Life In The Roaring 20's and Dirty 30's

Life In The Dirty 30's

EDUCATION

Increase in number of school jurisdictions. The process for this began in the 1930's and was used throughout the next decades.

Provinces responded to this increase by amalgamating the smaller districts into larger units and thus reducing the number of trustees and the amount of governance required.

Girls always wore dresses to school with knee stockings and oxford-type shoes or high top shoes

During the Depression, many schools faced budget cutbacks, forcing them to come up with creative ways to keep schools running or close their doors altogether

POLITICS

Many new political parties appeared in Canada. Each had their own ways of solving the problems caused by the Depression.

Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), the Social Credit Party, and the Union Nationale

HEALTH CARE

Doctors were one of the careers where they were not getting any money. Canadian hospitals found that, as the number of paying patients declined, their revenues fell, but their costs increased as they continued to serve the indigent.

ENTERTAINMENT

Due to the effects of the Great Depression, people needed to be entertained (films, music, etc.)

Gone With The Wind, The Wizard of Oz, were examples of very popular movies

Winnie The Pooh was released and very popular in the 30's

ECONOMY

The Stock Market Crash of 1929 was the cause of the Great Depression. 9000 banks closed and people lost a lot of money. This resulted in poverty, bankruptcy, and depression.

Sparked fundamental changes in economic institutions, macroeconomic policy, and economic theory

Unemployment was a huge factor to the poverty. Men who were unemployed felt like a liability to their family.

Lack of jobs slowed down consumerism immensely. This ended many companies, factories and manufacturers.

FASHION

For women, skirts became longer and the waist-line was returned up to its normal position.

Clothes were rationed and fabric was scarcer, the hem lines of dresses rose to knee length

Life In The Roaring 20's

EDUCATION

Subtopic

- 1920's had separate entrances for girls and boys
- Boys learned trades, girls learned to cook or become secretaries

First Nation students and immigrants were required to go to separate school rather than public ones

- Lack of resources: - experienced teachers - textbooks and school materials - school housing

Large number of students had to share a teacher

22,000 undergraduates and 383 graduate students were enrolled in Canadian universities in the early 20's

Numbers jumped to 28,000 and 1,010, by the year 1929

POLITICS

Canada gained independence from Britain, giving them the ability to govern themselves.

The Constitution Act remained the same (unaltered)

Arthur Meighan - Conservative
William Lyod Mackenzie King - Liberal

King Byng affair resulted in King resigning and becoming Prime Minister

ECONOMY

Economic shift took place as the economy transitioned from wartime production to peacetime production. This made the roaring 20's a very prosperous time.

New technology led to a vibrant consumer culture, stimulating economic growth

With money to invest, everyone bought stocks. The stock market was something noted as very sophisticated and although it carried many risks, many people invested in it.

The stock market did crash in 1929, which then led to the great depression occurring in the 30's.

HEALTH CARE

Elaborate public education campaigns were central to the success of public health strategy (child care, maternal health, prevention of infectious diseases)

As operating costs rose, paying patients, their doctors and hospital administrators began to question the lack of public spending on such an important social institution.