Canadian Identity in the 1920's

Agnes McPhail - first woman elected to the House of Commons

These new household items changed the lives of women, as wives and mothers.

Emily Murphy  a female judge and 'a person'

The Famous Five - lobbied for women to be recognized as persons

Music flooded the airways . . . via new technology like the radio

"Happy Days are Here Again"

Much of this new, developing culture of the 1920's was influenced by American culture

"I'm Sitting on Top of the World"

Including dances like 

The Charleston

and the Turkey Trot

American influence was also seen in fashion styles of the 1920's

Increased mobility between Canada and the USA was possible due to the Model T Ford


now 'the drive thru' restaurant was possible

Improved communications further allowed for the sharing of Canadian and American culture

and the movies . . . first the silent ones, like Charlie Chaplin

and then the talkies

Laurel and Hardy

Many Canadian actors went south in search of work . . and fame.
Canadian Mary Pickford became known as America's Sweetheart

The 1920's saw a new  Canadian art movement, reflecting Canada's rugged landscape

The Group of Seven were a group of Canadian landscape painters in the 1920s, originally consisting of Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris, A. Y. Jackson, Franz Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J. E. H. MacDonald, and Frederick Varley. Tom Thomson(who died in 1917) and Emily Carr were also closely associated with the Group of Seven, though neither were ever official members. The Group of Seven is most famous for its paintings of the Canadian landscape. It was succeeded by the Canadian Group of Painters in the 1930s.^[1]

The Group of Seven was strongly influenced by European Impressionism of the late nineteenth century in the Montmartre district of Paris.

and BC's very own Emily Carr