Inquiry

What challenges did Canadians face during this time?


What do washing machines, vacuum cleaners, cars, refrigerators, quads, tractors and heavy equipment and have in common?

They are all machines.
Canadians used to make things by hand. Horses were used for transportation and getting work done. But soon, people adopted easier and cheaper ways of making things. They started to use machines. Industrialization is when a country goes from based on agriculture to being based on manufacturing and other industries.

How does an assembly line in a factory work?

In the past, a person might build a whole rubber boot by themselves. After industrialization, many people were involved in building the boot. An individual had a smaller task. One person might make a pattern for the boot. Another person might cut the rubber. Another person put on the heel. Once the person completes a task, such as putting on the boot heel, he or she will repeat it on another boot. Repeating the same task can be boring and dangerous if someone loses their concentration.


Plowing via Unsplash

When people started to use machines rather than doing work by hand, they had to move locations. Canadians made a change from living in rural areas to living in cities.  They changed from logging, farming, fishing, and fur trading, to work in factories or other industries.


As you do your inquiry into this topic, think about some questions:

  • What were conditions in factories and cities for ordinary people?
  • What caused these conditions?
  • What were the lives of many children like at the time?  Why?
  • What were people's attitudes towards women?
  • What illness killed millions of people in the world?

Resources for Inquiry

  1. Textbook
      • Read pages 256 - 259.

  2. Library Book
      • Canada Past, Present, Future, pages 42 – 43

        If you were unable to borrow this book, look for information on factory working conditions, living conditions in cities, child labour, and the Spanish flu in library books you did find.

  3. Websites

 Skill Builder


Click here to learn how to find copyright-free images.


Notebook


Click here to download, save to your Unit 9 Notebook, and use this Chart to help you keep track of what you learn from at least four resources.



When you feel confident about the information you explored in this inquiry, complete Lesson 3 Self-Check on the following page.