Canadian People and events: 1920s & 1930s

1.- Agnes McPhail

·         The first woman who sit as a member of Parliament (1921) and the only until 1935.

·         She dealt with every kind of gender discrimination

·         Macphail advocated an organized national welfare system, including unemployment insurance and old-age pensions

·         She was a peace supporter and spoke out in favour of equal rights for women, equal pay, financial support for deserted wives, divorce, day care...

2.- R.B. Bennett

·         He was the Prime Minister during the worst years of the Great Depression.

·         He believed that if he could help businesses survive and grow, they would provide jobs.

·         Bennet created Relief Camps for the transients.

·         He made a speech known as his "New Deal" trying to win 1935 elections.

·         He stopped the On-to-Ottawa trek with the mounted police. Because of that he lost the next elections.

3.- Statue of Westminster

·         The Statue of Westminster gave Canada and other British Commonwealth countries complete control over their relations with other nations.

·         Canada was an autonomous community equal in status to Britain.

·         However some direct political links remained between Britain.

4.- CCF

·         It stands for "Co-operative Commonwealth Federation".

·         It was a union in 1932 between the remaining Progressives and farm groups.

·         It was created to alleviate the suffering of the Great Depression through economic reform and public co-operative.

·         They thought co-operatives should be used on a wider scale to benefit all citizens.

·         They wanted governments to provide water, hydro-electricity, transportation and banking at a reasonable price.

·         The CCF did not form a government  but it was the number two party.

·         CCF forced Ottawa to consider the need for reform.

5.- Social Credit

·         It was a political party created in 1934.

·         In 1935 it won the Alberta provincial election. 56 of the 63 seats were for them.

·         William Aberhat  theory was that Canada had plenty of goods for sale but not  enough money to buy. He proposed the government give out "social credits".

·         The party stayed in power in Alberta until 1971.

6.- Person's Case

·         It is a constitutional case which Canada decided that women were eligible to sit in the Canadian Senate.

·         The Famous Five led the challenge and finally women were treated as “persons”.

7.- Bennett's New Deal

·         It is a speech that Bennet made to win 1935 elections. Actually, he did not win.

·         The speech promise laws to regulate hours of work, minimum wage, to improve work conditions and to provide insurance against sickness, accidents and unemployment.

·         The speech said that it was the end of laissez-faire.

8.- "Black Tuesday"

·         Tuesday, October 29, 1929.

·         Stock holders finally decided that the stocks were overvalued.

·         Panic selling took over and banks were unable to recover their depositors' money.

·         Black Tuesday was the beginning of the Great Depression.

9.- Winnipeg General Strike

·         Most influential strike in Canada.

·         It took six weeks.

·         Main causes: high unemployment, bad work conditions and there were not labour regulations.

·         30,000 workers went on strike, unionized and non-unionized.

·         End of strike: "Bloody Saturday" and some workers jailed, deported and failed off.

10.- Prohibition

·         It was an attempt to forbid by law the selling and drinking  of intoxicating beverages.

·         Bootlegging

·         Al Capone was one of the biggest member of organized crime during prohibition.

11.- On-to-Ottawa Trek

·         It was a trek that unemployment men from the Relief camps did to Ottawa, when Bennet tried to capture public interest with his New Deal.

·         Try to demand work with wages.

·         Bennet had no sympathy and ordered the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to turn them back.

·         Bennett’s decision to make use of the police helped King Mackenzie to win next elections.

12.-Dust Bol

·         It was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands in the 1930s.

·         The hardest times were in 1934 and 1936.

·         The phenomenon was caused by severe drought.

13.- Dionne Quintuplets

·         They are the first quintuplets known to survive their infancy.

·         All of them were girls.

·         The Dionne girls were born two months premature.

·         The government and those around them began to profit by making them a significant tourist attraction in Ontario.

14.- Chanak Affair

·         Britain had left some troops in Dardenelles to keep it.

·         Turkish forces attacked the Britain army. Britain asked Canada for help.

·         Mackenzie King wanted independence, so he did not want to help. He informed British Prime Minister that he had to consult with the Parliament.

By the time the issue had been debated , the threat had passe