A Land Finding Its Own Identity

The First World War was transformative for Canada. The country was automatically part of it from the beginning to the end, with a large part of the population involved. Servicemen went to the battlefields of Europe, bled and died, and repeatedly did things that couldn't be done. And the country's sense of itself- as a distinct country as opposed to being just one other part of the British empire- began to grow out of it.

This powerful painting is Gas Attack, Flanders, a 1915 painting by Alfred Bastien.

A photograph of Canadian soldiers en route, celebrating their victory at Vimy Ridge. What other Allied forces had tried and failed to do, they did it. The battle is one of the pivotal moments in Canadian history.

In the wake of the war, as in so many other cases, there was much to mourn.

Robert Borden had been the prime minister who led the country through that war. This 1919 portrait is by William Orpen.

Borden pressed for a place for Canada at the post-war conferences, given the amount of work Canadians had done for the war effort. 

Another push forward in Canadian identity was by a group of artists who felt the Canadian character should be expressed in art. They became hugely influential to the country and are known as the Group of Seven. Two paintings by members are here: an untitled fall landscape by A.J. Casson and Eskimo Summer Camp by A.Y. Jackson. 

The Great Depression would have a huge impact on the country. A turbulent time of high unemployment, social unrest, and despair, it proved to be a challenge for leaders to cope with, as well as the country as a whole.

From this period sprung the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) or Radio-Canada, offering radio broadcasts across the country in English and French. It's still in operation today as a government broadcasting company.