Life+for+the+Average+Joe+and+Jane

media type="file" key="Life for the Average Joe and Jane.mp3" width="240" height="20" Business owners and investors made large profits during the boom, but their employees often worked long hours at low wages. In Quebec, most French Canadians worked for English-speaking bosses, with little chance for promotion. Immigrants sweated in dirty conditions in textile factories, metalworking foundries, and meatpacking plants. They would sometimes find themselves locked in the factory for many many hours. If a fire broke out, there was often no way out but to jump to your death out of a window.

 As other forms of energy (such as oil and gas) became available, the market for coal dried up. Wages of Nova Scotia miners were cut by a third - and for dirty and dangerous work that already paid only about 25 to 30 cents per hour. Boys as young as 10 worked underground to help support their families.

 From 1921 to 1925, violent strikes shook the coal districts. The Canadian army was ordered in to break them up. Unhappy miners either returned to work or left the region to work in textile factories in New England.

Mackenzie King, the prime minister at this time, worked for J.D. Rockefeller in the US in 1914. At this time coal miners went on strike in Ludlow, Colorado. Rockefeller called in armed troops who killed 19 of them, 2 of those being children as young as 2. King had experience with mine strikes.

1. Should the army be allowed to break up striking workers? Why or why not?

 Today, there are government programs in Canada to help those in need. If we lose our jobs, we can claim unemployment insurance benefits. If we are sick, we can get free medical care. These social welfare programs, also known as social security programs, did not exist in the 1920s. Until 1927, there wasn't even a government pension plan for retired workers. Even then it took a political deal to force Mackenzie King's Liberal government to introduce Canada's first social welfare program. Here's how it happened:

 After the King-Byng crisis the Liberals won the most seats in the 1926 election. But they were six seats short of a majority (more than half of the seats in Parliament). That meant they could rule only with the support of the small Progressive Party. In return for their support, the Progressives demanded that the Liberals introduce an old age pension.

 That is part of the story. Every labour right and protection that we have has been fought for. Rights are not granted by government, they are fought for, not in the violent sense, but in the pain and sacrifice of those who strive to give us a better society. Striking workers fought for us to have a 5 day work week, school for all children and safer working conditions.

 When the Old Age Pensions Act became law, it paid only $20 per month to 70-year-old citizens who had been resident in Canada for at least 20 years. Only people with almost no income qualified for these pensions, and all money had to be repaid with interest after the pensioner died.

2. Do you think it's important to support those who find themselves with difficulties? What are 2 benefits for society?

Life was tough as an average worker, but what if you were a member of a visible minority? Let's take a look...

Asian Communities

 By the 1920s, B.C. already had a large Chinese population. Many workers who came to Canada in the 1880s as railway labourers settled in B.C. Smaller groups of Japanese and Sikhs settled around Vancouver and Victoria.

 All three groups faced discrimination. For example, many employers refused to hire Asian workers, or paid them lower wages. In response, many Asian Canadians set up their own small businesses, such as restaurants or laundries. Others fished or farmed. All three Asian cultures lived in close-knit communities, largely shut out from the rest of society but determined to build their lives here.

3. In your OWN words, describe what you think discrimination is, you can use examples to illustrate your definition.

 Black Communities

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;"> Most Blacks in Canada in the 1920s had come from the United States. Some were descended from 2500 Black Loyalists who migrated to Nova Scotia in 1783. Others were descended from escaped slaves.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;"> Unlike many visible minority groups, Blacks gained the right to vote at Confederation. However, they were not treated as equals. For example, both Ontario and Nova Scotia set up separate schools for Black students, but did not fund them properly. This meant that most Black students got an inferior education and had fewer job prospects. This is called segregation. It ended in Canada in the early 20th century. In the southern United States it ended in the 1960's. It continues in other countries in the world, for people of African descent as well as others.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Brantford has an interesting black history. Brantford was a stop on the "underground railroad" for escaped slaves making their way to Canada. An early black settlement was formed 200 years ago in the East Ward area of Brantford. Their church still stands today.