Introduction Canada Declares War

On the clear, balmy Sunday of Labour Day week¬end in 1939, Mary Peate was walking home fromchurch. There were rumours of war, but the

Montreal neighbourhood where she lived hadnever looked more peaceful. At home, she joinedher family for lunch in the dining room. Everyoneate half-heartedly while listening to a special radiobroadcast from London, England. King GeorgeVI was speaking:

For the second time in the lives of most of us, we

are at war. Over and over again, we have tried to

find a peaceful way out of the differences betweenourselves and those who are now our enemies;

but it has been in vain.

We have been forced into a conflict, for we

are called, with our allies, to meet the challenge of

a principle which, if it were to prevail, would befatal to any civilized order in the world.

Once again, the world was on the brink ofwar. What would war mean to Mary and her fam¬ily? How would Canadians respond to the mes¬sage issued by the King? In this chapter, you willlearn about the events of World War II and thecontributions made by hundreds of thousands ofCanadians during its course.

In 1938, British Prime Minister NevilleChamberlain optimistically announced to theworld that he had managed to secure "peace forour time" with the Munich Agreement. This agree¬ment let Hitler take over part of Czechoslovakia onthe promise that he would cease his aggression. InMarch 1939, however, Hitler ignored the termsof the agreement, and his troops marched throughthe rest of Czechoslovakia. War seemed inevitable.

In May, Britain's King George VI and QueenElizabeth visited Canada, the first time a reign¬ing monarch had ever visited this country. Thepurpose of their visit was to rally support forBritain in these tense times. Crowds of cheeringCanadians did just that, lining the streets whereverthe royal couple appeared across the country.When the King and Queen left Halifax on June15, they could be satisfied that the bonds offriendship between Canada and the former"mother country" remained very strong.

But Prime Minister Mackenzie King did notwant Canada to become involved in another worldconflict. He had desperately hoped that Britain'spolicy of appeasement towards Hitler would besuccessful. The scars of World War I, fought lessthan twenty-five years earlier, were still fresh for

Figure 5-1 King George VIand Queen Elizabeth on

their visit to Canada in May1939.

Chapter 5 Canada and World War II 101

The World at War

1939

• September 1: Germany invades Poland.

C Septembers: Britain and France declare war onGermany.

• September 10: Canada declares war on Germany.

1940

• April: Germany invades Denmark and Norway.

C May: Germany invades Netherlands, Belgium,Luxembourg, and France.

9 May-June: Evacuation of Dunkirk.

• June: National Resource Mobilization Act allowsconscription of Canadians for home defence.

t June 22: France surrenders to Flitler.

9 July: German air force begins bombing Britain("the Battle of Britain").

1940-1944

9 Battle of the Atlantic is fought.

1941

9 June 22: Germany invades USSR.

9 December?: Japan bombs Pearl Flarbour.

9 December 8: United States declares war on Japan.

• December 25; Canadian soldiers defeated in Japan'sinvasion of Hong Kong.

1942

9 February: Japanese-Canadians sent to internmentcamps.

9 April: Canadians vote in plebiscite to supportconscription,

# August: Raid on French port of Dieppe by Canadianand other Allied forces.

1943-1945

# Allies bomb German cities.

1943

9 July: Canadian troops participate in invasion ofSicily and mainland Italy.

9 December: Canadians win Battle of Ortona, Italy.

1944

# June 6: D-Day; Canadian troops join British andAmericans in Allied invasion of Normandy innorthern France.

1945

9 Spring: Canadian troops help liberate theNetherlands from German military control.

# May 7; Germany surrenders.

# Augusts: United States drops atomic bomb onHiroshima,

# August 9; United States drops atomic bomb onNagasaki.

9 August 15: Japan surrenders.

Figure 5-2 Canadiannurses arrive at thebeachhead in

Normandy, July 1944,shortly after the Alliedinvasion. Thesewomen worked undervery difficultcircumstances, closeto the fighting.

102 Unit I Canada in the Twentieth Century

Figure 5-3 German

troops surrender toCanadian soldiers in

France, 1944.

many Canadians. That war had deeply dividedCanada on the issue of conscription. King knewthat if he imposed conscription in this war, heand the Liberal Party would lose support inQuebec. Besides, Canada was just starting tocome out of the dark years of the Depression. Theeconomy was slowly improving, and King didn'twant the country plunged back into debt.

But on September 1, Germany invadedPoland. Two days later, Britain and France de¬clared war on Germany. In World War I, whenBritain declared war on Germany, Canada wasautomatically at war with Germany, as well. Now,Canada was an independent country, and had todecide for itself whether it would go to war again.King knew that once Britain become involved insuch a major conflict, Canada would not standby idly. Still, it was important that the decision tojoin the war be a Canadian one, decided byCanada's Parliament.

On September 8, Prime Minister King calleda special session of Parliament to decide Canada's

response. Ring gave a strong speech in favour ofdeclaring war. His minister of justice, ErnestLapointe from Quebec, also spoke in favour ofthe war, which helped convince Quebec votersthat Canada's involvement in the war was neces¬

sary. But Lapointe spoke bluntly about what con¬scription would do to Liberal supporters in

Quebec. "I am authorized by my colleagues in thecabinet from Quebec," he informed Parliament,"to say that we will never agree to conscriptionand will never be members or supporters of a gov¬ernment that will try to enforce it."

King assured Parliament, and Quebec, that"So long as this government may be in power, no

such measure [conscription] shall be enacted,"King's position on joining the war was supportedby the opposition Conservative Party. Only J.S.Woodsworth, leader of the CommonwealthCooperative Federation (CCF), argued againstgoing to war. On September 10, Canada declaredwar on Germany.

Mobilizing Canada's Resources

Despite its willingness to join the war, Canadawas not prepared for it in 1939. Army, air force,and navy troops were small in number, and mostof Canada's equipment was outdated and unfitfor combat. For example, the army had only 4500troops, a few dozen anti-tank guns, sixteen tanks,

and no modern artillery. The air force and the navyalso had outdated equipment and only a smallnumber of recruits.

Unlike World War I, there were no crowdscheering on the streets when Canada declaredwar on Germany. Many Canadians remembered

Chapter 5 Canada and World War II 103

only too well the suffering and horrors of the lastworld conflict, and they were unwilling to be¬come involved in another. Still, Canada had notrouble finding volunteers. In September alone,over 58 330 people volunteered for service. Asin World War I, Aboriginal people volunteered ata higher percentage of their population than anyother group in Canada. Among them was ThomasPrince, who was to become one of Canada's most

decorated soldiers. The Canadian army initially re¬jected African-Canadian volunteers because ofracist attitudes towards people of non-Europeanorigin. As the war continued, however, African-

Canadians were accepted into the regular armyand the officer corps.

After years of the Depression, some Canadianswere attracted by the private's pay of $1.30 a dayplus sixty dollars a month for a dependent spouseand thirty dollars a month for each child. Yet many

Figure 5-4 Troops departing from Winnipeg.

Using evidence From this photograph, how do youthink most Canadians felt about going to war?

Consider the feelings of those who were stayinghome, as well as those who were going to fight.

still felt strong ties with Britain and volunteeredfrom a sense of duty. Others came forward froma sense of new-found national pride. The firstCanadian troops sailed from Halifax on December10, 1939.

The British Commonwealth AirTraining Plan

In the early months of the war, Mackenzie Kinghoped Canada's contribution to the war effortwould remain, as much as possible, at home. Thisway, the issue of conscription could be avoided.The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan(BCATP) seemed to offer Canada this possibil¬ity. In December 1939, Canada agreed to hostand administer a training plan in which British .instructors would train pilots and other flight per¬sonnel from all over the Commonwealth inCanada. Canada's open skies, its climate, and itsdistance from enemy aircraft made it an idealtraining location. Air fields were built on thePrairies and in other locations near small townsand villages, and old aircraft were refitted and re¬turned to service. The program was a majorCanadian contribution to the war effort. TheBCATP trained over 130 000 pilots, navigators,flight engineers, and ground staff. The total costwas over $2.2 billion, of which Canada paid over70 per cent. Contrary to King's hopes, however,Canada's role in the war would go much beyond itsinvolvement in the BCATP.

Total War

With the declaration of war, the Canadian gov¬ernment immediately became much more involvedin the planning and control of the economy. InApril 1940, the government established theDepartment of Munitions and Supplies, and Kingappointed C.D. Howe as its minister. Howe was

given extraordinary authority to do whatever ittook to gear up the economy to meet wartime de¬mands. He told industries what to produce andhow to produce it. In his direct, impatient manner,he convinced business leaders to manufacturegoods they had never made before. SoonVancouver was building ships for the navy,

104 Unit I Canada in the Twentieth Century

Figure 5-5 Student

pilots and instructorswait to board their TigerMoths at an Oshawa

BCATP training school.

Gathering information

From this photograph,what can you tell aboutthe following: the scaleof the BCATP; the aircraftused; training methods?

"Chins Up! Thumbs Up! Spefed Up!

FOR VICTFigure 5-6 A poster issued by the Vancouver Board ofTrade. It was meant to show workers in the lumber

industry how they were contributing to the war effortby supplying lumber to Britain.

Expressing ideas How would this poster encouragethe policy of total war?

Montreal was constructing new planes andbombers such as the Lancaster, and Canada's car

industries were producing military vehicles andtanks. Munitions factories opened in Ontario andQuebec. If the private sector was unable to pro¬duce what Howe wanted, he created Crown cor¬

porations to do the job. Even farmers were toldto produce more wheat, beef, dairy products, andother foods. Under Howe's leadership, the gov¬ernment ran telephone companies, refined fuel,stockpiled silk for parachutes, mined uranium,and controlled food production. This was the pol¬icy of total war, with Canadians willing to do what¬ever it took to defeat the enemy.

ACTIVITIES

1. What assurance did Mackenzie King give Canadiansduring the debate on Canada's involvement in the

war? Why did he do this?

2. What was the British Commonwealth Air TrainingPlan? Why was Canada chosen to host it? Why didMackenzie King support the plan?

3. Compare Canadians' reaction to the announcement

of World War I with that of World War II. Why didmany people volunteer?

4. How did Canada's policy of total war change theeconomy? Why was the policy necessary?

Chapter 5 Canada and World War II 105