Canada in the Interwar Period Trivia Quiz

Answer: Winnipeg

The unrest throughout Canada was caused by the economic downfall right after the end of the war. During the war, all industries had been mobilised for the war effort, but afterwards production was not needed on such a large scale, and unemployment rates rose. Among those who were especially affected were soldiers returning from Europe to find no job opportunities for them in Canada.

In May 1919, negotiations between labour unions and managers in the building and metal trades fell apart, and by 15 May nearly all trade unions (grouped together in One Big Union) were on strike.

They were hoping to gain better wages and working conditions. Because of fear of Bolshevism, the federal government intervened and arrested strike leaders and propagandists. On 21 June, 29 people were injured (and one killed) when RCMP forces tried to control a crowd of strikers.

After the events of that day (dubbed "Bloody Saturday"), the strike lost momentum and the workers were back on the job on 25 June.

Answer: influenza

The 1919 Stanley Cup finals were played between the Montreal Canadiens and Seattle Metropolitans. They'd played five games already and had two wins each (one tie). The final game of the series was scheduled for 1 April 1919, but the manager of the Canadiens and five of their players were hospitalized due to the Spanish flu epidemic.

The Canadiens forfeited, but the Metropolitans would not accept a win due to forfeit. Canadiens player Joe Hall died on 5 April and the series was cancelled altogether.

Answer: the discovery of insulin

Frederick Banting had been following the insulin research of other scientists, and had some theories about how to improve on the extraction of it. In 1921, he approached J.J.R. Macleod at the University of Toronto to ask him for help and lab space to test his theories. With the help of Macleod and a medical student, Charles Best, Banting worked on his theories and methods.

The team of Banting and Macleod was credited with the discovery of the extraction of insulin and won the Nobel prize in 1923. Banting, however, was not pleased that the Nobel prize committee excluded Best from the award, and shared his prize money with him.

Answer: True

Though the majority of Canada's population was in favour of prohibition according to a 1898 referendum, Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier chose not to enact it as a federal bill, giving the individual provinces the choice to choose prohibition or not. Prince Edward Island was the first to enact it in 1900. All provinces except Quebec and British Columbia had prohibition laws on the books by 1921; Quebec had attempted to do so in 1919, but the law was repealed later the same year due to strong public discontent. Repeals of prohibition laws in Canada began with Alberta and Saskatchewan in 1924. Prince Edward Island did not repeal prohibition until 1948, and some municipalities kept the law until well into the 1970s.

In the US, prohibition was federally enforced from 1919 until 1933.

Answer: Women were "qualified persons" under the law

The famous "Persons Case" (officially Edwards v. Canada) started with Emily Murphy in Alberta, in 1916, when she was told she was not allowed to preside as a magistrate in a women's court because women were not "qualified persons" under the British North America Act.

The Supreme Court of Alberta ruled a while later that women were indeed qualified persons, but that settled the matter in Alberta only. Emily Murphy wanted to solve the issue for all of Canada, and in 1917 decided to run for Senate. Prime Minister Robert Borden rejected her candidacy because women were not allowed to serve in government, due to not being qualified persons.

In 1927, Emily Murphy and four of her friends signed a petition to take the matter to the Supreme Court of Canada - these five women would become known as The Famous Five.

The question in front of the Supreme Court was "Does the word 'Persons' in... the British North America Act, 1867, include female persons?" In April 1928, the Supreme Court of Canada made their decision - no.

In October 1929, however, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in Britain determined that "persons" could be read to broadly include women.

Answer: True

The Statute applied to the Dominion of Canada, Dominion of Newfoundland, Commonwealth of Australia, Dominion of New Zealand, Union of South Africa and the Irish Free State. It granted each of these dominions equal legislative power to the UK, and gave them the freedom to make their own decisions regarding foreign policy.

In most of these nations the Statute is now void due to more recent legislation, for example, the Canada Act of 1982. (Note that Newfoundland surrendered its Dominion status in 1933).

Answer: Dionne

Annette, Cecile, Emilie, Marie and Yvonne were born two months premature on 28 May 1934, to Ovila and Elzire Dionne, who already had five other children. Despite an unpromising prognosis, all five infants survived. At the age of four months, the babies were taken away from their parents and made wards of the Province of Ontario, to ensure that they would be well taken care of.

A public observation area was set up where the girls were brought to play a few times per day. "Quintland" was one of the most popular tourist attractions in Canada from 1936 until 1943.

Their father ran a souvenir stand, selling things with the girls' pictures on them. The girls' images were also used commercially, to sell Quaker Oats for example, and they appeared in four Hollywood movies from 1936 to 1938.

There is a Dionne Quintuplets Museum in North Bay, Ontario.

Answer: working-class men

The On-to-Ottawa Trek was a large-scale strike by men who were unemployed due to the Depression. They had been working for little money and under poor conditions in government work relief camps in rural areas in Western Canada. They decided to go on strike, and hundreds of the workers decided to travel to Ottawa to bring their problems to the attention of the government. Prime Minister R.B. Bennett invited eight of the strikers to meet with him in Ottawa, but the meeting did not go well. Harsh words were exchanged and the strikers were escorted out.

When the eight returned to the rest of the protesters, in Regina, Saskatchewan, a riot broke out and one policeman and one protester were killed. The trek was halted, but Bennett and the RCMP, having been accused of inciting the riot, lost much public respect. Bennett's government was voted out of power in the 1935 election.

Answer: Foster Hewitt

In 1936, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation replaced the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission, and "Hockey Night in Canada" was broadcast on CBC Radio every Saturday night until 1965. In Ontario and many other regions, the featured team was the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Foster Hewitt was the play-by-play announcer.

He began each of his broadcasts with his famous opening line "Hello Canada, and hockey fans in the United States and Newfoundland" (Newfoundland would not become a province of Canada until 1949). Foster Hewitt did the "HNIC" play-by-play until 1963, when coverage was moving more and more away from radio to television.

Answer: fought in the Spanish Civil War

The Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion was formed in Albacete, Spain and was originally made up of Canadians who had volunteered in American battalions. The Mac-Paps became part of the XV International Brigade fighting of the side of the Spanish Second Republic. Under Canadian law, as well as a League of Nations ban, Canadian volunteers were not allowed to fight in the Spanish Civil War.

The Communist Party of Canada, answering the call from the Soviet Union for all Communist parties around the world to help the Republicans, helped many Canadian volunteers to travel to Spain under false pretenses.

The Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion were involved in three major engagements in the war: the Aragon Offensive (August-October 1937), the Battle of Teruel (December 1937-April 1938), and the Battle of the Ebro (July-September 1938).