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so in today's lesson we'll be looking at
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some of the social political and
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economic challenges faced by Canadians
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following World War one even though the
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war was over there was still plenty of
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significant issues that Canadians faced
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as they moved into the nineteen twice in
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this lesson today these are some of the
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issues that we're going to be looking at
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start off by looking at some political
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changes that have been going into the
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1920s we're gonna look at the effects of
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the Spanish flu pandemic we're gonna
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look at issues faced by soldiers as they
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return home from the war and then
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finally we're going to close off by
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looking at labor unrest and the Winnipeg
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general strike
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so following World War one Canada found
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itself with a new prime minister in July
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1920 Prime Minister Borden retired and
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Arthur Mian became the new prime
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minister now me and was appointed leader
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of the Conservative Party he was not
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elected into this position and at the
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time of his transition there were many
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political issues that nyan was faced
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with for one there were so many tensions
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between French and English Canadians
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murder back to the Conscription crisis
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during World War one a lot of those
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tensions are still around going into the
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1920s many French felt alienated from
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the rest of Canada we started to see
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groups form in opposition to English
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Canadian interests groups like the
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action Nationale which was formed to
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protect French culture there was also
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trouble in the Maritime Provinces they
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faced higher taxes on goods there as a
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result trade suffered on this cause mass
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migration to central Canada so we
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started to see the population of the
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Maritime Provinces dwindling the
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prairies also suffered after the war on
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this is because of a collapse in the
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price of wheat that followed the war and
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as a result many other countries could
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not afford to buy Canadian wheat cost
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more and this angered many farmers they
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were outraged by the high tariffs on
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farm equipment and their inability to
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trade their products and as a result a
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new political party was formed called
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the Progressive Party and in the
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election of 1921 they won 65 seats the
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third most in the parliament
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and speaking of the 1921 federal
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election this is when we have a new
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prime minister elected the 1921 II
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Liberal government was elected in this
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meant that the new Prime Minister was
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William Lyon Mackenzie King he would go
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on to be Canada's longest serving Prime
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Minister the following the work
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Canadians were also faced with a deadly
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flu pandemic the Spanish flu pandemic
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lasted from January 1918 to December
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1920 in the Cayman - waves this flu
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pandemic was caused by the h1n1 flu
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virus which is a particularly deadly
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strain of the flu it had been spread
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among soldiers in World War 1 and the
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pandemic was made worse when soldiers
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began to return home now this is a bit
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of a paradox here because in a normal
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flu season there's always these
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different strains of the flu virus going
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around but in a normal year it's
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generally the less severe form that gets
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passed around think of those to get you
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know more sick they tend to be in bed
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they're you know
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unable to get out of bed you know for a
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week or maybe weeks um maybe they have
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to go to the hospital but they're not
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really interacting with lots of other
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people whereas those who get a less
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severe form of the flu they might stay
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home from a date for a day or two from
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work or from school but then they kind
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of go back on with their lives and as a
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result they're passing the strain on to
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others so in a normal year it's those
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who have the less severe form that pass
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on that virus that's the more deadly one
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tends not to get passed on the opposite
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was happening with this flu pandemic
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though and this has to do with the war
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in soldiers and the trenches got the
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less severe form of the flu they're only
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a little bit sick they had you know
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runny nose and a cough and fever
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they were probably gonna be told they
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had to keep fighting because they needed
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soldiers for the war however those who
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got really sick who had a really high
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fever and you know maybe had more severe
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symptoms or complications those are the
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ones who actually got sent home for
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treatment so this is how the flu virus
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got spread around the world that's
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really deadly form and this was a huge
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problem it's estimated around the world
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to have killed between fifty and a
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hundred million people and at that time
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that equates to about three to five
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percent of the world
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population and so on this graph here you
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can see another deadly effect of the
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Spanish flu which was that it killed
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otherwise healthy people so the dotted
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line here on this graft is showing what
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the deaths in a normal flu year look
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like and as you can see here those who
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are most likely to die are those who are
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very young and those who are very old
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however in 1918 the solid line here with
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the Spanish flu we see this bump up in
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otherwise healthy individuals those in
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their middle eh are about 15 years old
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up to about those in their mid 40s we
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also see a spike in flu deaths there so
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otherwise healthy individuals this flu
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virus attacked their immune systems and
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made it work against themselves so
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otherwise healthy people are getting
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killed by this food virus it's not just
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the young and the old and as you can
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imagine this had a huge impact on
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Canadians it's estimated to have killed
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at least 50,000 Canadians and this is
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significant because this is about as
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many people as were killed in World War
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one so right after the war war is over
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but then just as many Canadians get
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killed by this flu virus and combined
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with the wars death toll a huge social
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and economic impact so think of the fact
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that families don't have someone to go
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work for them either because you know
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their loved ones have been killed in the
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war or if they had survived the war or
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maybe those who didn't go off to fight
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they may have been affected by this flu
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virus
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this caused local governments to shut
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down non-essential services so things
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such as theaters places where people are
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meeting in public
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those were getting shut down to try to
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avoid spreading the virus people were
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encouraged to wear breathing masks
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people were encouraged not to shake
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hands in public and we saw other events
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canceled because of this as well the
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1919 Stanley Cup was canceled as a
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result of this flu pandemic after a
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Montreal player Joe Hall he died of the
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flu other members of the teams that were
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playing was Montreal versus Seattle in
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the 1919 Stanley Cup there were members
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of both teams that were infected with
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the flu virus and then once Joe Hall
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died
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decided to call off the rest of the
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series and so here in these pictures we
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can see how society had to deal with
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this virus in a variety of ways so
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arenas and auditoriums they were turned
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into makeshift hospitals as hospitals
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could not handle the influx of patients
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who'd have these public areas which were
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just turned into these contemporary
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hospitals to try to treat the patients
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you can see you know people don't have
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their own rooms they're all just kind of
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spread out in these open spaces people
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who are masks in public to try to avoid
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breathing in the flu virus and people
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had to deal with the dead somehow so
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this picture is of a mass grave that was
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made for victims in Newfoundland again
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you have all these people dying at once
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you need to do something with their
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bodies Society also had to deal with the
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influx of soldiers returning home from
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the war the end of the war soldiers
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returned home to find many challenges
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many had little formal education or
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skills training ah coming out of the war
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about 70,000 had been injured or
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disabled and the government needed to do
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something about them
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or they could become jobless
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unemployable or homeless so how did the
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government respond to this one thing
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they did was set up vocational schools
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so that veterans could receive jobs
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specific training the government passed
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the soldier settlement Act of 1919 which
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provided veterans who wanted to become
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farmers with land grants pensions began
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to be paid to veterans as well as widows
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and children of deceased soldiers now
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although these efforts helped many
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veterans found it difficult to maintain
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a job as many were forced to deal with
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chronic financial and physical issues as
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well as the effects of mental health
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issues such as a post-traumatic stress
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disorder and finally there was also lots
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of labor unrest from workers following
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the war after the war many people became
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frustrated with their working
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issues during the war businesses were
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making large profits but wages for
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workers remains low and did not keep up
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with the inflation caused by the war's
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end when soldiers returned home they
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found that their jobs were gone and as a
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result many remained unemployed or
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forced to work for much less money and
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these issues kind of climaxed with the
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Winnipeg general strike it began on May
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15 1919 when almost all of Winnipeg's
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workers went on strike and these
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strikers came from a variety of fields
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those working in factories those working
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in office jobs that came from a wide
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variety of places of public life and the
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goals of the strike were to have higher
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wages and the establishment of
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collective bargaining rights and one of
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the leaders of the strike you can see in
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the left hand corner here is a man j/s
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Woodsworth
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who goes on to found the CCF which later
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becomes the NDP that we know today
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now the government was opposed to the
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strike and many were fearful that it
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could become violent if you remember
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back to 1917 the Russian Revolution
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happened and very similar sentiments
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were had were sort of going on in Russia
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so they had the this labor unrest and
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that was one of the things that helped
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lead to the overthrow their government
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and the establishment of a communist
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state so the government of canada was
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fearful that the strike was started by a
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foreign conspiracy that those in russia
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were perhaps trying to spread their
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ideas to canada that this was part of a
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communist plot so fearing the worst the
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government acted to end the strike by
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any means necessary
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and on june 17th the strike leaders were
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arrested on June 21st the RCMP was sent
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to break up a crowd of about 25,000
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protesters in what was being known as
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Bloody Sunday so the strike was put down
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and despite the fact that you know all
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these workers issues were brought to the
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forefront not many changes we're seeing
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immediately but this is again an
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important step in terms of starting to
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see labor rights become an important
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issue in Kent and as the decades went on
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this is when we start to see movement
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around issues such as a minimum wage or
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reducing the number of work hours a week
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the labor movement become
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much stronger following the Winnipeg
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general strike even if those goals were
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on accomplished immediately afterwards
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so in summary canyon society under what
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many changes following World War one
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Arthur Mian became Prime Minister
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following Borden's retirement but he was
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unable to hold on to power as he lost
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the following election to William Lyon
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Mackenzie King the Spanish flu pandemic
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spread around the world and killed but
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50,000 Canadians as soldiers returned
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home they faced many challenges
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including a lack of education jobs and
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supports and labor groups were unhappy
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with working conditions across Canada
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culminating with the Winnipeg general
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strike
