Remembrance Day… by the numbers

Lest we forget…

Image: Veteran's Week 2006 November 11 is a day to remember the sacrifices and accomplishments of the past and the endeavours of the present.

Each year, Canada celebrates Veterans' Week from November 5 to 11. Veterans' Week is a time to honour and remember all those who served Canada in times of war, military conflict and peace. It is also a time to teach our youth about the importance of remembering.

The theme for Veterans' Week 2006 is "Share the Story."

Source: Veterans Affairs Canada, www.vac-acc.gc.ca.

War veterans

For information on Canada's participation and casualties, please see the section "General Statistics" in the media centre of Veterans Affairs Canada’s website.

Listen to their stories…

747,438 — The estimated number of people living in Canada in 2006 who were 16 years of age or older at the outset of World War II in 1939.

2,003,651 — The estimated number of people living in Canada in 2006 who were born during the years of the Second World War (1939-1945).

279,728 — The estimated number of people alive in Canada in 2006 who were born during or before the period of the First World War (1914-1918).

Source: CANSIM, table 051-0001 (Estimates of population).

Post-war seniors and the baby boom generation

In 2006, the oldest of the baby boomers—the generation born during the 1946 to 1965 period—started to turn 60 years old. By the end of 2006, more than 400,000 Canadian boomers, almost 1,100 a day, will have celebrated their 60th birthday.

As of July 1, 2006, seniors accounted for an estimated 13.2% of the country's population, almost double the proportion of 7.2% at the outset of the baby boom in 1946. Meanwhile, the proportion of individuals aged 20 to 64 increased from 56.3% to 62.8%.

Source: “Canada's population by age and sex”, The Daily, Thursday, October 26, 2006.

Canada’s armed forces

87,244 — The number of military personnel as of June, 2006.

$384.1 million — The value of military wages and salaries paid to these personnel in June 2006.

Source: CANSIM, table 183-0004 (Public Sector Employment).

87,370 — The number of Department of National Defence military personnel in 2005, up from 83,771 in 2001.

62,591 — The number of regular forces in 2005, up from 59,522 in 2001.

24,779 — The number of reserve forces in 2005, up from 24,249 in 2001, but down from 26,237 in 2000.

Source: CANSIM, table 183-0021 (Public Sector Employment).

1,494 — The number of military personnel outside Canada in 2005.

Source: Summary tables, Employment, Salaries and wages, Federal government, Military personnel and pay (Personnel).

War veterans’ pensions

$224 million — The value of war veterans' allowances paid in 2003.

$1.5 billion — The value of First and Second World War pensions paid in 2003.

Source: Summary tables, Employment benefits, Government finance, National income and expenditure accounts, Government transfer payments to persons.

Defence expenditures

$1.34 billion — The monthly expenditure on defence for August 2006.

$1.27 billion — The average monthly expenditure on defence for the first half of 2006.

$14.43 billion — The annual expenditure on defence in 2005.

$11.50 billion — The annual expenditure on defence in 2002.

Source: CANSIM, table 183-0014 (Government of Canada budgetary revenues and expenditures — data supplied by Finance Canada).

$12.21 billion — The value of government net current expenditures on defence in 2002.

Source: CANSIM, table 381-0010 (System of National Economic Accounts).

Military aircraft

5,836 —The total number of military aircraft movements at airports in Canada with NAV Canada towers in 2005. For comparison, there were 356,546 civil aircraft movements in Canada in 2005.

Source: CANSIM, table 401-0008 (Aircraft Movement Statistics).

Military construction

$38 million — The value of capital expenditures on construction of armouries, barracks and other similar military-type structures in 2004. This was down from $72.1 million in 2001 and $60.1 million in 2002.

Source: CANSIM, table 029-0039 (Capital and Repair Expenditures).

Munitions manufacturing

17 — The number of Canadian establishments in 2003 shipping the following products: bombs, grenades, torpedoes, mines, missiles and similar munitions of war and parts thereof; cartridges and other ammunition and projectiles and parts thereof, including shot and cartridge wads.

$2.65 billion — The total value of these products.

Source: “Annual survey of manufactures: Products shipped by Canadian manufacturers”, The Daily, Thursday, May 4, 2006.

Women in the wartime workforce

Between 1941 and 1943, women’s overall workforce participation increased substantially in several non-traditional industries, including manufacturing (from 19% in 1941 to 28% in 1943) and trade and finance (from 30% to 50%).

As women entered more highly-skilled and better-paid manufacturing industries such as aircraft or shipbuilding and electronics, the nature of their work changed significantly. However, the recruitment of women into the labour force was always presented as temporary—women were working because it was their patriotic duty. As soon as “Johnny came marching home,” men resumed their places in the workforce. By October 1945, as industries throttled back from their wartime production levels, nearly 14% fewer women were employed than in the previous year, versus only a 5% drop for men.

Source: “One hundred years of labour force”, in Canadian Social Trends, Summer 2000, No. 57.

Immigration and refugees

Canada has been influenced by war and conflict. The nation has welcomed immigrants from around the world seeking refuge from war, conflict and economic, social and political instability.

13.4 million —The number of immigrants who came to Canada between 1901 and 2000.

16.4% —The proportion of those immigrants who arrived in Canada in the last decade of the 20th century.

Immigration to Canada over the past 100 years has shaped Canada, with each new wave of immigrants adding to the nation’s ethnic and cultural composition. Half a century ago, most immigrants came from Europe. Now most newcomers are from Asia.

From 1991 to 2000 alone, 2.2 million immigrants were admitted to Canada, the highest number for any decade in the past century. In contrast, 1.3 million immigrants came in the 1980s, and 1.4 million in each of the 1970s and 1960s.

Flows had not been this high since the beginning of the century. The lowest number of immigrants arrived during the two decades of the Great Depression and the Second World War.

Source: 2001 Census, Canada’s ethnocultural portrait: The changing mosaic.

Here are some of the highlights of wars involving Canada and immigration to this nation from 1900 to 2000:

1900s

Most immigration at that time was from Central and Eastern Europe.

This would change in the coming decades, however, with shifting economic conditions and populations, as well as war.

1910s

On August 4, 1914, Great Britain declared war on Germany, automatically drawing Canada into World War I (1914-1918).

The war slowed immigration. In 1915, immigration plunged to the lowest levels witnessed since 1898.

War also created many difficulties for the foreign-born in Canada, especially enemy-aliens at that time.

1920s

In 1923, a repeal of a regulation that restricted the entry of immigrants from Germany and its wartime allies led to a surge in the influx of newcomers from Continental Europe.

1930s

The Great Depression almost choked off all immigration to Canada.

A small proportion of immigration after 1935 was composed of Jewish refugees, but since economic recovery was slow in Canada, there was reluctance to admit even victims of Nazi Germany.

1940s

During World War II (1939-1945), immigration was slow due to the war.

After war ended, Canada enjoyed a wave of prosperity that was initiated by wartime spending.

Almost 100,000 immigrants entered between April 1947 and March 1950 from Central and Eastern Europe, mainly displaced persons and refugees. For several years during this period, Canada admitted more displaced persons than all overseas countries combined.

In 1947, Canada began to serve in Peacekeeping and Foreign Military Operations.

1950s

The decade was marked by Canada’s participation in the Korean War (1950-1953). However, Koreans did not really immigrate to Canada in large numbers until the late 20th century. While fewer than 100 South Koreans came to Canada before 1961, the greatest number (29,240) arrived between 1996 and 2001. In 2001, there were 110 people residing in Canada who were born in North Korea.

In 1956-1957, close to 38,000 Hungarian refugees came to Canada after the Russians crushed the Hungarian uprising.

The United States and the United Kingdom still furnished Canada with large numbers of newcomers, but they were no longer the predominant sources of immigrants. The majority of newcomers came from Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.

1960s

Most immigrants were from Europe.

In 1965, Canada started admitting large numbers of American draft dodgers of the Vietnam War.

1970s

The decade was marked by an influx of immigrants from Tibet, Uganda and, notably, the “Boat people”: the Vietnamese, Laotians and Kampucheans who fled Communist regimes following Saigon’s fall in 1975.

There were also American draft-dodgers and military deserters who sought refuge during the Vietnam War.

1980s

Many immigrants were people fleeing oppression and civil war in El Salvador and in Chile.

1990s

The decade was marked by a notable influx from Hong Kong, in the years leading up to the territory’s return to Chinese rule.

Many people also came to Canada from the Balkan region, especially Kosovo. (For more information on Balkan immigration, see “Recent immigration to Canada from the Balkans” in Report on the Demographic Situation in Canada, June 30, 2006.)

National Registration File of 1940

The National Registration File of 1940 resulted from the compulsory registration of all persons, 16 years of age or older, in the period from 1940 to 1946.

This information was originally obtained under the authority of The 1940 National Resources Mobilization Act and the War Measures Act. Custody of the records was subsequently given to the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, which later became Statistics Canada.

The records provide social and economic information (such as marital status, languages, education, general health and employment status) and information on skills and previous military service.

The files are limited to genealogy and administrative searches. The service is normally provided in support of applications for pensions, citizenship, passports and similar situations where other administrative records are required but no longer exist or were never issued.

Source: Searches of the National Registration File of 1940.

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