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CHAPTER 5: THE GREAT DEPRESSION

INTERNET FOCUS QUESTIONS:

Communities: Local, National, and Global

  • How did events in the US, Britain, and Europe contribute to the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression of the 1930s?

Citizenship and Heritage

  • What was the role of the labour movement during the Great Depression?

Social, Economic, and Political Structures

  • What were the economic conditions in Canada during the 1920s and 1930s that led to the stock market crash and the Great Depression? What was the impact of those conditions on Canadians, individually and collectively?
  • How did Canadian governments, at various levels, react to the economic conditions of the Depression in the 1930s?

Methods of Historical Inquiry

  • What were some of the causes and effects, and short- and long-term consequences of the Great Depression for Canadians?


ACTIVITIES

BLACK TUESDAY: THE 1929 STOCK MARKET CRASH

9.

 

Work in small groups and use Internet financial sources to investigate the economic factors that led to the 1929 Crash and the Great Depression that followed. Present your findings in a group panel discussion. Then discuss, as a class, the relationship among the factors.


Depression Work with members of your group to investigate how one of the factors described in Canada: Our Century, Our Story contributed to the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression that followed. Review pages 120-124, especially those sections that relate directly to the economic factor or condition on which your group is focusing. The following chapter features will help you in your investigation: Foundations: The Business Cycle (page 123), Figure 5-4: Decline in per capita income 1928-1933 (page 124), and Historian at Work: Using Statistics (page 139).

Each group will research and report on one of the economic factors. Plan your panel discussion so that each group member will present his or her findings on one aspect of the economic factor your group is researching.

The following research questions and Blackline Master 5-4: Economic Vocabulary Sheet (which you can download as an .rtf Word file) will help you focus your research. You will also probably find that you need to ask other research questions that are more specific to the topic and panel discussion of your group.

  • What economic elements are at work in the economic factor/condition that your group is investigating? (Refer to the terms on Blackline Master 5-4: Economic Vocabulary Sheet.)
  • What do the relevant economic terms mean and how do they relate to the factor you are investigating?
  • What events in Canada during the 1920s led to the economic condition you are investigating?
  • What global events during the 1920s led to this economic condition?
  • How did your factor contribute to the stock market crash of 1929? What chain of cause and effect led from your factor to the stock market crash?
  • How did your factor contribute to the Great Depression that followed the stock market crash of 1929?

Visit the following websites to help you research your topic and prepare for your panel discussion:

  • the Your Money Network Resource Guide, which is sponsored by The Canadian Bankers Association and which offers clear, readable explanations for many economic and financial terms
  • the Bank of Canada site, which offers "backgrounders" on many financial terms; using the search engine at their main site, enter the term that you want background information on
  • Streetcents (produced by the CBC), where you will be able to find some current articles on topics related to your economic factor
  • AmosWEB, which offers a wide glossary of economic terms and definitions from Oklahoma State University
  • current Statistics Canada data on economic conditions and indicators in Canada

Once you have completed your panel discussions and are ready to begin your class discussion on the relationships among the different factors/conditions that led to the stock market crash and the Great Depression, use the following questions to get started:

  • How did your economic factor relate to the other factors?
  • How, in combination with the other factors, did your factor lead to the 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression?
  • How did these factors and conditions combine to cause such havoc in Canada and the rest of the world?
  • How would you rank the order of the factors (from most to least important)? What reasons can you offer to support your ranking?

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CONDITIONS OF THE UNEMPLOYED ACROSS THE NATION

10.

 
a)

With three other students, present a role play in which an unemployed Canadian of the 1930s challenges representatives from a labour union and from the federal and provincial governments to find a solution to the unemployment problem. Each member of your group should research his or her role and situation using Internet primary and secondary sources on the Great Depression.
  b) Write a paragraph explaining how the role plays helped you understand the historical situation and decisions made by the four participants.

In this activity, you are asked to adopt one of four historical roles: an unemployed Canadian, a member of the federal government, a member of a provincial legislature, or a representative of a labour union. Each of these people would likely have a different perspective on the problem of unemployment in Canada during the Great Depression. You and the other members of your group will need to decide on the specifics of your role-play scenario. Consider the following:

  • Which province will be your setting?
  • Under what conditions will the unemployed Canadian be living?
  • Will your members of the provincial and federal governments be part of the parties in power or in opposition? Which political parties were in power during these years?
  • With which sector of the economy will your labour union representative be connected?

Once you have made your initial decisions, you may find that a decision-making organizer (such as Blackline Master 5-5) will help you think through and organize your position on this complex and troublesome issue. Try drafting your organizer independently first, according to the actual historical circumstances of your roles (research these circumstances using Canada: Our Century, Our Story, and selected Internet resources). Then discuss your different problem-solution conclusions with your group members. Be sure that all of your data is accurate and reasonable in historical terms. Use your organizers to create and present your dramatic role-play to the class.

In Canada: Our Century, Our Story, review The Government Responds (pages 124-127), Conditions of the Unemployed Across the Nation (pages 127-132), Bennett's New Deal (starting on page 132), and Voices of Regional Discontent (starting on page 135). You will also find helpful Primary Source: Life in the Relief Camps (page 133), Flashpoint: The Regina Riot (page 137), and Flashpoint: The Winnipeg General Strike (in the previous chapter, on pages 86-87).

Use the following questions to help you focus your research for your role-play:

  • What is unemployment? Why does it happen? How does it affect peoples' lives?
  • What provincial and federal government policies were instituted to deal with unemployment during the 1930s?
  • How effective or ineffective were these policies in helping the unemployed?
  • How did the labour movement try to protect people against unemployment?

Visit the following websites for further background on the causes and effects of unemployment during the 1930s:

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