Early 20th Century Canada
From the early 20th century, Canada have a economic boom(the Laurier boom) , important social change, and political change. Canada economy and population starting the growth during this era because settlement in the West of the country. Canada immigration policies at that period gave cheap lands to immigrate from Britain, France, other few counties in Western Europe only, lastly the United States. Also 2 new province joined Canada in 1905, Alberta and Saskatchewan, joining Confederation in 1905. The period lasted form 1867-1913, because Canada automatically entering the First World War when Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914, which ended this Era.
Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier
Chinese Head Tax (1885-1923)
The Chinese Head Tax was a fee the Canadian government charged to Chinese immigrants in 1881, beacause the Canadain Goverment need a lot of Chinese labourers to build the Canadian Pacific Railway(CPR). Once the railway was built in 1885, the government wanted to stop Chinese immigration from coming to Canada, so the government required every Chinese person from coming to Canada to pay a tax that started at $50(equal to about $1589 now), later were added to $100(equal to about $2760 now), and then to $500(equal to about $13,798 now). This tax made it extremely difficult for Chinese families to reunite because most chinese workers' family were not able to come with the workers when they first came to Canada. And now they could not come to Canada because of the tax.
Komagata Maru (1914)
A document of a Chinese head tax of a Chinese immigrate.
The Komagata Maru was a Japanese ship that came to Vancouver Harbor on May 23, 1914, carrying 376 passengers, mostly Indians from British India. Although they were British ppl, Canada didn't to let them enter because of a racist law, which immigrants need to arrive directly from their country, cannot have stop between the country of orgin and the destination in Canada, which were impossible for ships traveling from India. For two months, those Indians were forced to stay on the ship in really bad conditions, some died because of the condition. On July 23, 1914, during WW1, the ship was forced to return to India. When it arrived in India, British indians arrested the passengers, and a few people were killed. The Komagata Maru incident is now a example of Canada’s racist immigration policies, back in the 1900s.
The Komagata Maru Ship(1914)
Women's Role during the Laurier boom 1900s -1920s)
Women in the 1910s.
Most women in this period were need to stay at home,and raise children. Women had almost no rights and were excluded from voting, despite earlier suffrage campaigns. The majority of working women were unmarried and could only find a few kinds of jobs like teaching, and nursing. However, things staring to change in the 1920s. Women starting to get more rights.
People during the Great Depression in Canada.
The Great Depression(1929-1937)
The Great Depression began after the 1929 stock market crash in NYC and Toronto, it was the biggest economic crises in Canada. a lot of Canadians lost their jobs, savings, and homes, and the Prairie drought making it much worse in the Prairie. As unemployment rates going so fast, many families need foods and mans need to work in work camps to make money. The Depression lasted until 1939, when the start of the Second World War finally revived Canada’s economy.