Propaganda Posters in WWI

All of the warring nations published this kind of image, and in Canada they were particularly effective. There are hundreds of examples, and they fall into broad categories: promoting hatred, recruiting, conserving and "making do," increasing production, playing on guilt, and selling bonds to finance the war. (In Canada they were called Victory Bonds.)

The four images above are British and French. The four in the sidebar on the right are typical Canadian posters.

Britain was the undisputed master of this poster art. Contrast the Canadian and the European posters. Can you make any general observations? What might account for the differences? Discuss the stereotypes portrayed in these images.

Some Things I Learned

I learned a few interesting things last Friday. One of them was that the Pillsbury house by the waterfront is the oldest house in Prince Rupert still standing. It was built in 1908. Also that all the streets were boardwalks and had tracks on them for hand cars or donkey engines.

But what I thought was most interesting was that our harbour is the third deepest natural harbour in the world and is ice-free year round. There were a few other things, too, like Charles Hays came to Prince Rupert to see how things were going, and when he passed away, and that Charles Hays had a brother.

Morgan

Prince Rupert History

Living in Prince Rupert in 1906 must have been really hard because there were tents being put up and people were exploding rock to make more land area to build houses, stores, etc. The Grand Trunk Pacific went from Prince Rupert to Winnipeg to Montreal. The Pillsbury house is a historic place I think because the building still exists.

Today our town has changed a lot because the streets are different, lots of buildings back then have been knocked down, and we have more houses and people. On Third Avenue in 1911 the street was very deep, and there were railways underneath, and they had catwalks to cross the road; now today we have it filled in.

Charles Hays came here in 1910 for a visit; he died on the Titanic. Hays would have changed a lot for us. Today Cow Bay is still called this name. This name was given because we had cows living down there.

My favourite picture in the slide show was Third Avenue because I never knew that the ground used to be very deep. I think we should still have the arches. I also think it is good we learned about Prince Rupert because I never knew lots of its history, and I learned new things. Many people should learn our history; it should also be talked about more often.

Paige

Prince Rupert: Instant Town

So...Britain is having a war in South Africa and some Canadians go. The government throws open the doors to immigration, and the prairies are flooded with Americans, British, and Europeans. French-Canadians are no longer the majority on the prairies, they lose their French language schools, and feel threatened. Asians and aboriginals suffer because of prejudice.

But some positive things are happening too. The economy is booming. Two new provinces are created. Society is beginning to develop a social conscience, and women are demanding rights. Charles Hays talks Laurier's government into backing a second transcontinental railroad, and the enormous undertaking of the Grand Trunk Pacific begins.

Review the first part of our Prince Rupert slide show, up to 1914, and write an entry in your learning log that includes references to:

*earliest settlements in the area,

*the decision to build the railroad and city,

*the difficulties encountered,

*the timeline.

Should governments of today try to right the wrongs of the past? No

I think that the Head Tax was not a good thing. Back in the 1900s the Chinese had to pay money to immigrate to Canada while all the whites didn't have to pay a cent. This was wrong because the government is the one that put the tax into effect. A good government should not have let something so bad happen. It made the young country of Canada look very bad.

If the Chinese even had enough money to get into Canada they were still discriminated against. They also had to work for really cheap. The jobs they had were very dangerous, such as building the railroad. They say that for every mile of railroad built between Vancouver and the Rockies, there was one dead Chinese worker.

I think that the present government should not be held responsible for the mistakes of the past. But they should pay back a portion of the money taken from the families that suffered!

Justin

Should governments of today try to right the wrongs of the past? Yes

I don't believe that it is our government now is to blame. I believe the government back then is to blame, what they did about the Chinese immigrants and the Head Tax was completely unacceptable. They could have dealt with the Chinese immigrants in better ways than what they did.

I believe our government now should try to repair relationships that other governments had wrecked before. The Chinese were treated unfairly and deserve something now for the way they were treated. I also believe they should have set things up so without the Head Tax only a certain number of Chinese could come into Canada without having overpopulation. I think there are two sides to every story.

Kayla