As this program of "The People's Forum" of
Winnipeg shows, the 1914-1915 session commenced with
a lecture by Nellie McClung on "Woman and War."
Other guests spoke on the women's movement and the granting
of the franchise to women. McClung was one of many social
reformers in western Canada during the First World War
to push for both prohibition and women's suffrage.
The prohibition movement preceded the First World
War but gained new force with its onset. Using the
language of war, prohibitionists urged Canadians to
"use ballots for bullets and shoot straight and
strong in order that the demon of drink might be driven
from the haunts of men." They emphasized that
those at home must make sacrifices just like those
at the Front. Citizens should concentrate on fighting
the war, not feeding their vices. Further, the manufacturing
of liquor used up grain resources which could be used
for the war effort - wheat was for feeding soldiers,
not for making booze. Lastly, argued the prohibitionists,
liquor robbed young soldiers of the vitality they
needed to preserve their lives on the battlefield.
(The fact that soldiers were given a shot of whiskey
before being ordered to go "over the top"
was conveniently ignored.) Women prohibitionists especially
saw the opportunity to better their domestic spheres
if prohibition were enforced, as alcohol abuse seemed
to be the purview of men.
The prohibitionists' first victory came in Saskatchewan
in 1915, followed quickly by Alberta the same year.
Manitoba followed in February 1916. By the end of
1917, every provincial government except Quebec had
implemented prohibition legislation. On April Fool's
Day, 1918, a federal law was passed prohibiting the
manufacture, importation, and transportation of any
beverage containing more than 2.5 percent alcohol.
Except for medicinal and sacramental needs, Canada
was officially dry.
Despite the rum-running, the illegal trade, and increased
doctors' prescriptions for alcohol for medicinal reasons,
prohibition in Canada was effective. It brought a
remarkable drop in criminal activity. Crime rates
dropped from 2,369 per 100,000 in 1914 to 1,431 per
100,000 in 1918. In Calgary, arrests for drunkenness
dropped from 1,743 in 1914 to 183 in 1917. Significantly,
the police patrol of streets in that city was reduced
from 63 to 28 constables. Jails were closed down,
and Monday morning absenteeism dropped dramatically.
The results were what prohibitionists had promised -
in the lives of tens of thousands of Canadians, prohibition
brought a social revolution.
By 1919, however, prohibitionist's hold was weakening
as the postwar state proved unable and unwilling to
maintain it. Returning soldiers, with visible and
not-so-visible wounds had little tolerance for such
puritan measures. Moreover, the law establishing prohibition
had been an order-in-council, while prohibition
was a wartime emergency. Thus, when the Wartime
Measures Act was revoked in November 1919, the
orders-in-council ceased to apply. Although prohibition
was replaced by the Canada Temperance Act in 1919,
it was more flexible than the order-in-council and
shrewd Canadians with a taste for alcohol or money
effectively exploited the loopholes. Most importantly,
support for prohibition had weakened. In October 1920,
British Columbia allowed liquor to be sold by the
provincial government. That same month, the three
Prairie provinces still voted "dry" but
the majority in favour of prohibition had dropped
considerably. Gradually, liquor came back to Canada,
only this time the provincial governments received
much more of liquor's profits.
Interestingly, the battle for prohibition was closely
linked to the fight for women's suffrage. Both male
and female prohibitionists saw women's suffrage as
the key to achieving a dry nation. Like prohibition,
women's suffrage acquired new force with the onset
of the First World War and increased its support during
the war years. Women reformers pointed out the inconsistency
of fighting for democracy abroad when more than half
of Canada's citizens were denied the democratic right
to vote at home. Some suffragists employed nativist
arguments, stating that if "unwashed hoards"
of immigrants could vote, then surely could women
of upstanding British background. Others argued that
women also had served their country during the war
and taken on tasks previously done by men; and if
women were serving their country, they deserved the
right to participate in its political life. Still
other women suffragists argued that the war was caused
by men's aggressive nature; if women had the right
to vote and exercised political control, then wars
would cease. As one of Canada's foremost suffragists
and leading Prairie women, Nellie McClung, stated,
the war was a direct result of male domination - "The
hand that rocks the cradle does not rule the world.
If it did, human life would be held dearer and the
world would be a sweeter, cleaner, safer place than
it is now." These maternal feminist arguments
held much influence among many Canadians who were
well aware of their nation's sacrifices in Europe.
Women's organizations rallied increasingly behind
the suffragists' cause. The Women's Christian Temperance
Association supported suffrage more enthusiastically
than ever, linking it to the need to ban alcohol.
Other associations like farm women's groups in the
West also spoke out in defence of women's political
rights. The most vocal suffragists were middle class
and of British ancestry - the same group which was
most deeply committed to the war.
Suffragists were eventually successful in obtaining
the franchise for women. In January 1916, Manitoba
became the first Canadian province to give women the
vote. Saskatchewan and Alberta followed shortly thereafter
in March and April, respectively. In 1917, British
Columbia and Ontario gave women the vote, as did Nova
Scotia in 1918, New Brunswick in 1919, and Prince
Edward Island in 1922. In Quebec, women were denied
the provincial franchise until 1940. Meanwhile, the
Canadian government granted certain women the federal
franchise in 1917 because the Wartime Elections
Act enfranchised female relatives of those serving
overseas. By January 1919, all women over the age of
21 were allowed to vote in federal elections. It was
a watershed in Canadian history - approximately half
the Canadian population was finally granted basic
democratic rights.