Canada in the early 20th Century

Wilfred Laurier

• Prime Minister, 1896-1911• Canada’s 7th

• Liberal• Period of industrialization

and immigration• Dealt with the Boer War

by sending a volunteer force, not the militia

Let me tell you, my fellow countrymen, that the twentieth century shall be the century of Canada and of Canadian development. For the next seventy-five years, nay for the next 100 years, Canada shall be the star towards which all men who love progress and freedom shall come.Toronto Globe, October 15, 1904

The Victorian Era• Queen Victoria, 1837-1901• Moral strictness• Social conservatism• Poverty = laziness• Private charities, not a welfare

state• Law and order• Formal courtship• Male-domination

• Out of this context came first-wave feminism• Suffragists

• Arts: sentimental, romantic, rural• Industrialization

Still a British Nation

Canada still didn’t have its own flag

Canada did not control its foreign policy

Canada was divided between IMPERIALISTS and NATIONALISTS

Henri Bourassa• Resigned from Laurier’s cabinet

over the Boer War• Canadiens losing rights to French-

language education in the western provinces

• If there is no protection then there is no reason for Canadiens to stay!

Laurier’s big immigration campaign

If you were Healthy and Wealthy (and white)

Then you could buy 160 acres of prairie for $10

You only had to build a house, begin cultivating the land, and survive the first three years!

And ignore the predjudice and racism (ethnocentrism).

End