CONFLICT AND

RACISM:
1930–1939 FOCUIOSN
QUEST
What events helped
IN THIS CHAPTER, define Canada’s role
WE WILL in the world in
the 1930s?
• identify some of the
major conflicts and their
causes in Canada and the
world during the 1930s Canada on the International Stage
• learn how Canada At the height of the Depression, there were many global
reacted to major conflicts. Spain was involved in a civil war. Japan had
international events invaded Manchuria, Korea, and China. Italy had invaded
Ethiopia. Nazi Germany, under its leader, Adolf Hitler,
• describe some key had begun targeting and persecuting Jews and other
government policies “undesirables,” such as non-Caucasians, and invading
and how they affected countries in Europe. Many countries had closed their
Canadians borders to immigrants and refugees (people forced to flee
• learn how to work with their country because of war or human rights violations).
cause and consequence Canadians were struggling to find a way through some of the
same issues: the Depression, immigration, and race relations.
Figure 1 In 1937, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King
In 1937, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King visited Germany. Here he is seen sitting (front row, second
went to Berlin to meet with Hitler to promote a peaceful from left) with important figures from the Nazi Party at the
settlement to the conflicts. In his own words, King “was opening of the All German Sports Competition. What does this
photo suggest about the relationship between King and the
impressed” with Hitler and thought him to be a “capable
Nazis in 1937?
leader who was unlikely to start a war.”

92 Unit 3: 1929–1945 NEL NEL Chapter 5: Conflict and Racism: 1930–1939 93