C. Canada, 1929–1945 · Canada, 1929–1945: Depression, Extremism and the Second World War

Legacy of the Era: The Holocaust, Human Rights and Your Own Historical Inquiry

C3.3 C2.1 C1.5 C3.1 A1.1 A1.2 A1.3 A1.4 A1.5 A1.6 A1.7 A1.8 A1.9 A2.1 A2.2 A2.3About 75 minutes

Learning goals

I can analyse the impact of the Holocaust on Canadian society and on attitudes toward human rights.
I can describe early Canadian human-rights cases and laws, including Christie v. York and the Racial Discrimination Act.
I can explain John Humphrey's role in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
I can plan and carry out a historical inquiry, cite my sources and communicate my findings.
I can explain how inquiry skills transfer to everyday life, school and work.

Words to know

human rights
Rights that belong to every person because they are human, such as equality, freedom of expression and freedom from discrimination.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
A statement of basic human rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948.

human rights code
A law that bans discrimination in areas such as jobs, housing and services. It applies to private businesses and employers, not only governments.

restrictive covenant
A clause in a property deed banning sale or rent to certain groups; courts later refused to enforce such clauses.

hate propaganda
Communication that promotes hatred or genocide against an identifiable group. Canada made it a crime in 1970.

citation
A note that tells the reader exactly where information came from, so they can check it.

thesis
A clear, arguable claim that answers an inquiry question and is supported by evidence.

synthesize
Combine evidence from several sources into one clear explanation or argument.

Hook: a glass of beer and a Supreme Court case

In July 1936, Fred Christie, a Black man from Montreal, went with friends to the York Tavern in the Montreal Forum and ordered a beer. The server refused because he was Black. Christie sued. In 1939, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against him in Christie v. York: it said a business owner was free to refuse service to anyone. At that time, no Canadian law banned racial discrimination by businesses.

Within a few decades, every province had a human-rights law and Canadians had helped write the world's most famous statement of human rights. This final lesson asks: What changed, and why? How much did the Holocaust and the war shape that change?

The world responds to the Holocaust

When the war ended, the world saw the full evidence of the Holocaust (Lesson 11). Leaders and ordinary people asked how such crimes could be prevented.

1945: the United Nations was founded. Its Charter commits members to promote human rights "without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion."
1945 to 1946: Nazi leaders were tried at Nuremberg for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
December 9, 1948: the UN adopted the Genocide Convention, based on Raphael Lemkin's work.
December 10, 1948: the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The first draft was written by John Humphrey, a law professor from New Brunswick who taught at McGill University and directed the UN's Human Rights Division. Canada voted for the Declaration in the General Assembly, though it had hesitated earlier in the process.

December 10 is celebrated around the world as Human Rights Day.

Change at home: early Canadian human-rights steps

The Holocaust, the war against Nazism and the activism of minority communities pushed Canada to confront discrimination at home.

Ontario's Racial Discrimination Act (1944) banned the publication or display of signs, symbols and notices expressing racial or religious discrimination, such as "Gentiles only" signs. It was the first law of its kind in Canada.
Re Drummond Wren (1945): an Ontario judge, Keiller Mackay, ruled that a covenant banning the sale of land to Jews was void because it was against public policy, citing the new human-rights ideals of the time.
1947: the Canadian Citizenship Act created Canadian citizenship for the first time; Parliament also repealed the Chinese Immigration Act; and Saskatchewan, under Premier Tommy Douglas, passed a Bill of Rights, the first in Canada.
Canada's refugee policy slowly opened: about 40,000 Holocaust survivors came after the war.
Black Canadian organizers kept pressing. The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters won its first contract with the CPR in 1945, and activists from Black communities in Toronto, Montreal, Halifax and elsewhere pushed for anti-discrimination laws, which came in the 1950s (Unit D).
1970: the Criminal Code made hate propaganda a crime, after a federal committee studied the spread of antisemitic and racist material.

These changes were gradual. Discrimination did not end in 1945, and many groups, including Indigenous peoples, waited much longer for equal rights.

In 1939 the law protected a business's right to discriminate; within a generation, Canadian law began to protect people from discrimination. (Events evenly spaced, not to scale.)

Remember: who do rights laws apply to?

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982, Unit E) limits what governments can do. Discrimination by private businesses, landlords and employers, like the York Tavern, is covered by provincial and federal human rights codes, such as the Ontario Human Rights Code (1962). Today, Fred Christie could file a complaint under a human rights code.

Your own historical inquiry

Throughout this unit you have practised the parts of historical inquiry. Now put them together. The inquiry process is a cycle: good answers lead to new questions.

Follow the cycle clockwise from Ask. Each step is a strand A expectation; together they make up a full historical inquiry.

Worked example

Let's model a mini-inquiry

Inquiry question: To what extent did the Holocaust change Canadians' attitudes toward human rights between 1945 and 1970?

Ask (A1.1): this is an evaluative question ("to what extent"), so the answer will be a judgement, not a single fact.
Gather (A1.2): primary sources such as the text of the Racial Discrimination Act (1944), the Re Drummond Wren decision (1945), the UDHR and Humphrey's draft (1948), newspaper reports; secondary sources such as The Canadian Encyclopedia and Abella and Troper's None Is Too Many.
Judge (A1.3): a court decision is a reliable record of the law; a newspaper editorial shows an opinion; a later historian's book is secondary but based on archives.
Analyse (A1.4, A1.5): use continuity and change: what changed (new laws, UDHR, refugees admitted) and what stayed the same (immigration restrictions until the 1960s; Indigenous peoples without the vote until 1960). Use cause and consequence: the Holocaust was one cause among others (war experience, activism by Jewish, Black and Asian Canadian communities, the CCF).
Conclude (A1.6): thesis: "The Holocaust significantly accelerated Canada's human-rights movement, but change was gradual and uneven, and depended on activism by affected communities."
Communicate (A1.7 to A1.9): write an essay, podcast or presentation using terms such as antisemitism, systemic discrimination and human rights code, with a citation for every source.

A strong inquiry ends with a clear, supported thesis and an honest discussion of its limits, for example: the Holocaust was a powerful cause of change, but not the only one, and the change was gradual.

Citing sources (A1.8)

Your teacher will tell you which style to use (often MLA or Chicago). A website citation usually includes: author or organization, title of the page, website name, date published or updated, URL, and the date you accessed it. For a book: author, title, publisher, year. When in doubt, include enough information for a reader to find the exact source.

Hands-on activity

Your inquiry project

You need: a notebook or computer, access to a library or reliable websites, and about 3 to 4 hours spread over a week.

Choose a question about Canada, 1929 to 1945, that interests you. Ideas: How did the Depression affect my town or region? How significant was the Antigonish Movement? To what extent did the war change women's roles? How did a local First Nation experience the war?
Find at least five sources, including at least two primary sources (for example a newspaper from the time, a photograph, a government document, an oral history) and one Indigenous, minority or women's perspective if it fits your topic.
For each source, write: who, when, purpose, and how reliable it is for your question.
Use one concept of historical thinking (significance, cause and consequence, continuity and change, or historical perspective) to organize your analysis.
Write a thesis and support it in a 600 to 800 word essay, a 5-minute podcast or a short slide presentation.
Add a source list with full citations.
Reflect (A2.1, A2.2): list two skills you used (for example, judging credibility, organizing evidence) and one place you could use each outside history class.

What to look for: an arguable question, varied and credible sources, analysis using a historical thinking concept, a clear thesis, correct subject vocabulary, complete citations, and a thoughtful reflection.

Your turn

What did the Supreme Court decide in Christie v. York (1939)?

What did Ontario's Racial Discrimination Act (1944) ban?

What was John Humphrey's contribution to human rights?

What was decided in Re Drummond Wren (1945)?

Give two ways the Holocaust influenced human rights after 1945.

Name the six steps of the inquiry process in this lesson.

What makes a good inquiry question?

More practice: warm-up

When was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted?

Who was Fred Christie?

Which province passed Canada's first bill of rights in 1947?

What does a citation do?

Is a 1944 law a primary or secondary source?

More practice: on your own

Why would Fred Christie's case be decided differently today?

Turn this factual question into an evaluative one: "When was the Racial Discrimination Act passed?"

Give one continuity and one change in Canadian attitudes toward minorities from 1939 to 1950.

Why should an inquiry include more than one perspective?

Describe how the skill of judging source credibility is useful outside history class.

Challenge

To what extent did the Holocaust change Canadians' attitudes toward human rights? Write a thesis and support it with three pieces of evidence.

Compare Christie v. York (1939) and Re Drummond Wren (1945). What do they show about how Canadian law changed?

Explain how one skill from this unit could help you in a future career. Be specific.

Check your understanding

Quiz

What did the Supreme Court decide in Christie v. York (1939)?

Who wrote the first draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

What did Ontario's Racial Discrimination Act (1944) do?

Which question is the best evaluative inquiry question?

What should a website citation include?

Which law or code would cover a restaurant refusing service because of race today?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: This lesson completes C3.3 (the impact of the Holocaust on Canadian society and attitudes toward human rights), adds examples of conflict and cooperation such as Christie v. York and the porters' union (C2.1), government policy such as the Racial Discrimination Act (C1.5) and John Humphrey's contribution (C3.1), and pulls together all of strand A in an inquiry project (A1.1 to A1.9) and transferable skills (A2.1 to A2.3).

No "Just for fun" box in this lesson, because it begins with the aftermath of the Holocaust and with racial discrimination.

Common difficulties:

Charter vs human rights codes. The Charter limits governments; codes cover businesses, landlords and employers.
Factual questions disguised as inquiry questions. Push for "why", "how" or "to what extent".
Missing citations. Start a source list on day one of the project.

How to help: Help your teen choose a manageable topic, ideally a local one (your town's newspaper archives, a local museum, a cenotaph, a family story). Check in on sources early, and ask them to explain their thesis to you in one sentence before they write.