3.5.4 Between the Wars

Once the First World War ended, the British Empire became a free association of states. The British Commonwealth of Nations was its new name. Canada still stands among the Commonwealth's leading members. So do other countries that grew out of the Empire — India, Australia and New Zealand among them, plus several in Africa and the Caribbean. The 1920s were boom years, and they earned the nickname "Roaring Twenties." Businesses did well during that decade, and few people were out of work.

When the stock market crashed in 1929, the Great Depression followed - the years known as the "Dirty Thirties." By 1933 unemployment stood at 27%, and countless businesses were wiped out. The worst blow fell on Western Canada's farmers, who faced a terrible drought and low grain prices. People pressed the government for a social safety net: a standard work week, minimum wages, and schemes like unemployment insurance. A central bank arrived in 1934, the Bank of Canada, set up to steady the financial system and manage the money supply. Fewer immigrants came, and many refugees were refused entry, among them Jews fleeing Nazi Germany in 1939.