Canadian History | Questions and Answers

Running head: CANADIAN HISTORY
Canadian History
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CANADIAN HISTORY
Question 1
On 4 August 1914, Canada's military history starts with Britain's declaration of war
against Germany in the First World War (1914-1918). Since Canada's legal position as an
English hegemony left the foreign policy decision to the United parliament, the British
declaration of war immediately placed Canada in the war1. The impact of WWI on Canada is still
debatable since several researchers believed that there were a good number of positive impact of
WWI on the nation, like women empowerment and independence. However, negative impact of
the war on the economy as well as socio cultural factors has far exceeded the positive impacts.
According to researchers, Canada was not ready for war and as a result of this, the WWI
resulted in the death of 60,661 Canadian residents2. Additionally, the war had adversely affected
the economy of the nation. The debt that Canada was in due to WWI was as high as 2,4 billion
dollar and it took a toll over the Canadian economy. The Conscription Crisis had horribly
divided the nation between English protestant and French Catholics creating a conflict in the
society.
Researchers argued that during WWI, the society had evidenced a drastic upliftment of
the status of the women which in turn imposed a highly positive impact on the contemporary
Canadian society3. More than 2500 women served as nursing sisters in the Canadian Army
Medical Corps and hence WWI is considered to be a big step towards gender equality. Not only
this, the WWI was the first step towards independence for Canada.
1Hyland, C. Canada and the First World War. Alexander college, 2020.
2 Blake, Raymond B., Jeffrey A. Keshen, Norman J. Knowles, and Barbara J. Messamore. Conflict and
Compromise: Post-Confederation Canada. University of Toronto Press, 2017.
3 Belshaw, John Douglas. "Canadian history: post-confederation." (2018).

2CANADIAN HISTORY
According to researchers, one of the major differences between Canada’s participation in
WWI and WWII is that while Canada had been forced to participant in WWI, the nation, of its
own will had entered the WWII4. The chief reason behind this is its realization that Nazi
Germany threatened the very existence of the western civilization. Unlike WWI, WWII had
outnumbered the negative impact of the war on Canada. Canada during 1945 was highly
different from what it was in 1939. The nation became industrialized, urban, international, and
had better social services. The nation during the WWII, moved from its connection from Britain
to develop a close connection with USA.
However, when it comes to women empowerment, the seed that had been sown during
WWI became fruitful during WW2. The society stated considering as valuable members of the
society. However patriarch was still there and since equity was yet to be obtained. However, the
debt of the nation that got increased during WWI leads the nation to a economic depression.
However, compared to WWI it can be said that the economic condition of Canada during WWII
was much better since economy was phenomenal and debt- personal and national- was minimal.
Question 2
The 20th Century evidenced a commendable progress when it comes to the status of the
women in the contemporary Canadian society. Specifically, Canadian women were found to
make drastic advances in economics, politics, education and culture between the year 1960 to
2000. However, since the 1990, when WWII was over, progress in women empowerment
evidenced a rigid barrier which though have got shrunken but still is affecting gender equity in
today’s Canada.
4 Hyland, C. Canada and the Second World War. Alexander college, 2020.