Life on the

Homefront
CHC2D
Wartime Home Front: The wartime
home front is a term used to
describe the activities of the civilian population of a country at war as they
support the combat efforts of their troops.

The home front refers to the civilians, including women, men, children and
 teenagers, who worked in various ways to help the country cope as tens of
thousands of soldiers fought overseas – young men normally employed in
factories, on farms and in the cities.

What was the Homefront?

Farms Farmers broke new land and with state

assistance mechanized their farms enlisting were given factory jobs.
Mechanization was an attempt to make Conditions in factories were often
up for the lack of young male labourers terrible.
who enlisted or moved to the city.
Factories
Booming war factories were in desperate
need of skilled tradesmen
many skilled men were allowed to enlist
before it was recognized how badly they
were needed at home. Due to the Farms and Factories
demand, women and "aliens"whose
nationalities impeded them from
Farming, processing, and manufacturing had been cut back in parts of
Europe. Canada, however, was still able to produce the essential items.

By producing more and consuming less, Canadian were able to supply the
essentials to soldiers and citizens in Western Europe.

People were given ration cards for essential items.

Since most food supplies were purchased and prepared by women, it was
up to them to make food last for a number of weeks.

Rationing
The amount of food and gasoline that could be consumed by each
 household was rationed or limited.
This was done to ensure that more
supplies could be sent overseas to
support the soldiers and the war
effort.
the home front, Canadian adults were
limited to 26 L of gasoline weekly.
People were fined for trying to buy
more than their limit.

Gasoline was needed in the war for

machines and transportation so, on Fuel Essentials
The Canadian government also created media organizations such as The
National Film Board and The Wartime Information Board, which would
create and publish information meant to persuade Canadians to not only
respect, but also feel good about the rationing system.

The family member who was in charge of food purchasing and menu
planning was told to“fight the war by feeding the family”cheaply and well.
Housewives were even given the title of “housoldiers,”so they were aware that
what they did with the family menu would help Canada win the war.

Propoganda

A common approach was to create“propaganda” posters. Propaganda is a form

of communication that’s aimed at influencing people’s attitudes and actions.

The messages conveyed through propaganda are often not objective. They are
presented in ways that are meant to influence people’s actions. Propaganda
can be designed to get people to take a specific action or to adopt a suggested
attitude. In other words, propaganda is used to target emotions and
manipulate opinions to achieve specific results.

Propaganda Continued
 Canadians were also asked to donate money, and new kinds of taxes were
created to support the war. The government used many tactics to encourage
Canadians to open their wallets. Canadians were also asked to pay a brand new
kind of tax for the first time in World War I. It was called “income tax.”
As the war went on, many Canadians started to see it as a national war effort,
rather than just a faraway British war they were part of. Contributions of
supplies and money were sent in generously.
However, as the years passed by with no resolution, some people started to
feel like they were having to carry the financial burden of the war.

Paying for War

"Personal income tax, introduced under the exempt from the tax included the Governor
Income War Tax Act of 1917, was conceived – General, foreign consuls, and those who were
like the other wartime taxes – as a temporary on active service overseas. Married
measure. This act … Canadians with an income below $2,000, or
introduced a tax based on yearly income to unmarried Canadians with an income below
most Canadians. Those individuals who were $1,000 were also exempt from filing a tax
return. Under the Income War Tax Act, World War, hosted by Library and
eligible tax payers that did not submit a tax
return were fined $100 per day with a
Archives Canada.
maximum penalty of $10,000. This was an
incredible fine considering, for example, that
an annual married income of $3,000 was
only expected to pay $20 in income tax!"

Paying for
War

Read the following excerpt of the

article Canada and the First