Bravery Under the British Banner

The First World War was the first major conflict Canada participated in since it became a dominion under the British banner in 1867. With the storm of conflict roaring through the European continent, Canada was called into the war by the British Empire at the time, fighting alongside the Entente army. Starting in 1914 Canada began mobilizing its army and its soldiers came from all over Canada, sharing different social classes, and ethnical and religious backgrounds. The Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) was founded and sent to the European battlefield, where it began to fight under the British banner in 1915 and until the war ended in 1918.

As the people of Canada became united, patriotism became a common theme in newspapers, street posters and people's day-to-day conversations. The city of Toronto, for example, was densely populated and therefore became the centre of media publication; newspapers delivering information about the frontline and Canada's response to the Entente war effort motivated many people to participate in becoming volunteers, organizing field hospitals and charity programs. Recruitment and War Bond posters can also be seen all over the city streets, and people in Ontario were becoming more aware and engaged in the developing situation despite being far away from the actual battlefield.

There were also factories all across Canada that were transformed into military factories to produce munitions, shells, uniforms and other war materials. The Stelco company, which owned a factory in Brantford, Ontario, converted the steel plant into a shell factory in 1915. With close cooperation with Stelco's other factory in Montreal, they produced 119,000 shells in just one year, and 537,555 shells in 1917, then reached 1,312,616 shells in 1918. The widespread patriotism also led to some dissatisfaction with the naming of certain towns. The town of Berlin in Ontario was renamed Kitchener due to people's hostility towards the German Empire at the time.