Two World Wars

The third gallery in the Canadian History Hall at the Museum starts with the First World War and goes to the current day. The Great War was a time of great change for the nation.

This uniform coat belonged to Sergeant Alexander Reid of the 16th Canadian Infantry Battalion, who served through the war and was decorated on several occasions. At the Second Battle of Arras in September 1918, he led troops to capture a German gun emplacement, using his bayonet to finish off the enemy.

Here we have recruitment posters of the time, in both languages.

Two works by members of The Group of Seven are here. The Lawren Harris quote included is quite fitting.

This untitled landscape is by A.J. Casson.

While A.Y. Jackson painted Eskimo Summer Camp.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, otherwise known as Radio-Canada for French speakers in the country, came into being as a public broadcasting service during the Depression.

Just as Canada had gone to war from the beginning in the First World War, such was the case in the Second World War. Photographs here include our wartime prime minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King addressing the nation, and hosting Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and the governor-general of the time, the Earl of Athlone, at the First Quebec Conference during the war.

Canadians worked at home and abroad for the war effort.