 355 graduates, fifty percent ofwhom were Canadian

Battle of the AtlanticBy the end of the Second World War, Canada boastedthe third largest navy in the world with 471 fightingvessels at its disposal and 99 688 men and 6500women enlisted. During the war, Canadian navyships were found as far away as the Mediterraneanand the Pacific.

As in the First World War, Canada contributedgreatly to the war effort by organizing convoys inits eastern harbours. Convoys provided protectionfor troops and supplies being shipped from Canadato Britain. From the outset of war, German U-Boatsonce again dominated the Atlantic and posed amajor threat to the Allied convoys. In the spring of1940, with control over Norway and France,Germany had unprecedented access to the Atlantic


An artist painted the activities of the British Commonwealth Air

Training Plan in Alberta. Peter Whyte, Control Tower (1944).

The Commonwealth Air Training Plan in 1939, with light craft,

Cornells, used for preliminary training purposes.

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waters. By September, German U-Boats wereattacking in “wolf packs,” large groups of U-Boatsorganized to attack at night. The wolf packs weresinking Allied boats faster than the Allies couldreplace them. In March 1941, British Prime MinisterWinston Churchill declared that “The Battle of theAtlantic” had begun.

In an attempt to counter the U-Boat attacks,Canada embarked on a massive shipbuilding pro-gram. Canada produced a number of new vessels,including the famous corvette, a small, swift boatthat could outrun a German U-Boat. The livingconditions on these vessels were deplorable, as thecorvette was not designed for mid-ocean sailingand, therefore, the crew spent most of their timecrowded and wet.

Although still not officially involved in the war,by September 1941, the United States was active inthe Battle of the Atlantic. While preoccupied on othermissions, the British put an American Commander incharge of the war effort in the Atlantic. Rear-AdmiralL.W. Murray, the Commander of the CanadianNavy, was not even consulted. By December of thatsame year, however, when the U.S. officially joinedthe war, they withdrew many of their boats from the

Atlantic and moved to the Pacific arena. Germanysaw this as a point of weakness and redirected itsefforts to the American coast. The Canadian navy,with two years of experience behind them, was sentto lead the protection of the U.S. coastline.

For the most part, the war remained a distantconflict, however, six enemy U-Boats did manageto enter the St. Lawrence River, coming within 300kilometres of Quebec City. Bringing the war closerto home for Canadians, German U-Boats inCanadian waters sunk three Canadian warshipsand twenty convoy ships. Eventually, panic pro-voked the Canadian government to close the St.Lawrence waterways and troops were ushered into the area. On October 14, 1942, in the worstinshore disaster during the Second World War, aGerman U-Boat destroyed the S.S. Caribou and137 Canadians were killed, many of them womenand children. The Caribou disaster made Canadiansrealize that the war was not just overseas.

Ship construction in Canada began to meet thedemands of the war in the Atlantic by November1942 and Canadians discovered that they couldincrease the number of merchant ships in a convoywithout increasing the number of warships. Extra

warships then had the freedom to helpcombat U-Boat attacks. The British alsoinvented the Merchant Aircraft Carrier, aship that had a landing strip for aircraft,increasing the potential of the air force.Special airborne radar was developed,helping the Allies locate German U-Boats.5

In May 1943, Allied escorts sunk thirty-one enemy U-Boats, forcing Germany tosurrender the Battle of the Atlantic.During the Battle of the Atlantic, Canadaprovided about half the naval escortsneeded. The battle at sea involved the skilland Air Force. Canadians were given creditfor sinking forty-seven U-Boats and twoItalian submarines.


An Atlantic convoy in 1942 assembling at Halifax harbour.


The Battle of BritainWith the fall of France in July 1940, Britain was ina precarious position as the Germans were poisedmenacingly across the English Channel. Hitlerthen ordered the German Luftwaffe (German airforce) to target British airfields and destroy theRAF. Superiority in the air, Hitler reasoned, wouldbe the key to destroying the British Navy. When aGerman aircraft accidentally bombed London andprompted the RAF to retaliate and bomb Berlin,an outraged, Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to con-centrate all of its energy on destroying London.The RAF put up a considerable defence in the dailyraids and the Germans were forced to attack bynight. Hundreds of Canadians fought with theRAF in this crucial battle and by October 1940,the Luftwaffe was defeated.

Canadians in the Air From the Battle of the Atlantic to the Battle of Britainand from Egypt to Asia, Canadian men with theRoyal Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force(RCAF) flew in almost every theatre of war.

By the end of 1940, the first BCATP graduatesarrived in Europe. Most of these men served withthe British RAF, but eventually enough graduatesarrived overseas to form RCAF squadrons, althoughthey were still under British control. Charles G.Power, Minister of National Defence (Air), foughtBritish officials to have his senior Canadian officersserve overseas rather than simply be absorbed intorunning the BCATP. Eventually, there were moreCanadian aircrew prepared then there were RCAFpositions, and in January, 1941, Ottawa announcedthat another twenty-five RCAF squadrons would beformed overseas and those RCAF graduates servingin RAF squadrons would wear Canadian uniforms.Administrative problems continued, however, andPower had to fight for better lines of communi-cation and control over Canadian airman servingin the RAF.

In total, forty-eight RCAF squadrons servedoverseas. No. 6 Bomber Group was formed underRAF Bomber Command in January 1943. Its mainpurpose was to perform night bombing raids overGermany, following the Battle of Britain. These nightraids were particularly dangerous and resulted in theloss of over ten thousand Canadian lives.

King’s plan to keep Canadians from battle byestablishing the BCTAP was ill-fated. Aircraft wereutilized extensively during the Second World Warfor bomb raids and for air support in battle, andcasualties were numerous. Over seventeen thou-sand Canadians with the RCAF lost their lives.

Invasion of Russia

By 1942, the fate of the Allies seemed hopeless, asGermany had taken Norway, Denmark, Holland,Belgium, and France. On June 22, 1941, Hitlerlaunched Operation Barbarossa and sent three

Johnny Canuck—”Canada’s answer to Nazi oppression”

million troops into Russia, betraying the Nazi-Soviet pact. In the first few months, the Germanblitzkrieg on Russia seemed to be working, and theGerman army approached Moscow. But, Russiansoldiers refused to give up and as the brutal Russianwinter set in, Germany could not win a quick vic-tory and was locked into a long cold battle on theEastern Front.

Pearl Harbor

Like Italy, Japan had also fought on the side of theAllies in World War I, but had joined the Germans inthis war. At the end of 1940, Japan launched anambitious plan to take control all economic develop-ment in the Pacific and to dominate Asia, and thatsame year, the U.S. stopped all exports of iron, steel,and military supplies to Japan. OnDecember 7, Japan struck at theheart of the American Pacific fleetand bombed Pearl Harbor bringingthe U.S. into the Second World War.Approximately six hours after theJapanese attack on Pearl Harbour,the Japanese bombed the Kai TakAirport and the camp at Sham ShuiPo, both situated on the Island ofHong Kong where the RoyalCanadian Signals were positioned,fatally wounding two men. Theywere the first Canadians killed in theSecond World War.

The attack on Pearl Harborcaused Canadians to fear a possibleJapanese invasion on the Pacificcoast. The U.S. pushed to have aroad built to Alaska, something thathad been discussed for years; butnow as Canadians feared invasion,it seemed necessary. The AlaskaHighway was constructed between1942–43 from Dawson Creek,British Columbia to Fairbanks,

Alaska, and by the end of 1942, over fifteen thou-sand Americans were in the north, as the Japaneseoccupied the Aleutian Islands just off the coast ofAlaska. The creation of the Alaska Highway madeKing question the possible threat or influence thatthe U.S. might have over Canada. As a precaution,Brigadier W.W. Foster, an army officer, wasassigned as a special commissioner to the projectand was stationed in Edmonton.

Canadians in Hong Kong Despite McNaughton’s continuing effort to keepthe Canadian troops together, in the fall of 1941,two battalions, the Royal Rifles of Canada and theWinnipeg Grenadiers, were sent to help protectHong Kong, a British colony since the nineteenth


After Hong Kong—Canadian POWs in Japanese concentration camp.


century. The Canadians joined two British and twoEast Indian battalions, and endured a short periodof intensive training. It was believed that the rein-forcement of Hong Kong would be enough of adeterrent to convince Japan not to strike againstthe Allies and that the Canadian troops would notsee action. The Canadian battalions arrived inHong Kong on November 16 and were unpre-pared for battle, since both battalions had been ongarrison duty previous to this post.

On December 11, the Winnipeg Grenadiers weresent as reinforcements to the mainland of Hong Kongand saw some action, but quickly retreated back tothe Island. On December 18, Japanese troops arrivedon the beach of the Island of Hong Kong where bothCanadian battalions were positioned. In the ensuingbattle, the Japanese had the advantage of heavyartillery, air coverage, and reinforcements.Nevertheless, both the Canadians and the Japanesesuffered serious casualties and, despite their smallforce and lack of reinforcements, the Canadian,British, and Indian troops held on until December 25.

In the Battle of Hong Kong, 290 Canadianswere killed and 493 were wounded. The soldiers

captured by the Japanese lived out the remainderof the war in prisons, living in appalling condi-tions, suffering abuse, and near starvation. Onehundred and twenty-five men died in Japaneseprison camps and another 1184 men were sent toJapan to carry out hard labour, working indeplorable conditions; 135 of these men died whilestill in Japan.

The Disaster at DieppeIn the spring of 1942, the Allies planned the firstmajor amphibious assault (an attack by water) toreclaim France. The plan involved the Allies attackingthe small coastal town of Dieppe from across theEnglish Channel, in an attempt to penetrate Hitler’sFestung Europa (Fortress Europe). Six thousand andone hundred men, five thousand of whom wereCanadian, were to take part in what was termedOperation Jubilee, a complex battle that involved thearmy, navy and air force working together.

Operation Jubilee was launched in the earlyhours of August 19, 1942 and from the outset, theattack was a complete disaster; only a small party

Canadian troops in a

landing craft alongside a

British destroyer, waiting

to take their Bren-gun car-

riers onto shore for the

Dieppe Raid on the

French Channel coast.


of British Commandos met with some success. The2nd Canadian Infantry Division, under the com-mand of Major-General J.G. Roberts, did notachieve any of its objectives. As the Allies approachedthe eastern sector, a German convoy opened fire,alerting German soldiers. The element of surprisewas lost and those who made it up the beach metGerman infantry strategically placed in the highcliffs above the beach. The tanks of the CalgaryRegiment arrived late on the beach and werestopped short by enemy fire and the steep rockyterrain. Those who made it to the streets of Dieppewere trapped by blockades. In the air, the RAF andRCAF were able to provide some protection forthe ships off the coast, but the battle that ensuedcost the Allies over one hundred aircraft, thirteenof which were Canadian planes.6

As is true in most battles, ordinary menemerged as the heroes on the beaches of Dieppe.Honourable Captain J.W. Foote, a padre with theRoyal Hamilton Light Infantry, stayed on the beachto comfort the wounded, in spite of the barrage ofenemy fire. Lieutenant-Colonel C.C. Merritt of the

South Saskatchewan Regiment led his party acrossthe bridge over the River Scie, walking calmly andbravely into enemy fire. Both men were recognizedfor their heroism with the Victoria Cross, theCommonwealth’s highest military honour.

The Dieppe Raid lasted only nine hours, but inthat time 907 Canadians were killed and 1946were taken prisoner. Only 2211 Allied soldiersmade it back to England.

Looking Back at Dieppe

The official historian of the Second World War,C.P. Stacey noted that in the immediate aftermathof the battle, “There is no doubt whatever that inthe Army it produced a new sense of pride.”7 Areport was released from Canadian headquarterswithin two weeks of the battle, attempting to justifythe battle as a learning experience. Stacey alsonoted, however, that once the effects of the disastersunk in, the public took a different stance, “Athome in Canada....Canadian civilians, particularlythose who had lost relatives, saw only the casualty

Noted Canadian war

artist Charles Comfort

reconstructs the action

at Dieppe. Charles

Comfort, Dieppe

Raid (1946). Die

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lists and the failure.”8 On September 19, afterreading the official account of the Dieppe Raid,Prime Minister Mackenzie King wrote with regret,“I question if the information gained could begin toequal the heavy losses.... It is a very serious blow tothe Canadian forces.”9

Today, Canadian historians still debate the valueof Dieppe. Noted Canadian historian, DesmondMorton argues that loses at Dieppe were not in vainas the raid convinced officials of the resources neededfor future amphibious attacks.10 Pierre Berton,author of Marching as to War takes a differentstance, “Few valuable lessons were learned thatweren’t already known or that couldn’t have beenlearned more cheaply and more easily by othermeans.”11 According to Berton, Dieppe was, “Apolitical excursion billed as a military attack,” one inwhich both British and Canadian politicians and mil-itary leaders deserve some of the blame.12 David J.Berguson in his detailed account of Canada’s militaryrole in WWII argues that Dieppe was the greatest dis-aster of the Second World War and that it shouldhave been avoided.13 Whether one believes Dieppewas needed for future reference or not, it was a bat-tle fraught with tactical errors, and a great tragedy.

The Allies in ItalyIt was a dilemma for Prime Minister MackenzieKing from the outset of war as to how much tocontribute to the war effort. He wanted to avoidcasualties, but he also wanted it to appear that theCanadians had done their part. At the same time, thepublic pressured him to send the troops into battle,while McNaughton fought to save the Canadians fora major assault across the Western Front.

On July 10, 1943, Canadian troops landed onthe southern tip of the Sicily and had a fairly easytime of pushing inland. Short on ammunition andartillery, the Canadians were forced to outma-noeuvre the enemy rather than engage in battle:they perfected a strategy of travelling at night andtaking German soldiers by surprise.14 The Alliesreached Messina, the gateway from Sicily to Italy,on August 16, but the German infantry hadalready escaped to the mainland. The Allies suf-fered twenty-nine thousand casualties in the Battleof Sicily; the Canadians lost 562 men, 1664 werewounded, and 84 taken prisoner. Praise given to theCanadians for their role in Sicily was well earned:they had outsmarted and outflanked German troops.

Canadians at Ortona

Moving to the southern tip of Italy in December, theCanadians took part in the Allied effort to take thevillage of Ortona. Locked in a month-long battle


Web Connection

www.mcgrawhill.ca/links/definingCanadaGo to the Web site above to read first-hand accounts

of World War II shared by Canadian women and men in the armed forces.

The Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in action againstGerman vehicles, on fire in the background, during the inva-sion of Sicily, July 1943.


with German infantry, fighting on foot, from houseto house, they used explosives to blow up the wallsof the buildings and close in on German infantry.

Ortona took on mythic proportions as the pressbuilt up the battle. At home, Canadians heard aboutthe dramatic events unfolding, through the familiarvoice of Matthew Halton, senior war correspondentin Italy with CBC, “The Germans were demons; theCanadians were possessed by demons....”15 TheGerman commander stated that the English sawOrtona “as important as Rome” and, on ChristmasEve, Hitler himself declared that Ortona would beheld at all costs. In the end, the battle at Ortona wasan important victory for the Canadians, but came ata heavy cost: 502 dead and 1837 wounded.

The 5th Armoured Division united with theother Canadian troops in Italy in November 1943.Together, the two divisions stayed on in Italy until thesummer of 1944 and with two divisions operating inItaly, the Canadians could rightfully set up a Corpsheadquarters. They joined the Allies in penetratingthe Gustav Line, a German defence line runningacross Italy, and then the Hitler Line. They helped theAmerican and British troops drive toward Rome,finally capturing the Eternal City on June 4, 1944.

While fighting in Italy that spring, the Canadiantroops missed the first step in the NormandyCampaign, the D-Day landings, back on the WesternFront. Canadians teasingly referred to the Italiancampaign soldiers as “D-Day Dodgers”. A poet forthe 51 Highland Division wrote new lyrics to a pop-ular song at the time:

The Moro and Ortona were taken in our stride,We didn’t really fight there, we went there for

the ride.Sleeping ‘til noon and

playing games,We live in Rome with lots of dames.We are the D-Day Dodgers, in sunny Italy

On our way to Florence, we had a lovely time,We drove a bus from Rimini, right through the

Gothic LineThen to Bologna we did go,We all went swimming in the Po,We are the D-Day Dodgers, in sunny Italy.16

Termed the “soft underbelly of Europe” byWinston Churchill earlier in the war, Italy had provedto be nothing of the sort. The Italian Campaign waslong, arduous and costly. In total, 5764 Canadianslost their lives fighting in Italy.

Lawren P. Harris, an official Canadian war artist, captures the

drama of the Canadians at Ortona. Lawren P. Harris,

Reinforcements Moving up in the Ortona Salient (1946).

Canadian tanks and troop carriers moving up the Liri Valley

after overcoming German opposition, May 1944.

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Canadians in theNormandy Campaign By 1943, the events of the Second World War hadtaken a turn for the better for the Allies. By winter,Russian forces, now fighting against Germany, hadstopped the Nazi Army at Stalingrad and 330 000German troops were killed or captured. In May,Germany and Italy were defeated in North Africaand another 300 000 troops surrendered. ByJuly 10, British, Canadian, and American troopscaptured Sicily.

That same year, the Allies began to plan theirsecond large-scale amphibious attack for the coastof France. On June 6, 1944, Operation Overlordwas launched on the beaches of Normandy. Calledthe “greatest combined operation in history” byCanadian historian Desmond Morton, D-Dayinvolved the collaboration of 130 000 British,American, and Canadian troops, 800 warships and11 000 aircraft.17 Hard-earned lessons of Dieppewere on their side and, this time, the Allies werewell organized and had the advantage of surprise.Fourteen thousand Canadians from the 3rdCanadian Division and 2nd Canadian ArmouredBrigade, assisted by ten thousand men from theRoyal Canadian Navy, were committed to JunoBeach on D-Day. The Canadian infantry coveredmore ground in one day than all of their Alliedcounterparts. One thousand and seventy-fourCanadians were dead, wounded, or missing inone day.18

Once established on the beaches, the Allies stillhad to reach their assigned targets and still facedthe greater challenge of taking France. The Alliesoutnumbered the Germans in Normandy, but the

German army was better equipped and put up avigorous fight. A bitter stalemate followed. TheCanadian army was pulled out of action from mid-June until July 4, but was back in time to take partin a number of important battles. They supportedthe British in taking the city of Caen on July 10and, as a result, suffered over 1194 casualties, 334of which were fatalities. A single Canadian battalion,the Black Watch was almost completely annihi-lated on July 25 in a battle at Verrières Ridge. OnAugust 16, the Canadians played a strategic role intaking Falaise, an important line of retreat for theGermans. It took the Allies over two months fromthe D-Day landings to push the Germans out ofFrance. On August 25, American and French troopsliberated Paris.

On to VictoryIn late March 1945, the 9th Canadian InfantryBrigade, the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion,


Web Connection

www.mcgrawhill.ca/links/definingCanadaGo to the Web site above to find more information on Canadian soldiers in Italy in World War II

Canadiantroops enteringa destroyedcity of Caen,France,July 10, 1944.


and later the 3rd Canadian Division joined theAllies in the assault across the Rhine. German col-lapse was imminent, with the Allies approachingon the Western Front and Soviet troops advancingon the Eastern Front. After the Battle of Rhineland,the remaining Canadian troops arrived on theWestern Front and were given the task of drivingthe Germans out of western and northeasternNetherlands. In April, the Canadians liberated theseareas of the Netherlands, where thousands of Dutchcivilians had died from lack of food. By the timethe Canadians arrived thousands more were nearstarvation, but several days after their liberation,food and supplies were moved into the cities. OnMay 7, Germany officially surrendered and Victoryin Europe Day (VE-Day) was declared. Cheering

crowds around the world celebrated the end ofwar in Europe.

Fighting continued in the Pacific and Japanesetroops refused to admit defeat. Eighty thousandCanadians volunteered to aid in the Pacific, but thewar ended before their help was needed. U.S.President Harry Truman gave Japan an ultimatumto surrender or be destroyed. Japan refused and onAugust 6, the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on thecity of Hiroshima. The effects were devastating;nearly half the city was destroyed and seventythousand people were killed. A second bomb wasdropped on Nagasaki threee days later. On August14, 1945, Japan surrendered and World War Twowas officially over. Few people knew at the timethat much of the research for the A-bomb hadbeen carried out in Canada by British and FrenchScientists, and that Canadian uranium was used inits creation.

Review...Reflect...Respond1. What were the major battles that Canadian

forces participated in during World War II?

2. Of these battles which do you believe was themost significant in shaping Canada’s interna-tional identity?

3. If you had been Prime Minister Mackenzie King,how would you have reacted to the disaster atDieppe?

The Changing Face of theCanadian MilitaryAboriginal Canadians in the Service

At the outbreak of war, the Aboriginal community inCanada responded quickly. Indian Affairs recordedover three thousand Aboriginal Canadians whoserved in the Second World War, although Inuit

Present-day celebration in the Netherlands, thankingCanadians for their liberation.

and Métis were not included in this tally. As RCAFand RCN had entrance restrictions, including edu-cation restrictions and a preference for Canadiansof British decent, the great majority of AboriginalCanadians who did serve did so with the army.Aboriginal men joined for the same reasons asother men across the country, to gain employment,to fight Nazism, and to carry on the tradition oftheir fathers and uncles who served in the FirstWorld War.19

As in the Great War, Aboriginal Canadianheroes emerged from the battlefield. Thomas GeorgePrince, the most decorated Canadian war hero,served with the Royal Canadian Engineers andlater became part of an exclusive battalion, calledthe Devil’s Brigade by the Germans, which took onspecialized reconnaissance and raiding missions.He served in Italy and France spying on Germanpositions. After finding an enemy reserve battalionin Southern France in the summer of 1944, Princewalked seventy kilometres across rugged terrain toreport the location and led the brigade back to theGerman camp, joining in the ensuing battle. Princewas summoned to Buckingham Palace and deco-rated with the Military Medal by King George VI.

Women in the Service

As war waged on, Canadian women were recruitedinto the fighting corps for the first time in history.Over forty-five thousand women joined the newlycreated Women’s Army Corps (CWAC); theAuxiliary Force of the RCAF, later renamed theRoyal Canadian Air Force (Women’s Division);and the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service(Wrens). Another 4518 women served in the medicalcorps. The idea behind the creation of women’s aux-iliaries was for women to “back the attack” or freeup men to take on the more difficult tasks. Knownas “Jill Canucks”, these women were not permittedto fight but were often close to the front lines andunder enemy fire while performing duties. While inthe service, women were reminded to act ladylike,

were not permitted to command other women,and were paid less then their male counterparts. Aswar waged on, women’s pay increased from twothirds of men’s pay to four fifths in some ranks.

The entry of women into the armed forceschallenged the accepted role for women inCanadian society. The war gave women a newsense of equality. “Shoulder to Shoulder” was themotto adopted by the Canadian Women’s ArmyCorps and the title of their official marching song.Many Canadians, men and women alike, fearedthat women’s participation in the services wouldbetray their femininity. Women were supposed tobe nurturers not combatants. “They are stillWomen After all” was the title of L.S.B. Shapiro’sarticle in Saturday Night, September 1942.Written by Canadian war correspondent andfuture novelist, Shapiro argued that women mightcease to be “feminine individuals” if they took onmale roles.20

Public opinion surveys conducted in 1943indicated that few people believed joining the serviceswas the best way that women could support the


A new recruitreceiving ablessing.

war, that women were aware that their familieswould disapprove, and that women actuallyexpected resistance from their families. The sur-veys were followed by an education campaign,including magazine advertisements, recruitmentfilms, radio spots and posters, that tried to dispelthe notion that enlisting would jeopardize femi-ninity. Propaganda stressed that female recruit-ment was an emergency measure, that recruitmentwas temporary, and that women would return totheir previous roles after the war. Efforts were alsotaken to make the uniform attractive. Enlistmentads boasted that the women of the CWAC werethe “best dressed” in the war.21

Canadians on the Home FrontIn 1939, the country was still emerging from theGreat Depression, and was not prepared for a worldwar. Once again, however, the war eventually

brought industrial growth to the country as facto-ries turned out munitions, aircraft, and ships forthe Allied effort. In total, during the SecondWorld War, financial assistance from Canada tothe Allies amounted to over $3 billion. Thousandsof Canadians from coast to coast found employ-ment in these factories.

Women on the Homefront

After the First World War, women had been forcedor urged to leave their wartime jobs in factoriesacross the country. During the Second World War,however, they were once again needed. Propagandawas used to encourage them to join or return tothe work force. As a result, during the SecondWorld War, one million Canadian women workedin jobs outside the home, driving trucks, runningstreetcars as “conductorettes,” and working in con-struction and in munition factories. “Rosie the


The Canadian Women’s

Army Corps, stationed in a

battered German town,

during World War II.


Riveter,” “The Bren-Gun Girl,” and other imagesof women donning their overalls and bandanaswere strong role models for women and it becamepopular for women to wear pants.

In a national selective service broadcast,August 19, 1942, Prime Minister Mackenzie Kingattempted to ease Canadians fears, as women joinedthe work force:

Concern has been expressed as to the effect ofthe employment of women on the welfare of thefamily. That concern is fully shared by the gov-ernment. It must, however, not be forgotten thata total war effort is needed to protect every-thing we hold dear, including the family andfamily life, and that the employment of womenis essential to a total war effort. We have onlyto think of what has happened to family life inenslaved Poland to realize what will happen tothe Canadian family if this war is not won.

In the same speech, King explained that to“safeguard the welfare of the family, day nurseries

for the care of children of working mothers are beingestablished in co-operation with the provincialauthorities in the two large industrial provinces.”Although many exciting new steps were taken aswomen joined the paid labour force, as in the FirstWorld War, women were still paid less for the samework as men and would once again be encouragedto leave when the war was over. In a 1945 Mayfairmagazine article, it was written:

Look Ladies; it’s reconversion time. Tanks andtail guns have vacated the priority list in favourof new refrigerators and nail scissors. We’vewritten two V-Days in the record, and re-estab-lishment, rather than re-armament, is the order.

So how about coming out from behind thosewelder’s masks and swapping your overalls foraprons? The menfolk are returning from over-seas; they will take a very dim view of the situ-ation if they find that you have permanentlymuscled in on their toiling territory... It will be

Woman lathe-tender

working on a gun

barrel at Hamilton,

Ontario, during

World War II.


quite a shock to him to discover that insteadof staying at home and crocheting borders forthe hand towels, his better half is driving astreetcar... Refrain from any act which wouldeven suggest your ability to lift anything heavierthan a dry mop. Make like a lady, not like alady wrestler...22

Nevertheless, important strides toward equalityfor women in the workforce were taken.

Financing the War

Victory Bonds were reintroduced in the SecondWorld War to help pay for Canada’s contributionto the war effort. Canadians bought Victory Bondson the promise that the money would be repaidafter the war at a slightly higher interest rate. TheVictory Bond Campaign was well received by theCanadian public and raised twelve billion dollars.

As Canada turned its attention to the war effort,consumer goods became scarce and there were manymore restrictions on civilians and businesses than

during the First World War. By 1942, the governmentinstituted rationing of goods, giving Canadians equalaccess to food and other consumer products. Takingsteps to control prices, the government punished“Profiteers,” those who tried to sell goods under thetable. They also introduced wage controls, to avoidhaving skilled labourers demand unreasonablesalaries, and a cost of living allowance to maintain aminimum standard of living. Government inter-vention extended to the creation of a WartimeInformation Board controlling war propaganda andcensored radio broadcasting. Civilians could notescape government wartime messaging, from postersto short news clips played in theatres.

A number of social services were introducedduring the Second World War that still exist today.These social changes were introduced partly becauseKing wanted to compete with the rise in popularityof the Cooperative Commonwealth FederationParty (CCF), which fought for the establishment ofsocial services. King established Unemployment

World War II rationing sign in

a store window, Ontario.

Insurance in 1940 and Family Allowance, monthlypayments for families with children under sixteen,in July 1945.

The Conscription Crisis: “NotNecessarily Conscription, ButConscription if Necessary” As the war raged overseas, Prime MinisterMackenzie King became increasingly concernedthat there would not be enough volunteers to

replace those already serving. Like Robert Bordenbefore him, he had made a promise to the Canadianpeople, most significantly to French Canadiansthat he would not resort to conscription. But, onceagain, he was faced with the reality that the warwas not soon coming to an end and that moretroops would be needed. For King, this was perhapshis most critical moment. He had brought Canadiansinto the war united, but conscription would surelytear the country apart.

In 1942, King skillfully turned the conscriptionissue around and put the decision in the hands of theCanadian public, releasing himself from his earlierpledge. King planned a national plebiscite that wouldask Canadians to vote on whether or not they wouldpermit conscription. It would be worded such thatit focused on the “possibility” rather than the imple-mentation of conscription. On April 7 he pleaded:

The restriction upon the power of the govern-ment was necessary at the outset to preservenational unity....You know full well that aforemost aim of my public life has been thepreservation of the unity of Canada. I mustsay that under the changed conditions oftoday, and with Canada’s record in war whathas been over the past two and a half years, Isee no reason why the removal of the restrictionshould weaken our unity. Instead, I believe firmlythat its removal will help to overcome a source ofirritation and disunity within our own country. Itwill, I believe, also help to remove a source ofmisunderstanding in the other countries unitedwith Canada in the common effort to preservefreedom in the world.

La Ligue pour la défense du Canada emergedin Quebec, rallying citizens to vote against con-scription in the plebiscite. La Ligue published amanifesto in January and circulated the leafletthroughout the province. Meetings were held, lit-erature distributed, and memberships sold, and laLigue gained momentum and popularity. For themost part, however, the press in Quebec criticizedla Ligue. Only Le Devoir argued adamantly for itsreaders to vote against conscription.23


Web Connection

www.mcgrawhill.ca/links/definingCanada Go to the Web site above to find out more about

wartime propaganda in Canada.

World War II poster appealing for help at the

home front.


On April 27, 1942, a vote was taken. Themajority of Canadians in every province said yesto the idea of conscription; seventy-three percentof French Canadians said no.24 Once againCanadiens and Canadians were divided.

The results of the plebiscite released King fromhis earlier promises, but the heavy “no” vote inQuebec haunted him. King put the issue aside, anddelayed introducing conscription as long as possible.His promise to parliament of “not necessarily con-scription, but conscription if necessary” summedup his approach.

The draft was not introduced until Novemberof 1944, after the Normandy Campaign, and whenit seemed unavoidable to King. The men of theNational Resources Mobilization Act serving forhome defence were targeted for conscription. Forthe most part, the Canadian public supported Kingand felt that he had kept his promise as best hecould. The men of the NRMA, however, put up afight and many fled from their duties. Of thetwelve thousand NRMA men sent overseas, onlytwenty-five hundred ever reached the battlefield.In the end, the Conscription Crisis of the SecondWorld War could have been avoided.

A National Shame Intense anxieties that result from war can lead torash and ill-conceived decisions. The internment ofJapanese Canadians as well as the rejection ofJewish immigrants during the Second World Warrepresents a dark period of Canadian history.

Canada and the Holocaust

Hitler believed that other ethnic groups were weakand inferior to the Aryan Germans. Much of hisunfounded hate and anger was focused on theJewish people, who he claimed had caused Germany’sproblems, such as the failing economy. In the1930s, German Jews fled Nazi Germany, seekingrefuge in the western world. Frederick Blair, incharge of immigration during Mackenzie King’sadministration, effectively “shut the doors” on Jewishimmigrants. Fewer than five thousand Jewish peo-ple were allowed into Canada during Hitler’sreign, a significantly smaller number than allowedinto the United States. Blair found support for hispolicy with individuals such as Abbé Grouix, aFrench priest, who wrote for Le Devoir and pub-licly aired his anti-Semitic feelings.

An Anti-Conscription

rally—could the crisis

have been avoided?

CHAPTER 18: Canada and World War II M H R 459

WORKING WITH PRIMARY DOCUMENTS

Address on the National Security PlebisciteOn April 7, 1942, Prime Minister Mackenzie King gave

his “not necessarily conscription, but conscription if nec-

essary, “speech to the Canadian public. I wish to speak to you tonight, my fellow Canadians,

on a matter which, at this time of war, is of first impor-tance—of first importance to the present position of ourcountry, and to its future security; and, therefore, of realconcern to the homes and lives of all.

On Monday, the 27th of this month, you will beasked to give the government a free hand in the dis-charge of its duty in carrying on the war.

When those who hold representative and responsiblepositions have given a definite promise to the people,they have created an obligation to act in accordancewith that promise, until the people are again consulted.Such an obligation may not be binding according to law,but as an obligation it is no less sacred.

The pledge from which the present government isasking to be freed is not related to any ordinary day-to-daymatter of policy.…The pledge to which I refer is, as you areall aware, that, as a method of raising men for militaryservice overseas, resort would not be had to conscription…

That promise is a restriction upon the governmenttoday. It is, as I have said, not a legal restriction. It is amoral obligation and I need not add a moral obligationof the most solemn kind. It is equally the one and onlyrestriction upon the exercise by the government of itsfull power.

You ask: why was the restriction ever imposed? Whywas the promise given?…

The pledge not to impose conscription for serviceoverseas was given in order to maintain the unity ofCanada. Without this assurance, I do not believe thatparliament would have given, as it did, prompt andwholehearted approval to Canada’s entry into the war.It was the trust of the people in the pledged word of thegovernment which then maintained our national unity.

…National unity is, I believe, more essential to thesuccess of the war effort of any country than most otherfactors combined…

The restriction upon the power of the governmentwas necessary at the outset to preserve national unity. Ithas helped until recently to maintain national unity. Inthe past few months it has, however, become a matter of

controversy and a threat to unity.…I must say thatunder the changed conditions of today… I see no reasonwhy the removal of the restriction should weaken ourunity. Instead, I believe firmly that its removal will helpto overcome a source of irritation and disunity withinour own country…

I come now to the question: why have the govern-ment and parliament not tackled this question on theirown responsibility without resorting to a plebiscite?

The answer is very simple.…Had the present govern-ment attempted to do such a thing, does anyone imagineit would have been able to retain the confidence of par-liament? For the government to have disregarded itspledged word would, I believe, have helped to destroyfaith, not merely in the government, but in democraticinstitutions….By such an arbitrary act, we might wellhave destroyed the national unity on which our wareffort is founded.

…The truth, of course, is that our army today is justas large as it would have been if conscription for overseasservice had been adopted. The absence of conscriptionfor overseas service has not limited our war effort. Thelack of power to impose such conscription has, however,placed our war effort in a wholly false light before ourown citizens, and, what is worse, before our allies. Inother words, conscription has been made the symbol ofa total effort, regardless of all Canada is doing to helpwin the war.

The issue at present is not conscription; it is whetheror not the government, subject to its responsibility toparliament, is to be free to decide that question itself inthe light of all national considerations. The governmentis not asking you to say whether or not conscriptionshould be adopted. That responsibility the governmentis asking you to leave to itself and to parliament, withentire freedom to decide the question on its merits.

The question of conscription, properly viewed, is amilitary question. The place to discuss it is in parlia-ment….A part of our forces should be kept in Canadato protect us against attack; a part of our forces should besent overseas to help defeat the enemy and thus preventhim from attacking Canada. Both tasks are equallyessential to our safety. Anyone who tells you that onlyone of these tasks is necessary is deceiving you…

WORKING WITH PRIMARY DOCUMENTS

Address on the National Security Plebiscite (continued)

…To a nation, there is one thing even more impor-tant than the preservation of its unity. That is the preser-vation of its existence. To those who, beyond the eventsof today, are able to look into the future, it is no longerthe unity, it is the very existence of our country as a freenation which they see is in danger today. We are nolonger in a world where even the most powerful nationis able, by itself, to save itself from the ambition andgreed of the aggressor nations.…With our immense ter-ritory, great resources and small population, no countrymay come to need the help of the other countries morethan our own. Unless we continue to do all we can tohelp others, we shall have no right to expect them to doall they can to help us…

In the British Commonwealth of Nations, Canadaand South Africa are the only countries not immediatelysubject to attack.…Is anyone so blind as to believe thatalready they have not cast their covetous eyes upon thevast territory and resources of our own Dominion? …One thing is perfectly certain. If the enemy is not kept atbay on the oceans, and defeated beyond the waters ofthe Atlantic and the Pacific, the final battles of the

world conflict will be fought in the waters and upon thesoil of Canada and the United States.

…We cannot defend our country and save our homesand families by waiting at home for the enemy to attackus….But we must also take our full part in the combat,we must go out to meet the enemy before he reaches ourshores; we must, if we can, defeat him before he attacksus, before our cities are laid waste and before thewomen and children of Canada are injured or killed inour streets and our homes.

Here is the strongest of reasons why no excuse shouldremain for anyone to say that because of a restrictionupon the exercise by the government of its full powers,Canada’s war effort is not all it might be. Should the daycome-and it may come soon-when Canada is faced withattack, and we need help from the United States orBritain or any of the United Nations, how would we feelif we thought their governments were restricted in theirpower to aid Canada?…Danger threatens us from theeast and from the west. It is in the face of this peril thatfor the defence of our freedom and of our country, thegovernment asks you to give it a free hand.


Recruiting poster for theRoyal Canadian AirForce in World War II.

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In 1939, those Jewish people remaining inGermany were forced into ghettos and then intoconcentration camps. As Germany took over neigh-bouring countries, Hitler rounded up millions ofJews; some were shot en masse, others were killed ingas chambers, while many were tortured or died ofstarvation in concentration camps. Over the courseof Hitler’s rule, the Nazis killed over six millionJewish people.

The Internment of Japanese Canadians

Racism against Japanese Canadians ran deep onthe west coast of Canada well before the SecondWorld War. One of the major concerns was thatJapanese Canadians were competitive in the labourmarket and were taking jobs from other Canadiansfor smaller wages. In 1907, in Vancouver’s “littleTokyo”, a riot broke out in which windows weresmashed and Japanese civilians terrorized. PrimeMinister Mackenzie King did little to diminish theseracist attitudes, before the war. In fact, he restrictedthe number of Japanese allowed to enter Canada.

After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in1941, Canada declared war on Japan, and fear ofthe enemy escalated, as it had during the FirstWorld War. Pressured by the Canadian public andparliament, Mackenzie King again called up theWar Measures Act and announced that Canadiansof Japanese decent would be forcibly evacuated. BySeptember 1942, over twenty-two thousand Japanesemen, women, and children, were stripped of theirpossessions and herded to relocation camps, mostlyin ghost towns in the B.C. interior. Many were onlygiven twenty-four hours notice to vacate theirhomes before being forced to leave. Homes, busi-nesses, and possessions, were left behind and auc-tioned off by the Canadian government, or liquidatedfor a fraction of their value. The money from theseauctions was used to pay for the operating expensesof the internment camps. Able-bodied men weregenerally separated from their families and sent towork in road camps, and the families that managed

to stay together, were sent to harvest sugar beets inManitoba and Alberta. The conditions of the intern-ment camps were deplorable, and in many cases,the Red Cross had to bring in food.

This abuse did not end with the surrender ofJapan at the end of the Second World War. Kinginsisted that Japanese Canadians be questioned todetermine their “loyalty” to the country and theirpotential to be a threat. As a result of this interro-gation, over four thousand Japanese were forcedto leave the country. Restrictions on JapaneseCanadians lasted almost four years after the end ofthe Second World War, and their civil libertieswere not returned until 1949.

Redressing the Japanese Internment

In the late 1970s, the opening of government doc-uments to the public revealed that both theDepartment of National Defence and the RoyalCanadian Mounted Police believed that Japanese


R.C.N. officer questioning and confiscating a Japanese-Canadian fishing boat off the British Columbia coast, December 9, 1941.

Canadians posed no threat to the security of Canada.It was not until 1988 that the Canadian governmentoffered an official apology and some compensationfor their losses. The landmark settlement includedsuch restitution as:

• A formal apology to Japanese Canadians andacknowledgement of violation of human rights

• Symbolic redress of $21 000 for each JapaneseCanadian who was interned

• The sum of $12 million to the JapaneseCanadian community for educational, social,and cultural activities that promoted the well-being of the Japanese Canadian community andhuman rights

• The sum of $24 million to establish theCanadian Race Relations Foundation to helpeliminate racism

• Canadian citizenship for people of Japanesedescent who had been expelled from Canada orwho had their citizenship revoked during this time

Review...Reflect...Respond1. What benefits did World War II bring to the

homefront in Canada?

2. What did Prime Minister King mean by “not necessarily conscription, but conscription if necessary.”

3. Do you believe the Canadian government’s restitution and apology to the JapaneseCanadians who were interned during WorldWar II was enough? Why or why not?

ConclusionThe Second World War left its mark on the Canadianpeople. At home, the country was pulled out of thedepths of the Depression, and prospered in wartimeproductivity. The BCATP saw the creation of trainingcamps and headquarters across the country and men

from around the world trained on Canadian soil.Canadian women went to work in factories, provingtheir ability in skilled trades and even serving over-seas “shoulder to shoulder” in the armed forces withCanadian men. At the end of the war, public opinionpolling proved that Canadians were confident aboutthe country’s future.

William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canada’swartime prime minister, deserves much of the creditfor Canada’s success and productivity during theSecond World War. He established the beginningsof the Canadian social welfare system and, mostsignificantly, averted a full-blown conscription crisiswith skill. Canada went in to the war united, thanksto King, and came out of the war optimistic aboutthe future.

Overseas, the role of Canada in the SecondWorld War was more diverse than it had been duringthe First World War, with Canadians serving inmany theatres, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.The Canadian force was divided, with small unitsbeing dispersed between Hong Kong, Italy, and theWestern Front. It was not until the end of the war,after the Normandy campaign that the balancewas readdressed and the Canadians fought togetherto liberate Holland.

Undoubtedly, other Allied countries, such asBritain and the U.S., had fought in far greaternumbers than Canada. But Canada had made a con-siderable contribution as a newly independent powerwith a comparatively small population. Momentssuch as the D-Day landings and the liberation of theDutch people were triumphs for the young country.Today, Dutch civilians still celebrate the brave Canadiansoldiers who secured their freedom.

Despite Prime Minister King’s great efforts tolimit the number of casualties, Canada had made acostly contribution: forty-five thousand men andwomen died in the Second World War. Out of a pop-ulation of just ten million, one million Canadianmen and women had served and thousands morewere found in volunteer organizations, on farms andin factories from coast to coast.



Notes1. At the Peace Conference in 1918, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson presented his Fourteen Points,

a peace plan that included the creation of an international peace organization and stipulated thatthere be no revenge against the countries that lost the war. Not all of the Fourteen Points, includingthat about “no revenge”, were incorporated into the final draft of the Treaty of Versailles.

2. Read more about Mackenzie King’s policies during the Second World War in C.P. Stacey’sCanada and the Age of Conflict. (Toronto: 1981.)

3. William Lyon Mackenzie King. The Mackenzie King Diaries, 1893–1949. (Toronto: Universityof Toronto Press, 1973–1980).

4. On December 11, 1931 the Statute of Westminister granted Canada full legislative authoritydomestically and in external affairs.

5. As described in W. A. B. Douglas and Brerton Greenhouse in Out of the Shadows, Canada inthe Second World War, (Toronto: Oxford University Press,1977) pp. 84–85.

6. For a detailed description of the Dieppe Raid see John Mellor, Forgotten Heroes: The Canadiansat Dieppe. (Toronto: Methuen Publications, 1975).

7. C.P. Stacey “The Significance of Dieppe” in C.M Wallace and R.M. Bray, Reappraisals inCanadian History: Post Confederation. (Scarborough: Prentice Hall,1999) p. 435.

8. C.P. Stacey “The Significance of Dieppe” in C.M Wallace and R.M. Bray, Reappraisals inCanadian History: Post Confederation. p. 436.

9. J.W. Pickersgill, The Mackenzie King Record. (Toronto: Unniversity of Toronto Press,1960) p. 417.10. Desmond, A, Morton, Military History of Canada. (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart,1999)

pp. 203–204. 11. Berton, Pierre. Marching as to War. (Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 2001) p. 378. 12. Ibid. p. 37413. David J. Bercuson, Maple Leaf Against the Axis. (Toronto: Stoddart Publishing, 1995) p.73. 14. Ibid. 15. J.L. Granatstein and Desmond Morton, A Nation Forged in Fire. (Toronto: Lester & Orper

Dennys, 1989). 16. Lyrics by Hamish Henderson, as quoted in Terry Copp and Richard Nielsen, No Price Too

High: Canadians in the Second World War (Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Ltd, 1996) p. 144. 17. Desmond Morton. A Military History of Canada. p. 213. 18. For a detailed description and analysis of the D-Day invasion see J.L. Granatstein and Desmond

Morton’s Bloody Victory: Canadians and the D-Day Campaign. (Toronto: Lester Publishing,1994). ID #20941 Credit: H.G. Aikman / National Archives of Canada / PA-116510.

19. Based on article on Veteran Affairs Canada Web site “Native Soldiers Foreign Battlefields” foundat site.

20. As referenced in Ruth Roach Pierson’s “Wartime Jitters Over Femininity” in J.L. Granatstein’s andPeter Neary’s The Good Fight, Canadians and World War II. (Toronto: Copp Clark Ltd., 1995). p. 141.

21. Based on Ruth Roach Pierson’s article “Wartime Jitters Over Femininity” in J.L. Granatstein’sand Peter Neary’s The Good Fight, Canadians and World War II.

22. Mayfair, December 1945, pp. 40–41 as quoted in Jeffrey Keshen and Suzanne Morton, eds., MaterialMemory: Documents in Post-Confederation History (Toronto: Addison Wesley, 1998) p. 239.

23. Jack Granatstein discusses La Ligue pour la defense du Canada and the reaction of the Quebecpapers in his Canada’s War, The Politics of the Mackenzie King Government, 1939–45.(Toronto: University of Toronto Press,1975) pp. 222–228.

24. The results ranged from 69.1 percent to 82.4 percent “yes” in every province except Quebecwhere 27.1 percent voted “yes”. Results taken from “The Dominion Plebiscite Act, 1942” inDave De Brou and Bill Waiser’s Documenting Canada, A History of Modern Canada inDocuments. (Saskatoon: Fifth House Publishing,1992) pp. 388–89.


Knowledge & Understanding1. Identify these people, places, and events, and

explain their historical significance toCanada’s developing culture and identity:

2. World War II diversified Canada’s economy,allowed women to take on greater roles inthe workforce, and saw Canada’s emergenceas a strong military force. Yet it also dividedthe country along French-English lines, it tookaway civil rights of some of its own citizens,and it saw the massacre of thousands ofyoung Canadian men and women. WasWorld War II more of a cost or a benefit toCanadians, Canada, and its position on theworld stage? Create a cost-benefit chart ofCanada’s involvement in World War II.

Thinking & Inquiry3. It is often believed that women’s equality

achieved great strides in World War II, butthen took steps backward when the war ended.In her article “Women in the Labour Force inWorld War II” Ruth Pierson argues that,

…Canada’s war effort, rather than any consid-eration of women’s right to work, determinedthe recruitment of women into the labourforce. The recruitment of women was part of a

large-scale intervention by government in thelabour market to control allocation of labourfor effective prosecution of the war.

If Pierson is correct, did women achieve anygreater equality during World War II, or was ita false equality due to outside circumstances?Write a thesis statement agreeing with oropposing Pierson’s opinion and support it withthree well-written paragraphs using historicalevidence. You may also want to conduct amini debate with a partner in your class.

Application4. As a 26-year-old single woman, you started

working in a munitions factory in 1941 andhave worked your way up to floor managerby 1945. When the war ends, you would liketo keep working, but are feeling pressurefrom friends and the public to quit your jobto free the position for returning soldiers.What would you do? Write a letter to thepresident of your company outlining yourreasons to stay or leave your employment.

Communication5. In both World War I and World War II, the

issue of conscription divided the countrybetween French and English Canadians. Whodo you believe handled the conscription crisisbetter—Borden or King? In a clearly articu-lated essay, state your opinion in a thesisstatement and support it with at least threearguments. Be sure to use historically correctevidence to support your arguments.

Chapter 18 Review

ZombiesBCATP“Jill Canucks”Operation JubileeOperation OverlordDieppeOrtona

NetherlandsLa Ligue pour ladéfense du CanadaCWACThomas GeorgePrince

Research1. The internment of Japanese Canadians during World War II raises many questions

for historians about identity, humanity, and the conduct of countries during wartime.Investigate closely this episode in Canadian history. History books, novels (such asJoy Kogawa’s Obasan) and the Internet can all serve as good sources for yourresearch. Look for information in at least these categories • the sequence of events• the different measures that were taken• the attitudes of people at the time• How did the internment of Japanese Canadians differ from the internment of

Japanese Americans?• How was the internment of Japanese Canadians redressed?

Interpretation and Analysis2. Was there any real threat from Japanese Canadians to the security of their country?

3. Why did many of those interned never return to their homes after the war?

4. How do the dark realities of history such as the Japanese internment shape theCanadian identity?

5. Why did it take over 40 years for the Canadian government to formally apologizeto Japanese Canadians?

Applying and Communicating Your Skills6. Construct a visual essay of the Japanese internment. Show the chronology of events

and the impact on the people and on Canada as a whole. Use quotes, reproductionsof photographs, and your own artwork to illustrate your project.

7. As Prime Minister Mulroney’s Minister of Canadian Heritage, you are to write anddeliver an apology to Japanese Canadians who were interned during World War II.Your speech must include what happened, why it happened, and an apology.Record your speech in front of a video camera, as if giving a news conference. Besure to hand in both your speech and your research notes along with your video toyour teacher.

Unit Five Research Activity
