Introduction

In the previous learning activity, we got to the end of the First World War and explored how life at home changed. In this learning activity, we’ll learn about the “Roaring Twenties”. 1920-1929 was a decade that roared with a booming economy, new inventions, progress in women’s rights, and a vibrant arts scene.

During this decade, Canada became increasingly independent from Britain.

The prohibition of alcohol was also introduced and was instigated mostly by the temperance movement.

Canada had to shift from a full production war economy to a more balanced peacetime, supply-and-demand economy. At first, this caused a slump in the economy, until business activity levelled itself, allowing the economy to regain its balance. Economic development could be examined through the following bullet points:

• Business activity started to improve.
• Discussions about fair wages, social responsibility, and democracy for everyone began.
• Farm co-operatives were formed.
• The economy began to shift from a rural, agricultural base to an urban, manufacturing base.

Economic growth in the United States continued to speed up throughout the 1920s, and Canada’s economy followed along. The positive trend affected regions which relied on manufacturing and production. Agricultural and resource-based industries did well as long as production was good and demand was high. However, many of the resources used to fuel manufacturing, agricultural, and mining growth came at the cost of Indigenous treaties and land claims.

The positive energy and excitement of the time provided an excellent platform for the development of women’s rights. The entertainment and leisure industries also transformed and expanded greatly in the 1920s, including popular movies, art, and music.

Prohibition was also a significant, but temporary, change. The federal government passed a law that made it illegal to produce or buy alcohol in Canada.

Canada’s changing economy

The 1920s witnessed many changes to the lives of Canadians. The following are a few other revealing facts about the 1920s:

• In 1920, one family in four had a telephone; by 1929, two out of four families had one.
• In 1921, 55 percent of Canadians lived outside cities; by 1929, over half lived in cities.
• In 1919, there were about 100 golf courses in Canada; by 1925, there were 292.

Source: Freeman-Shaw E. & Haskings-Winner J. (2008). Canadian sources: Investigated: 1914 to The Present. Emond Montgomery Publications.

What do these facts show about how life was changing in Canada?

Although called the “Roaring Twenties,” 1920-1924 witnessed a weaker economy in Canada.

After the war, exports from Canada to the United States were lower than they had been because of the United States’ tariffs. Similarly, in the early 20s, the Western provinces suffered a severe drought that hurt farmers.

However, by 1924, the 20s began to roar with economic growth. The drought in the west had ended, trade barriers with the United States had fallen and investment in the Canadian economy had started to grow.

With the demands of the war, industrialization accelerated. Steel and munitions production and manufacturing grew rapidly. Women had become an integral part of the workforce during the war. Throughout WWI, the country had depended on the labour of women to keep production levels high to support Canadian and Allied demands for food, clothing, and weapons. After the war, women weren’t always happy to lose their current jobs and be expected to return to their previous domestic roles. Women began to demand more social recognition, fought for their rights as individuals, and eventually convinced governments to give them the right to vote.

When the war ended, the return of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and the simultaneous shutdown of war-related factories led to job shortages. The wages remained low compared to increasing prices, and this soon led to worker discontent.

On the other side of the issue, industry leaders and the government opposed the labour movement and were fearful of the spread of socialist ideas. These opposing positions resulted in widespread social unrest. A wave of strikes and labour disruptions shook the country in the years following the war. As we have explored in a previous learning activity, some of them turned violent.

On top of all this, the country had gone into debt to contribute to the war effort, and the debt had to be repaid. Income tax, introduced as a temporary measure to help pay for the war, became a permanent feature of Canadian society.

There were many changes, positive and otherwise, to deal with in the years after the First World War.

Technology and invention

Technology and invention changed life in Canada in the 1920s and beyond. We’ll analyze some inventions of the 1920s using the concept of continuity and change to examine which inventions had lasting impacts.

Inventions of the 1920s

Radio

Edward (Ted) Samuel Rogers invented the battery-less radio/AC tube in 1923.

Today, “Rogers Communications remains a Canadian icon in the telecommunications industry to this day.”

Source:

Freeman-Shaw E. & Haskings-Winner J. (2008). Canadian sources: Investigated: 1914 to The Present. Emond Montgomery Publications.

Who used radios?

Families bought radios for entertainment and information. The whole family gathered around the radio at night to listen to favourite programs such as The Happy Gang and Hockey Night in Canada, as well as the news.

Impact of the invention

Buying a radio had a huge impact in the 1920s. Listening to the radio brought people together and gave them something fun to do. It also provided a source of news more current and direct than any medium had before. This was a unifying influence in communities.

Rate the degree of change using the scale, from 1 (no change) to 4 (complete change):

4 Complete change (no continuity)

Justification for rating:

When it first came out on the market, the radio brought a complete and lasting change. It was one of the first forms of entertainment that came into the home from outside, and it opened the way for other forms of entertainment, like television and movies. Radio is used differently today. People don't usually buy radios unless they are part of something (like a car or an alarm clock), but still, I think it was a complete and lasting change because the purpose it served – providing entertainment and news – is still popular.

Snowmobile

In 1922, Joseph Armand Bombardier made the first-ever snow machine. This invention helped Canadians who lived in snowy climates travel in winter. Bombardier perfected this invention after losing his young son, who he could not get to the hospital due to snowy, impassable roads.

Who used snowmobiles?

People who used snowmobiles included:

• medical personnel
• the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
• people in northern communities

Impact of the invention

The snowmobile allowed people in remote areas of the country to travel and have improved access to services. Prior to this, transportation over snow had been exceptionally difficult.

Return to your notebook! Rate the degree of change and justify your rating.

The variable pitch propeller

In 1922, Wallace Turnbull invented the variable pitch propeller. Before his invention, “planes could only fly in one gear. This meant that the gear was always set for takeoff.” If the plane had a larger load, it could not get off the ground, so Turnbull’s invention also allowed planes to carry large loads.

Source:

Coyler, Jill. Canadian Sources Investigated. Toronto: Emond Montgomery, 2010. 43.

Who used variable pitch propellers?

The military used Turnbull’s invention. It was said that his invention “made [the] air-transport industry possible.”

Source: Coyler, Jill. Canadian Sources Investigated. Toronto: Emond Montgomery, 2010. 43.

Impact of the invention

The propeller had a huge impact on air travel, allowing for safer speeds, increased power for takeoffs, and better efficiency for long distances. People could fly more reliably, more safely, and for longer periods.

Return to your notebook! Rate the degree of change and justify your rating.

Insulin

In 1921, Dr. Frederick Banting and his colleague Dr. Charles Best, discovered insulin as a treatment that helps control diabetes because it lowers blood sugar. The doctors tested their invention on dogs, one of which is in the following picture.

Who used insulin?

Diabetics use insulin to control the symptoms of diabetes.

Impact of the invention

The impact of insulin is immeasurable. The first life it saved was that of a 14-year-old boy who was dying at the Toronto General Hospital. Millions of diabetics around the world now use insulin regularly. It allows diabetics to live long, normal lives. Before insulin, diabetics often died young of heart attacks or strokes, or suffered from blindness, amputation of limbs which became infected, and kidney failure.

Return to your notebook! Rate the degree of change, and justify your rating.

What about women?

The First World War and the 1920s changed the role of women in Canada and in other Western countries. Women made lasting progress toward social equality during that decade. While it is undeniable that improvements were made, did social and technological progress change the everyday lives of women in a tangible, dramatic way? In this topic, you will conduct some research to form your own opinion about the changing conditions of women’s lives.

Some say that the 1920s really “roared” for women in Canada. It will be up to you to agree with or to challenge that statement.

To prove or disprove that statement, you will need to conduct some research to find evidence.

You will have to review a variety of sources, both primary and secondary, which are reliable and accurate. You’ll then review the information they provide and select relevant evidence to support your position. Finally, you’ll organize the evidence so it’s easily understood.

As a method of research, you’ll use the inquiry process, which proceeds as follows:

• Develop your research question and record it.
• Write a position statement based on your research question. This is the statement you will prove through research.
• Select sources that contain accurate and trustworthy information, include a variety of viewpoints, and include both primary and secondary perspectives.
• Review the information in your sources for specific, relevant evidence that helps prove your position statement.
• When you find useful evidence, record it. Use your own words to paraphrase the content or select relevant quotations from the source that encapsulate the evidence you need.
• Document the source; that is, record the reference information for the source you used. Keeping a record of the source is necessary to identify and acknowledge the originator.
• Organize your evidence/information so the key points you have gathered stand out and support your position statement.
• Summarize your findings.

Now you’ll use an example to learn the steps to the research and inquiry process.

Source 1: Status of Women

Refer to the following excerpt and find evidence that describes what happened to women in the workplace after World War I was over.

The following is an excerpt from an article from The Canadian Encyclopedia, titled Status of Women (Opens in a new tab). This is a secondary source from a reliable website.

Evidence

For this first example, the evidence has been extracted from the source for you. In subsequent readings, you’ll have to identify and record the evidence from the source yourself. You’ll either paraphrase the source (rewrite in your own words to make it simpler) to state your evidence or use a direct quotation from the source.

You’ll also have to keep a record of the source of this evidence.

In the article that you have just reviewed, what evidence describes what happened to women in the workplace after World War I was over?

Your answer should include the following:

In the years immediately after the war, a lot of women lost their jobs. In the 1920s however, women gained access to new professions, such as social and library work, and even physiotherapy; the majority of positions were still clerical and domestic, “but for the first time in the century the percentage of women working as domestics fell below 20%.” Women also started going to university and, by 1930, women represented 35 percent of all undergraduates.

You’ve just examined how to use a reliable source to find evidence that can support a position statement.

You will also have to cite your source as follows:

Source: Anderson, D. (2014). Status of Women. In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/status-of-women/

Source 2: Flappers

The second source is an article from Encyclopedia.com titled Flappers. According to the excerpt, what made the flapper style unique?

The common perception of the flapper had as much to do with behavior as it did with appearance. Flappers displayed a carefree disregard for authority and morality. They drank heavily in defiance of Prohibition, smoked, embraced new shocking dances like the Charleston, the Shimmy, and the Black Bottom, used slang, drove fast, and freely took lovers and jobs. Posture and motion were important elements of the flapper persona. The fast, jerky motions characterized by these popular dances emphasized bare arms, backs, and legs. The posture of the flapper was an affected "debutante slouch," often with hand on hip.

Source:

Flappers. Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion. Retrieved August 25, 2022 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/fashion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/flappers-0

Evidence

Since the term “flappers” describes a new style of woman that shocked the more conservative sensibilities of the time, what does the emergence of such a style in the 1920s tell you about the changing roles of women and how they were perceived at the time?

Source 3: The Person’s Case

The following is the final source suggested for this research. It is an article from the website of the University of Calgary, titled The Person’s Case (1929) (Opens in a new tab).

As you examine the source, try to find evidence about what these five women achieved. It is also worth considering that the Persons Case only included some women. At first, the right to vote was limited to white, Christian women. First Nations women did not receive the right to vote until 1960, and members of the Famous Five were also advocates of many racist beliefs and practices.

Evidence

What did the Famous Five – Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, Emily Murphy, and Irene Parlby – achieve for Canadian women through the Persons Case? Were any women left behind?

Draw your own conclusions

You have just explored three sources. What questions remain? What topics still need to be explored before best weighing your evidence?

It can be challenging to draw conclusions from evidence when studying history. Sometimes you use reliable sources and find evidence that is all true, but one source can contradict another. What do you do with contradictory facts?

The answer is that you weigh the evidence and come up with what you think is the best, most balanced interpretation that you can.

Indigenous Peoples in the 1920s

The First World War and its aftermath ushered in a harsh and punishing period of reaction against Indigenous Peoples. Beginning in 1920, the Canadian government began forcibly enfranchising First Nations people. Enfranchisement is a process that took away Indigenous Peoples’ Indian status under the Indian Act. According to the Act, a person who is a Status Indian has specific rights and benefits. Enfranchisement was the abandonment of Indigenous identity to merge with the non-Indigenous majority. There were very few cases of voluntary enfranchisement, and the law to force enfranchisement failed.

First Nations communities continued to resist the restrictions of the Indian Act by creating the Allied Tribes of British Columbia after WWI. Their focus was on the issue of land claims in Western Canada. Other organizations, such as the Nisga’s Land Committee and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, also organized to push back against the government.

Deskaheh, chief and speaker of the Six Nations Hereditary Council, travelled to the League of Nations in 1923 so the Six Nations could have international recognition. Though unsuccessful at the time, the hereditary council still exists today.

In 1927, the government introduced a new section to the Indian Act, making it illegal to raise money to make claims against the government. This meant groups like the Allied Tribes of British Columbia would not be allowed to raise money to combat the government’s violation of First Nations land rights, and that First Nations could not legally advocate for themselves. This section of the Indian Act was removed in 1951.

What was prohibition?

Prohibition was the legal act that made the manufacture, transportation, sale, purchase, and consumption of alcohol illegal. To understand the causes and consequences, it helps to use the historical thinking concept of historical perspective.

[Having] “historical perspective means attempting to see through the eyes of people who lived in times and circumstances sometimes far removed from our present-day lives.” It’s also important to note that there can be an “ocean of difference…between current worldviews (beliefs, values, and motivations) and those of earlier periods in history.” *

Although prohibition had many fans, not everybody supported it. The following reading titled “Prohibition – 'Wet' Voices” lists a few alternative opinions from those known as “wet” voices – those who believed that alcohol should not be illegal. This article makes reference to the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), a religious organization that was devoted to the temperance movement.

In the end, the Canadian government gave provincial governments the authority to decide on prohibition for themselves. Prohibition did not last long in any province/territory of Canada except PEI, where it lasted 47 years. Quebec’s prohibition, by contrast, lasted less than one full year! Refer to the following table that lists the duration of the prohibition for each province/territory in Canada.

Province/territory	Provincial prohibition enacted	Repealed
British Columbia	1917	1921
Alberta	1916	1924
Saskatchewan	1917	1925
Manitoba	1916	1921
Ontario	1916	1927
Quebec	1919	1919
New Brunswick	1917	1927
Nova Scotia	1921	1929
PEI	1901	1948
Yukon	1918	1920
Newfoundland (not part of Canada until 1949)	1917	1924

While prohibition was in effect, it spawned an entirely new sort of “job” for some Canadians: bootlegging. Bootleggers, also known as “rum runners”, made and/or sold alcohol. Sometimes they sold the alcohol within Canada, but mostly they sold it to the United States.

Arts, entertainment, and leisure

The twenties did “roar” in the arts and entertainment industry. Because the economy was booming, some Canadians had money to spend on luxuries such as entertainment. In the following section, we will explore some of the new art, entertainment, and leisure activities that were popular in the 1920s.

Conclusion

The 1920s are sometimes referred to as the “Roaring Twenties” because the economic prosperity of the period led to the emergence of many technological innovations and new forms of entertainment. The status of women also vastly improved. Women were legally ruled to be persons and thereby acquired the right to be appointed to the Senate; they also got the right to vote and to get a divorce on the same grounds as a man. However, these new rights were still not accessible to all women; Indigenous Peoples would still have years to wait until they were given the right to vote. New work and career avenues opened for women, and they started attending university in greater numbers. During the 1920s, Canadian women took a bold step toward more independence and a stronger sense of self and confidence.

Most women did not experience a significant improvement in political or economic opportunity. Broadly, women continued to be paid less than men and, despite the famous “flapper” image, many women were restricted by old standards of behaviour. Furthermore, not all women experienced the improvements that came in this decade. In the 1920s, improvements for women were unequal along racial lines.

Prohibition came about after decades of work by temperance workers (who promoted temperance, abstinence, and prohibition), many of whom were women. In the end, prohibition didn’t last long enough to have an enduring effect, but it did allow and motivate women to voice their opinions and get involved in political causes.

The 1920s were packed with change – increased industrialization and urbanization, the growth of mass entertainment and sports, and other social and cultural changes; but this was also a decade of struggle, and not everyone enjoyed “boom” times.

You will soon work on your first assessment for this course to be submitted for a grade and feedback. Using your skills in research and paragraph writing, you will evaluate the contributions of a significant figure or event and its impact on Canadian culture.