HIST 203 Lecture 5: Lecture 5
Lecture 5 – May 9th
Religion and Social Reform
Study Questions
• How can we define the reform movements of the early 20th century? What did they
have in common?
• According to reformers, what were the major social problems in Canada?
• How did Canada’s participation in the First World War contribute to its definition as
a nation?
• How is Canada’s contribution to the Great War remembered today and how does
that impact the writing of Canadian history?
Film Critique Info
• Wednesday 11:59pm
• Rubric
o Strong introduction, strong thesis statement
o Clear arguments, present
▪ Don’t just summarize the film
▪ Don’t say so and so criticized this about the film
• Wants to know how we feel
o Critical analysis
o Sources to support our argument
o If you use a secondary source it must be referenced – Chicago Manual
citation
▪ If using a lecture site it: lecture name and date
o Format of the essay – writing style and general structure of it
Urban Reformers
• City Beautiful movement: improving the physical structure and aesthetic nature of
the city
o Would bring more order and improve public morals
o Changing the structure of the city could also change the people in it
• Led to the creation of municipal parks, landscaping of public buildings
• Mount Royal Park in Montreal
Sanitation, Nutrition, Housing Conditions
• Improving drinking water
o Addition of chlorine (as of 1910) – reduced the death rate of children in
Montreal
o Introduction of filtration (first water filtration plant built in 1914)
• Specialized hospitals (early 1900s)
o Gouttes de lait (beginning in 1910) – primary source image
▪ Network of milk stations
▪ Distributed pasteurized milk and educated mothers about hygiene
• Changes in health care and childbirth
o More and more women went to the hospital to give birth
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
The Conservation Movement and Recreation
• Concert to preserve Canada’s natural environment, especially wildlife, in the face of
urbanization and industrialization
• Initially, national parks created as tourist resorts (intended to promote CPR)
o Concerned with commercial assets to promote the Canadian Pacific Railway
to increase tourist revenue
• Closely tied to the idea of back to nature to counteract the idea of city life
o Spending time outside of the city and in nature was good for health
• Growing interest to escape the city
• Challenging masculinity
Toronto the Good
• Toronto was the centre of the social purity movement
• Working single women as moral problem
• William Howland, mayor of Toronto, established morality departments
o To arrest and prosecute anyone in prostitution
o Impacted young girls who would be walking home and would be questioned
by police officers assuming they were prostitutes
• Vice – gambling and prostitution
• Advocates were particularly concerned about naïve young girls who were attracted
to urban centers – sex moved from the church and family to the state
Women and Sports
• Wanted women to be healthy
• Healthy women = healthy babies
• Some were worried that sports were making women too masculine
• Biking – exercise, transportation, freedom for women
o Changed the way women dressed
• Some reformers thought that cycling was linked to moral decay and thought that it
was dangerous for women’s reproduction health
Social Gospel Movement
• New movement in 1890s
• Grew out of the Protestant churches
• Work for social change was seen as a spiritual activity inspired by God and the
desire to establish the Kingdom of God on earth
James S. Woodsworth (1874-1942)
• Born near Toronto, Ontario
• Moved to Manitoba in 1882
• Methodist minister as of 1896
• Superintendent of All People’s Mission in Winnipeg (1904 to 1913)
• Independent Labour MP (1921)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• First leader of the Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in 1933
• Two books: Strangers Within Our Gates and My Neighbor
o Tackled the issues of urban slums and immigration
o Ways for immigrants to immigrate into Canadian society
Immigration Act of 1910
• 1, Those physically, mentally or morally unfit whose exclusion is provided for by the
immigration act
• 2. Those belonging to nationalities unlikely to assimilate and who, consequently,
prevent the building up of a united nation of people of similar customs and ideals
• 3. Those who form their mode of life and occupations are likely to crowd into urban
centres and bring about a state of congestion which might result in unemployment
and a lowering of the standard of Canadian national life
Nativist Attitudes and Chinese Attitudes
• Some were brought as contracted labourers by mine owners
• Chinese immigration
o Head tax on all Chinese immigrants
▪ 1885 - $50
▪ 1900 - $100
▪ 1903 - $500
o The Chinese Immigration Act of the Chinese Exclusion Act (1923) banned
Chinese immigration
Vancouver Race Riot (1907)
• Vandalism in Chinatown and Japan Town in Vancouver
• Ancient immigrants were unable to assimilate and had a low standard of living
• Chinatown was perceived as a place of prostitution, gambling, and opium
o Stereotypes with Chinese immigrants
• 8,000 people participated in these riots
• The mob was calling for a white Canada
• Quickly became violent, causes thousands of dollars’ worth of damage
Prohibition and Temperance Movement
• Alcohol as a potential social threat
o Was a huge worry for the middle-class protestant reformers
• Alcohol was seen to be the main cause of poverty and the retched state of the lower
class
• Money shouldn’t be wasted on booze
• Prohibition legislation
Women and Reform
• Temperance and prohibition, public health, education, reform of vice, and women’s
suffrage
• Emphasized moral regeneration or the traditional Protestant middle-class virtues
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
If using a lecture site it: lecture name and date the city citation. Urban reformers: led to the creation of municipal parks, landscaping of public buildings, mount royal park in montreal. The conservation movement and recreation urbanization and industrialization. James s. woodsworth (1874-1942: born near toronto, ontario, moved to manitoba in 1882, methodist minister as of 1896, superintendent of all people"s mission in winnipeg (1904 to 1913) Immigration act of 1910: 1, those physically, mentally or morally unfit whose exclusion is provided for by the immigration act, 2. Those belonging to nationalities unlikely to assimilate and who, consequently, prevent the building up of a united nation of people of similar customs and ideals: 3. Those who form their mode of life and occupations are likely to crowd into urban centres and bring about a state of congestion which might result in unemployment and a lowering of the standard of canadian national life.
