The history of the town and district of Coronation, Alberta, was written with two objectives in mind. The first was to recreate the beginnings and growth of a prairie town in an attempt to portray the general tone, character, and purpose of country living, as well as the hopes, thoughts, and feelings of rural and small town folk. This was to be achieved by tracing in detail the development of a special prairie community, but, at the same time, it was felt that such a story of one settlement in a semi-dry area would typify the history of dry belt pioneering throughout much of the West. This was my second aim. Typical of the West was the diversity of language and national origin of Coronation's early settlers. Typical also were the reasons for leaving their homeland and their methods of travel. Like most pioneers of the semi-dry belt they had been led to expect a land of everlasting plenty; instead they found hardships almost impossible to overcome. In common with the rest of the West their fortunes rose or fell according to the crop year, but, typical of the dry areas, their crop failures were far more numerous than in districts more blessed with rain. Typical, too, was the overdependence on wheat and the overinvestment in land -- factors leading to ruin in the hungry Thirties. And, as depression and frustration took the place of wild expansion and unbridled optimism, the people of Coronation joined their neighbours in the fight for a farmers' government to oppose the suspected dominance of eastern big-business interests. Finally, with the rebounding faith so typical of the West, Coronationites were quick to forget the hardships of the past with the promise of good times to come. In order to set the stage for my detailed study I have purposely included a fairly extensive introductory chapter. Here I have discussed briefly the main steps in western development, from the time of Confederation up to the early 1900's, when Coronation's story really begins. By first presenting a general picture of what was happening throughout the entire West, I felt that my story of one community could slip more readily into proper perspective. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

On Valentine’s Day, 1933 the citizens of Blairmore, Alberta elected a Communist town council and school board. “Alberta’s Red Democrats: the Challenges and Legacy of Blairmore Communism, 1921-1936” seeks not only to understand the Red administration that governed here during the mid-thirties, but also the community that elected it. It will be shown that the election of Mayor Bill Knight and his colleagues was neither a knee-jerk reaction to the protracted poverty of the Great Depression nor an alignment with the Communist Party of Canada as an act of desperation. The Red movement at Blairmore was deeply rooted in past experience, and as it came to fruition challenged what it meant to be a Communist in Canada. / Thesis (Ph.D, History) -- Queen's University, 2013-08-29 17:24:15.163

Canada's declaration of war in 1939 resulted in the creation of a "total war" economy that necessitated the absorption of all available men, and led to the wide scale recruitment of women into the military and labour force. The end of the war resulted in government and media encouragement to return to the home, but despite this emphasis on home and family, many women developed a two-phase work history. In this thesis, I use the oral history of sixteen Southern Alberta women to analyze the effect of World War II on Southern Alberta women's work and family choices, focusing specifically on the years between 1939 and 1959. I argue that, although the war did not significantly change the status of women in the paid workforce, it did affect the geographic mobility of women and the perception of their own work, both paid and unpaid. / vi, 181 leaves ; 29 cm.

This thesis explores the ways in which modern history-writing practices reiterate race-based categories of citizenship. To investigate these practices across time, I have examined discourses produced by the United Farm Women of Alberta (UFWA) in 1925, and discourses produced by the contemporary magazine American Renaissance (AR). The UFWA were concerned with the promotion and definition of citizenship, and in so doing laid race as a foundation of Canadian identity. AR is a magazine that concerns itself with white nationalism in the contemporary United States. Drawing upon Avery Gordon and Wendy Brown’s theories of history and haunting, I have situated these discourses in imaginative relation to one another, illuminating the “past” in the present. I have also critically examined how I am complicit in reproducing the historical practices under study; as an architecture of history, haunting helps to imagine alternatives for the study of history and social life, particularly our own. / vii, 160 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm

Prior to the beginning of the Second World War discussions of air force training between Britain and Canada, were ongoing, but never agreed upon. The declarations of war on Germany from Britain and Canada forced these discussions to a resolution as the air force was a crucial component of military operations. On December 17, 1939 the agreement known as the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) was signed. The agreement intended that Canada would train all of the Allied air force throughout the war. The repercussions of the agreement meant that communities across the country became home to training schools and air force personnel. This study employs geographic and relational aspects of community theory in the investigation of the role of sport in the relationship building process between military and civilian communities in Southern Alberta. Sport provided common ties and opportunities for social interaction in the relationship-building process between BCATP schools and Southern Alberta communities. Towns were losing many of the men and women who were playing sport as they joined the services and air force personnel were replacing them; thereby keeping sport at all levels from completely shutting down during the war. This study highlights the changes in the sporting landscape as military sport transitioned from a spectacle to becoming indispensable to local communities. Specific case studies of basketball and lacrosse in Macleod, hockey in Claresholm and Lethbridge, soccer in Medicine Hat and sporting charity events indicate the depth to which schools integrated into towns through sport. Situated within pertinent secondary sources from history, sociology and sport studies this study draws on six Southern Alberta newspapers, town council meeting minutes and archival data from the Nanton Bomber Museum, The Claresholm Museum, The Galt Museum and Archives and the Esplanade Heritage Centre. / ix, 184 leaves ; 29 cm

The British North America Act, 1930 (the Natural Resources Transfer Agreements or NRTAs) marked the end of a lengthy battle between the provincial governments of Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba and the federal government of Canada. Prior to 1930, the provincial governments did not have administrative control over their natural resources, which were managed by the federal Department of the Interior. As a result, the three prairie provinces did not share equal constitutional status with the other Canadian provinces that did control their own resources. Under the terms of the new constitutionalized intergovernmental agreements the provincial governments agreed to fulfil all of the federal government’s continuing obligations to third parties after the transfer. One of these obligations was the redemption of Métis scrip issued by the federal government to extinguish the Métis share of Aboriginal land title. After the transfer, however, the provinces resisted granting more land to satisfy what they considered to be a federal obligation. The provinces refused to redeem Métis scrip entitlements and the federal government did not enforce the terms of the NRTAs. Both the federal and provincial governments failed to live up to the terms of the constitutional agreement and the Métis scrip issue fell through the jurisdictional cracks of Canadian federalism. This dissertation examines the historical context and consequences surrounding the Alberta and Saskatchewan government’s failure to recognize Métis scripholders’ rights-based claims to land. Each provincial government pursued different avenues with respect to natural resources and Métis policies. The purpose of this study is to examine the different phases of policy development in each province in light of the general failure of recognition. The transfer of control and administration of the public domain from one level of government to another provides interesting insights into the history of government-Aboriginal relations in Canada. Aboriginal people (including Métis) were not consulted during the negotiations leading up to the NRTAs; nevertheless (or perhaps as a result), the transfer agreements were a catalyst for political organization in several Métis communities. Métis who had been living on federal crown land were concerned that the transfer of lands to the provinces would negatively impact their right to pursue traditional livelihoods such as hunting, fishing and trapping. In Alberta, the NRTAs sparked the formation of the Métis Association of Alberta, a political lobbying group that advocated recognition of historical claims to land. During this period, parallel Métis living in Saskatchewan and Manitoba created parallel organizations. These political groups represent some of the earliest attempts by Aboriginal people in the prairie provinces to voice their concerns and influence government policy. There are three recurrent themes in this study. First, land appears as a point of convergence for Métis claims and an alternative to the distribution of government social assistance due to high levels of unemployment. Second, Métis political organizing affects government policy-making. Third, the thesis notes the marked change in policy direction by the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) government in Saskatchewan after its election in 1944. The CCF introduced natural resources policies based on social democratic principles such as collective marketing. This approach was a marked departure from the liberal approaches introduced by previous provincial governments in Alberta and Saskatchewan. / Graduate / 0398 / nobyrne.ca@gmail.com