Most Canadians responded to the outbreak of war with excitement. Others didn’t want to enlist because they had families, good jobs and they didn’t/couldn’t leave their farms. Some people enlisted because everyone else was doing it. Some Canadian men might have enlisted because they wanted to prove their loyalty to Great Britain or because they needed the money. On the Homefront during the war citizens raised a lot of money, rationed food, made supplies for soldiers and worked in factories and on farms to replace the men fighting. Everyone was supposed to encourage young men to enlist. In 1917, the government introduced a new tax called income tax to help pay for the war effort. The government also sold Victory Bomds to raise money from private citizens. Children volunteered with the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides to raise money for the Canadian Patriotic Fund. Students in rural areas were let out of school during the harvest to help on farms, students in urban areas helped run family businesses. Girls helped woman make clothing and roll bandages for soldiers. Children bought $4 of stamps for 25c each. Families were expected to conserve food and fuel. Some woman seved overseas with the armed forces as nurses and ambulance drivers, and volunteers with the Red Cross. At home woman took jobs in factories, as bus drivers, and in civil service positions.
If I lived during the war I wouldn’t have enlisted because I would probably have a family and I don’t think I would be able to leave them. I would stay on the Homefront and help out by conserving food and fuel, planting Victory Gardens, and take over the jobs that the men left.
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