Canadian Society

teen culture in the 1950s

In the 1930s to 1940s, many Canadian teenagers were expected to contribute whatever money they earned to the family income. But in the 1950s more teens were able to keep their earned money from part-time jobs. Many parent also had enough money to give their children allowances.

Growing Independence for Teenagers

With more spending money in their pockets, many teenagers gained more independence. A youth culture was born, with teenage values that were different from those of their parents. The invention of the portable transistor radio in 1954 allowed many teens to carry their music wherever they want. Radio stations such as CHUM in Toronto, played music that appealed to teens. New types of music by artists such as, Elvis Presley and Paul Anka became very popular. At the same time, clothing trends, hairstyles, dance fads, and even language trends developed.

the Canadian baby boom

Men and women returning from the armed forces after World War II wanted to to go back to a normal and secure family life. This wish and the strong economy of the postwar period contributed to the baby boom. More families were having more babies, and this meant more and larger houses, larger car, more schools, more teachers, and more consumer products for children for those families who could afford them.

baby boom
the increase in the birth rate from 1946 to 1966 which peaked in the 1950s.

Fertility Rates on the rise
Compared to previous decades, the Canadian fertility rate in creased in the 1950s. In 1956, Canada’s fertility rate increased to about 3.8 compared, for example, to about 2.6 in 1936. During the baby boom in Canada, government policies encourage women to have children by providing a “baby bonus”- the Canadian government paid each woman a grant of about $6 per month for each child under the age of 16.

fertility rate the measurement of the average number of children born to a woman in a lifetime

Hockey Broadcasts from Coast to Coast

since its founding in 1917, the National Hockey League (NHL) has been a part of canadian identity. in the 1920s ad 1930s it became a saturday night habit for many canadians in all parts of the country to gather around their radios and listen to the voice of Foster Hewitt, who welcomed listeners “from coast to coast.” thanks to new technology, starting in 1952, many canadians were able to watch the hockey action live on tv.

case study: Health and welfare after world war II
Starting in the 50s, the government created systems to help us all. For example in 51 there was the Old Age Security for individuals over 70. Seniors got money to help with retirement. Also, we developed vaccines for illness such as TB, measles, mumps, rubella. Yay Canada.

Tommy Douglas

Tommy Douglas was premier of saskatchewan for 17 years, from 1944 to 1961. prior to being premier, he experienced the hardships of the depression first-hand. Douglas had important questions about protecting Canadian citizens

Social programs

Douglas’s passion led to the birth of new social programs in Saskatchewan. these government programs were intended to help protect citizens from hard times. today we have many social programs in Canada, such as old age security, employment, insurance, medicare, and the Canada pension plan.

voices for gay recognition

in 1967 Everett George Klippert was sentenced to life in prison for being a dangerous sexual offender. his crime: being a homosexual. most of the Supreme Court of Canada agreed with the conviction. in the same year Pierre Trudeau said that there is no place for the government in the bedrooms of the nation not long after, in 1969, the canadian government passed a law that legalized homosexual activity between consenting adults.

Canadian families redefined

in the 1980s, the makeup of families was changing rapidly, and this development raised concerns. couples were divorcing and remarrying more often, and better access to birth control allowed them to choose to have fewer children.

was hockey Canada's game in the 1990s?

between 1976 and 1991, canada’s men’s hockey team won four out of five international tournaments. after that, Canada’s place in hockey began to shift. canada’s men’s team lost to the United States in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey the NHL was also further expanding in the United States. of the 28 NHL teams in the 1999-2000 season, six were Canadian

the internet is born
in the early 1990s, the internet started having an impact on peoples daily lives, transforming schools and workplaces by increasing the speed and amount of communication. job that had never existed before, such as web designer and webmaster, were created overnight. by 2011, the internet accounted for 3 percent of canada's economy

cellphones and social media
once people could access the internet and social media through their cellphones, communication started happening in ne, instant ways. not everyone agreed that this as a positive development

k’naan: from struggle to fame

K’naan was born Keinan abdi Warsame in somalia. he became a refugee at the age of 13 because of civil war in that country. he fired his first gun at age 8 and witnessed his first murrder of three friends at age 11. after coming to Toronto, life was still difficult. K’naan was arrested 15 times as a teenager, spent months in jail, and dropped out of high school. many of his friends ended up in prison or shot dead.

K’naan decided he needed to do better. he started writing poetry and rapping, posting his work online. much of his work refers to the conflict in somalia and speaks out against injustice

Dissatisfaction in Québec in the 1960s and 1970s

After World War II, many francophones began to grow concerned about losing their French heritage. They were also deeply concerned that anglophones were dominating Québec economically and culturally.

The Front de libération du Québec

As francophone disconnect continued to grow in the 1960s, different separatist groups formed in Québec. One group was the Rassemblement pour l'Indépendance Nationale (RIN). The RIN turned a Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day parade violent on June 24, 1968. In 1963, parts of this group formed the front de libération du Québec (FLQ). The FLQ was a terrorist group that wanted an independant and socialist Québec.

separatist relating to a person who believes in making Québec a separate and independent country from Canada.

René Lévesque and the pati québécois

René Lévesque was a former popular TV reporter in Québec who was elected to the Québec government as a member of the liberal party in 1960. When Lévesque was unable to convince the Liberals to support separatism, he left the party and helped found the parti Québécois (PQ) political party in 1968.
the PQ was dedicated to having Québec separate from china by peaceful means, such as by winning a vote. If over 50% of Québeckers voted “yes” to separation in a special vote called a referendum, then Québec would leave Canada and become its own nation.
In 1976, Lévesque and the PQ shocked Canada by obtaining 71 seats and winning the Québec provincial election. In the previous election, the PQ had won only 6 seats. Did this mean that Québec would leave Canada? No-Lévesque had promised voters in Québec that the provence would not leave Canada until Québecker had voted in a referendum.

Murder in the Classrom

On Dec,6,1989, Marc Lépine walked into an engineering classroom at the University of Montréal’s École Polytechnique and ordered all of the men to leave. He then lined up all the women and, before opening fire, yelled “you’re all a bunch of feminists and I hate feminists.” He continued through the collage for 20 minutes, shooting 28 people, killing 14 women, and then committing suicide.
The event shocked Canadians and the world. It was clear that Lépine was targeting women. Many Canadians saw his actions as the isolated act of one mentally unstable man. Some feminists argued that it was a symptom of violence against women in Canadian society.

Quotes Relating to the Shooting

“Perhaps the greatest effect of the Montréal massacre on me has been that it stengthend my feminist perspectives and that i have become much more upfront about my feminism now.” - Sherry Rowley

“I have a higher level of awareness of the issue and I believe this is due to the publicity around that one incident. My advice to all other men is to be part of the solution.” - Mary O’brien

“I became an activist against men’s violence against women, joining our local women’s centre board of directors and becoming a White Ribbon orginizer.” - Bill Proud

Turning Point: The 1995 Referendum
In the early 1990s, the government of Canada tried to get all provinces to agree to chance Canada’s constitution. It first drafted the Meech Lake Accord, which was intended to persuade Québec to remain part of Canada. Some provincial governments, abnoriginal peoples, and women’s group believed their interests and concerns were not addressed. The Meech Lake Accord was defeated in 1990. The Charlottetown Accord was then drafted to address the broader concerns. In 1992, it too was defeated, and Québec separatism increased in popularity.
In 1994, the Parti Québécois (PQ) won the Québec provincial election. The stag was set for a second provincial referendum on whether Québec should separate from Canada, 15 years after the first referendum in 1980.

accord an agreement between two or more people or groups

Imigration

In the postwar period, the Canadian population increased with immigrants arriving from Europe. In 1957, about 282 164 immigrants entered Canada, which was the most immigrants in any one year since 1913, when 400 000 arrived. The Canadian government
insisted that immigrants in this period be mainly from Europe. Among the immigrants flooding into Canada were refugees. For example, in 1957, Canada accepted 38 000 refugees from Hungary,which was involved in a conflict with the Soviet Union.

“The Chinese Immigration Act constituted a
slur against a loyal race. And to allow 26 000
men to reside in Canada, but restrict them from bringing their women to the country was immoral and inhuman.”

Viola Desmond

In New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, police physically dragged Viola Desmond out of a movie theatre and put her in jail overnight. The year was 1946, and her “crime” was refusing to sit in the section of the theatre set aside for Black people. To avoid spending 30 days in jail, Desmond paid a fine of $26, but she then appealed the fine to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. The court ruled against Desmond on a technicality involving the payment of tax on her theatre ticket.

With the support of the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, Desmond continued to challenge the discriminatory law. She also received support from Carrie Best, the founder of the first Black-owned newspaper in Nova Scotia and a vocal opponent of injustice. Best drew attention to injustices and discrimination in the pages of her newspaper and in radio broadcasts. Through the efforts of Desmond and Best, Nova Scotia changed its policies on segregation in 1954.

segregation the forced separation of racial groups in a community

A More Colour-Blind Policy

In the first half of the twentieth century, Canada's
immigration laws were based on race and nationality. instead of whether people could contribute to the country s economy in some way. In 1962, Ellen Fairclough, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, changed the laws that discriminated on the basis of race and nationality. Citizens with European ancestry, however, continued to have the right to sponsor (Support the immigration of) a wider range of relatIves
than others.

The Points System

In 1967, Canada adopted a points system to determine which immigrants could enter the country. For example, you did not receive points for being European, but you did receive points in categories such as education, employability, and language. Soon many immigrants arrived from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Starting in the 1970s, these newcomers settled mainly in Montréal, Vancouver, and Toronto. The points system is still used to make immigration decisions.

voices for gay recognition

in 1967 Everett George Klippert was sentenced to life in prison for being a dangerous sexual offender. his crime: being a homosexual. most of the Supreme Court of Canada agreed with the conviction. in the same year Pierre Trudeau said that there is no place for the government in the bedrooms of the nation not long after, in 1969, the canadian government passed a law that legalized homosexual activity between consenting adults.

Religious and Cultural Rights

In 1982, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms gave Canadians equal rights, regardless of religion and culture.
Section 15 of the Charter was tested in 1990 with the case of Sikh
Canadian Baltej Singh Dhillon. In the Sikh religion, men are required to wear turbans. When Dhillon decided to become an RCMP officer, he was told that he could not wear his turban on duty. Dhillon's case did not go to the Supreme Court, but the government was very aware that the Charter guaranteed equality rights. The RCMP's 1990 decision to lift the ban on turbans became a model for others on how to accommodate religious and cultural practices.

Jer's Vision

At age 13, Jeremy Dias realized he was gay. He was bullied and beaten at school for years. At age 17, he launched a human rights case against his school and school board. He won the case four years later. With the money from the settlement, he founded Jers Vision: Canada's Youth Diversity Initiative in 2005. The organization sends speakers to schools across Canada to talk with youth about diversity and acceptance.

Every year, more than 75 000 people attend a Jer's Vision workshop. The Day of Pink each April encourages millions of people in Canada and around the world to wear pink to stand up against bullying.

Discrimination

In the past, Aboriginal peoples had experienced goverrnment-sponsored discrimination. For example, Inuit did not receive the full right to vote until 1950, and until 1960, a First Nations person could not vote in a federal election. In the 1960s, the residential school system was also still trying to assimilate First Nations children.

Response to the White Paper

The 1969 White Paper created strong reactions among Aboriginal peoples across the country, including groups such as the National Indian Brotherhood. The National Indian Brotherhood was formed to help Aboriginal people voice their concerns. Harold Cardinal emerged as a major spokesperson against the government proposals. At age 23, Cardinal was elected leader of the Indian Association of Alberta and went on to serve nine terms.

During the late 1960s, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau had referred to the promise of a just society-a society where all Canadians were equal. Cardinal turned Trudeau's promise of a just society into the title of a book, The Unjust Society. In 1970, he presented a counterproposal to the White Paper called Citizens Plus, which came to be known as the Red Paper. Faced with such fierce opposition from Cardinal and from Aboriginal organizations, the Trudeau government quietly abandoned the White Paper.

Two young women from The Bank of Nova
Scotia today become the first of their sex in
Canadian banking history to be appointed branch managers: Mrs. Shirley D. Giles.. and Miss Gladys A. Marcellus...

"Banking must keep moving with the times," said the bank's president, F. William Nicks, in his announcement... "The appointment of women managers comes as a very natural development. In 1900, we had one woman member on our staff..; today, some 56 percent of our total staff are women. During the war years in particular, they took on a wide variety of responsibilities and performed very commendably... We are confident our customers, many of whom are women, will welcome this latest sign of progress, which is one more indication of the rapidly-expanding horizon that exists for Competent girls in the banking world."

More Voices Heard

How do you get your voice heard when something is not right? The 2012 idle No More protest movement used social media to organize
people across Canada to stand up for Aboriginal peoples' rights to land, water, education, and economic opportunity. Aboriginal peoples in Canada wanted an end to discrimination and negative stereotypes, and they took action.

Events at 0ka: Background

In the summer of 1990, armed conflict erupted at Oka between the Mohawk of Kanesatake and the Québec provincial police. The Canadian army became involved. The conflict was over land that contained an ancient Mohawk burial site. The town planned to expand a golf course and build condominiums on the land. Claims to the land had been disputed since 1/17, when the governor of New France granted it to a group of Roman Catholic priests to set up a mission for Aboriginal peoples in the region.

Residential School System: The Apology

On June 11, 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized to Aboriginal peoples on behalf of Canada for the residential school system. During a period of more than 100 years, over 150 000 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children were forcibly removed from their families and sent to residential schools. This chapter in Canada's history left deep emotional, physical, and cultural scars on Aboriginal people. The formal apology was a significant step in restoring harmony between Aboriginal peoples and Canada. However, as of 2014, Métis people had still not been recognized in the apology or settlement.

The Cold War

In the period between 1945 and 1990, much of the
world was divided into two broad political camps.
On one side was the Soviet Union and its allies, and on the other side was the United States and its allies. By 1949, both sides had atomic bombs-weapons of mass destruction.
The two camps did not trust each other. The Soviet Union was a communist country it operated as a dictatorship, ruled by one person or by one party. The Soviet Union did not allow its citizens freedoms, such as tree voting. By government order, wealth was distributed more or less equally. The United States was a democratic and capitalist country- its government represented the will of the people expressed in free elections. As a capitalist country, citizens had the opportunities and the right to accumulate as much wealth as possible.

The United Nations

After World War II, Canada earned worldwide attention for its innovative work with the United Nations (UN). In fact, Canada was a founding member of the UN. In 1946, Canadian lawyer John Peters Humphrey wrote the first draft of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This document has been called one of the most influential documents of modern history, and has been used as the guideline for basic individual rights and freedoms.

United Nations an organisation founded in 1945 that is committed to world peace and human rights

Famine in Ethiopia

Ethiopia, in northeast Africa, had severe droughts in 1982 and 1983, leading to a devastating food shortage. A civil war prevented foreign aid from arriving, Aid workers in Ethiopia predicted a human tragedy.

civil war a war between two parts of the same country

Government Response

Canadians demanded action from their government. In November 1984, the Canadian government created a $65 million fund for Africa. One in three Canadians donated money, as well.

United Nations' Intervention

Between April and July of 1994, more than 800 000 people were killed in the genocide in Rwanda, a country in east-central Africa.
The Rwandan military and government, made up of the Hutu majority group, killed members of the Tutsi minority, mostly with machetes, in organised death squads. Two weeks after the massacre began, 90 percent of the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping group was pulled out of Rwanda. The UN left Canadian Lieutenant General Roméo Dallaire with only 270 soldiers. Dallaire was in charge of the UN troops, but was ordered to stand down and not to use force to intervene in the bloodshed. His soldiers were allowed to fire only if fired on. Despite the UN's restrictions, Dallaire and his troops managed to save approximately 20 000 people.

Mission Objectives

From 2001 to 2011, Canada played an active combat role in the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Taliban is an Islamic fundamentalist political movement. From 2003 to 2011, Canada continued its military support as a member of the United Nations International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Then, from 2011 to 2014, the Canadian army took on a more humanitarian and diplomatic role in Afghanistan. The mission officially ended in March 2014. The Canadian army's presence in Afghanistan was due to a number of background causes, as well as a trigger cause.

fundamentalist a religious person who believes that people should return to what they believe is the "truth" in their faith; often followers must accept strict guidelines of behaviour

humanitarian actions taken to improve people's lives and end suffering

diplomatic helping in negotiations between people or groups in conflict

Intended Consequences

In 2001, Canada achieved one of the mission's main goals: to help the United Nations remove the Taliban from power. After 2011, the mission was to restore order, law, and security. This included training Afghans in how to run elections and a democratic government, restoring the law courts, and training the police and the military. Canada had humanitarian goals as well, including reducing poverty and improving education, health, and communication. The final report to Canada's Parliament in 2012 listed many improvements in these areas.

Case Study: Afghanistan Memorial Vigil

The Canadian government created a travelling memorial to honour the 201 men and women who died serving in the Afghanistan mission from 2001 to 2011. The memorial is designed to travel to cities across the country so all Canadians have the opportunity to view it. Let's explore how it communicates a message effectively.