Community+and+Individual+Contributions

When a nation is involved in a major war, the government often calls on everyone to contribute. Military and factory workers are important, but so are the civilians who raise money and cut down on waste. Canadian communities and individuals did this and more during World War II.


 * Community War Efforts **

Different communities contributed to the war effort in different ways. The Chinese-Canadian community in British Columbia is an example of how much money dedicated civilians could raise. This was very important because Canada was just coming out of the Depression when World War II began. The federal government didn't have all the money it needed to finance the war effort.

When China and Japan had gone to war in 1937, Chinese Canadians started to raise money right away to help China. So, unlike several other communities, they already had a fundraising structure in place that they used to contribute to Canada's war effort in 1939. Overall, it's estimated that over $5 000 000 was raised by the Chinese-Canadian communities across Canada during the war years.

But it wasn't just ethnic communities that were involved. Cities, towns, neighbourhoods, religious groups, schools, and many other groups of people organized to raise money for the war. In Newfoundland, for example, citizens banded together to fundraise. They developed the "One Percent Scheme," in which employees with salaries donated 1 percent of their wages toward the war. Such fundraising made a significant contribution to the cost of the war.

Then there were those who contributed through groups at work. Dorothy B. Inglis of Toronto describes how she and her co-workers supported the war effort.

The Red Cross supplied us with wool and the whole lot of us set to work with our needles making socks for the men in the services. Throughout the war, we made literally thousands and thousands of pairs of socks...

In addition to the socks, the girls in our office also had a quilt project. The government gave us a room on the top floor of our old building and allowed us to set up a quilting frame there so that during our lunch hours, if we weren't knitting, we could be there working on a quilt... It was always a proud day for us when we had one finished and ready to be packaged up and sent over to England for those people who spent many of their nights shivering in an air raid shelter. //Voices of a War Remembered //, pp. 119-120

BEGIN PHOTO CAPTION:

Figure 8-11 How did activities like knitting socks or quilting blankets help win the war overseas? BEGIN PRODUCER'S NOTE: Photo: omitted. END PRODUCER'S NOTE. END PHOTO CAPTION.

__ Questions __ __ 1. Why was fundraising important to the war effort? __ __ 2. As a class, brainstorm a list of fundraising activities that your school community might have run during World War II. __


 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Individual and Family War Efforts **

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">There were many ways for individuals and families to help out with the war effort. Their patriotic actions were encouraged by government propaganda. Propaganda persuades people to act in support of a cause. It's often used by governments during a time of crisis.

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Posters and newspaper articles encouraged people of all ages to contribute - and they did. Children took part in scrap drives. They collected metal and rubber (such as bicycle tires) that could be recycled into new war products. Both adults and children tended "Victory Gardens" - plots of land, often in public parks, that had been dug up for growing vegetables. Older people helped out by packing food boxes bound for overseas.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Living Language **

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">The saying "Loose lips sink ships" started on a propaganda poster that warned people to be careful when talking about anything to do with the war. The government didn't want anyone to supply information to spies who may be listening. Now the saying is generally used to warn people about the negative effects of gossip.

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">People of all ages were careful with their food supplies. Britain couldn't grow enough food to feed its population, so Canada supplied it with large amounts of food. For example, 40 percent of Canadian beef production went to Britain in 1943. In addition, sugar molasses was needed to make ethyl alcohol, an ingredient for explosives. The government started to ration basic food items in 1942. Families were issued a ration book each month. In order to buy certain foods you would need money and a ration stamp or coupon. Figure 8-12 shows how much of certain types of food an adult was allowed under the rationing program in the middle of the war. The ration for children was smaller.

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Restaurants were compelled to introduce "Meatless Tuesdays" in 1943 and "Meatless Fridays" as well in 1944. All rationing ended in 1947. Bill McNeil of Glace Bay in Cape Breton was 16 years old when the war broke out. He describes how his community adjusted to rationing.

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">You got used to the shortages of everything... butter, sugar, and even jam. There was a substitute jam that was made from flour sugar, water, and food colouring. Nobody could ever get used to that. The women got used to food rationing though, and they learned to trade coupons with neighbours... butter for tea, and meat coupons for sugar. //<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Voices of a War Remembered //<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">, pp. 4, 9-10

Figure 8-12 <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Weekly Adult Ration Allowance for Selected Products, Canada, mid-1943. Do you think you would have found it easy to live on rations like these to support the war effort? Explain your reasons.

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">BEGIN TABLE:

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Item: Sugar <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Allowance: 225 g

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Item: Butter <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Allowance: 225 g

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Item: Tea or Coffee <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Allowance: 30 g or 125 g

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Item: Beef, veal, pork, lamb <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Allowance: 450 g to 1.3 kg depending on cut

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Source: Joyce Blyth, "Food Rationing: A Part of World War II in Canada." //Wellington County History//, Volume 8 (Wellington County Historical Association, 1995), p. 72. <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">END TABLE.

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">BEGIN PHOTO CAPTION:

Figure 8-13 <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">Using ration coupons and charts could make food shopping a complicated task. Which foods would you least like to see rationed? Why? Would this be possible in wartime? <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 19px;">END PHOTO CAPTION.

Career Profile

Carol Radford-Grant, Archivist

Archives are places where historical documents are kept. Members of the public can go there to study these documents and find out about the past. Carol Radford-Grant is one of a number of archivists who works at the Archives of Ontario. Her job has two parts. First, she describes the variety of records held by the Archives by recording them in a computer database. Second, she makes the documents available for research by the general public, including family historians, teachers, and students. Carol preserves historical records of individuals, companies, and the government of Ontario. She also makes sure they're properly stored.

You might want to visit an archive if you need to find out about the history of your community, the growth of a company, or when your ancestors came to Canada, for example. Carol works to make sure you can quickly find records to help you if they're available in the Archives.

Carol believes that to do her job you have to have an appreciation for history. You have to like the challenge of trying to understand old documents and how and why they were created. It's also important to pay attention to details and to balance a variety of tasks. Finally, you have to be organized and to be able to complete tasks without someone constantly supervising what you're doing.

Carol studied for her diploma in the Archives Technician program at Algonquin College in Ottawa. She took two courses in Canadian history, and two courses in the history of archives.

Name: Carol Radford-Grant Job Title: Archivist, Archives of Ontario, Toronto

1. What would you like and dislike about being an archivist?

2. What skills do you already have that might suit this career?

3. How could you develop some of the additional skills needed to become an archivist?

What I like about my work:

"I love collecting things. It's fun to collect letters, photographs, maps, and other documents. It's especially exciting knowing that these are originals, and that you can't find them anywhere else."

"It's helpful to know the basics of our history to do many jobs in Canadian archives. It helps you understand the background the documents were created in. That way, it's easier to describe them."

__ Questions __ __ 3. Pretend you are a teenager living during World War II. Describe how you and your family contribute to the war effort on the home front. How do you feel about the sacrifices you are making? __ __ 4. Imagine that you have to reduce the amount of sugar and sweeteners you eat by 25%. What choices would you make to do it? __