1950s & 1960s

Changes for Canada

The Baby Boom

The Baby Boom

• Birth rate rapidly increased after WWII

• By the mid-1960s half of the population was below the

age of 25

• Massive growth in schools occurred during this period –

requiring governments to spend more tax dollars in this

area – Education was seen as a “right”

• Students stayed in school longer, more graduated high

school, and more colleges & universities were built to

accommodate the growth

Urban Life

Urban Life

• The development of better cars in the 1950s led to the birth of the “commuter age”

• These new cars became a new focus of society (house with a garage, more roads, parking, etc.)

• The first suburbs began to emerge to the north and east of Toronto (York, North York &Scarborough)

• A new set of values emerged. (pg 216)

• This began to change cities into the urban/suburban layout we have today

Household Life

• After WWII women were again expected to return to work in the household. Many did, but as with WWI, many did not.

• The single-income family was considered typical

• There was pressure to “maintain appearances” within your town, so more families attended church, community social functions, etc.

• Mothers, on average, did 99 hours of housework each week.

Entertainment

Entertainment

• Television was emerging in the 1950s – show like Hockey Night in Canada and Front Page Challenge were popular

• TV dramas and comedies, like Father Knows Best and Leave It To Beaver re-enforced the idea of a nuclear family and gender stereotypes.

• Drive-in movie theatres became widely popular in the 1950s through to the 1970s

• Drive-thru restaurants became very popular

Rock and Roll

Music

• The early 1950s saw a period of conservative, traditional music

• By the mid-1950s Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and Paul Anka had introduced “Rock and Roll”

• This began the “generation gap” phenomenon

• By the 1960s the impact of Rock Music had become far more widespread with Neal Young, Joni Mitchell and Gordon Lightfoot. (The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, etc.)

• Rock counter-culture became a source of social protest and social unrest (hippies, psychedelic movement, peace protesters rejecting nuclear weapons & Vietnam War)

Questions

• How will we cope with aging baby boomers

(health care, pensions, their sense of entitlement)

• What urban planning problems arise from the

boom and post-boom period?

• What about the “Boom Echo” – that’s you

people?

Bigger and Better!

• With the increase in population and the emergence of suburban culture consumerism runs rampant.

• Shopping Malls become places to socialize and the opening of a new one was a major event.

• The mall replaces the front porch or the corner store of previous times.

Significant Events that brought

Canadians together

• Red River Flood – 1950

• Hurricane Hazel 1954

• Springhill coal mine explosion in Nova

Scotia in 1958 (74 deaths)

• Polio epidemics struck each summer

during the early 1950’s

Interesting Tidbits…

• Women couldn’t wear shorts in public

• Movies and books were censored

• Between 1945-1967 the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens each won 9 Stanley Cups.

• The Grey cup came to represent East-West rivalry

• Barbara Ann Scott won the World Figure Skating Championships in 1947 and a Gold Medal at the 1948 Olympics

• Marilyn Bell first person to swim Lake Ontario and the youngest to cross the English Channel.

Culture and Government

• The Massey Commission recommended that

Canada needed to be protected from American

cultural influences

• Canada Council was established in 1957 to award

tax-funded grants to writers, artists and theatres.

• Stratford Festival opened in 1957

• First Canadian Television established by the CBC

in 1952

Questions

1. Is viewing American television programs

harmful to the Canadian identity? Make

a two column chart to examine the

question. Rank the pros and cons you

have identified and then state your own

opinion. Be prepared to share this with

the class.