Lifestyles of the 1940s
A picture of Canadian life in the 1940s from CBC Radio and Canadian Army Newsreels
Life in the 1940s couldn't have been easy for a woman in Canada.
She might be trying to stretch the family butter ration. Luckily, CBC Radio had tips for that: butter just one, not both, slices of bread when making sandwiches; cut off the crusts before buttering; mix it with hot water or milk to make the butter spread further. (The weekly butter ration of half a pound per person is generous by modern standards — in 2016, Canadians consumed an average of 62 grams weekly per capita.)
'Fair Amazons in overalls'
And if she couldn't find nylon stockings because the factories were all making parachutes instead of legwear, she might as well go to work making ships.
After the war in Europe was over, the "Canadian girls" employed at a shipbuilding facility in Halifax were still hard at work hammering rivets in the seams of troop ships. "When victory is won, a great share of the credit will be due to our fair Amazons in overalls," says the narrator in a Canadian Army Newsreel about women workers.
Heading home for Christmas
CBC Radio was a staple for families across the country in the 1940s, bringing news of the war to Canadians along with homemaking tips, absorbing dramas, political views and light music. In the cinemas, Canadian Army Newsreels showed pictures of Canadian troops on the front lines.
When the longest-serving soldiers got a 30-day leave from the battlefields — a privilege awarded by lottery — the producers at the army film unit captured them getting ready to ship out to spend the Christmas season at home.
