1. Canada’s Response to WW2

2. World War One Memories 65,000 Dead in the “war to end all wars”
Nation-building
Conscription tore the country apart

3. Canada’s Reaction
ISOLATIONISTS - Canada remained isolationist in the late 1930’s.
PACIFISTS - moral belief against war
The horrors of WW1 were not yet forgotten.
The effects of the Depression were still being felt.
PM King decides to visit Germany himself

4. Isolationist
People who hold the belief that one’s country should keep separate from the politics and disputes of other countries

5. Pacifist
1. A person who is opposed to war or to violence of any kind. This may cause him or her to refuse being drafted into military service.

7. Canada goes to war
A special session of Parliament was called on Sept. 7. Canada remained neutral until Sept. 10
Parliament approved the Prime Minister's request to go to war.
King George VI declared war on Germany in the name of Canada the same day.

9. Was Canada Ready for War?
4500 Regular soldiers
51,000 reservists (partially trained)
20 modern combat planes
6 Destroyers (smallest ocean-going ship)
PM King promised only volunteers would be sent to fight

10. Canada in 1939 Population: 11 million 750,000 unemployed
Largest city is Montreal
9 provinces and 2 territories

11. Why go to war? Canada is now an autonomous nation
No direct threat from Hitler
Very small armed forces
Many opposed the war
JS Woodsworth
Pacifists
Isolationists

12. PM Mackenzie King believed entrance into the war was "a self-evident national duty."

13. Total War Upon entering the war, Canada began a period of “total war”
This meant that the Federal government became more involved in planning and controlling the economy.
C.D Howe was put in charge of the economy and was given permission to do whatever it took to gear up the economy to meet war time demands.

14. First Canadian troops leave from Halifax on December 10, 1939

15. The End…