SAFETY CONCERNS
HOW WAS INDUSTRIALIZATION
In factory work, men, women, and children
worked long hours for low pay, and the
conditions were often dirty and dangerous.
Accidents and fires were common. By the
1880s, provinces began to pass laws to
govern safety conditions in the workplace to
protect employees. However, the regulations
were often ignored or violated by employers.
In 1904, a fire broke out in a factory in
downtown Toronto. It spread quickly. By the
end, the fire destroyed over 100 buildings,
mostly factories and warehouses. At least
5000 people lost their jobs. The exact cause
of the fire is unknown, but it is suspected
that a faulty stove or an electrical problem
caused the fire. Examine Figure 5.14, which
shows the aftermath of the Great Toronto Fire. How do
you think this fire affected people living nearby and working
in factories?
CHANGING THE
WORKPLACE?
The most common jobs in Canada before industrialization were related
to farming. Farmers depended on the help and cooperation of all family
members, as well as help from neighbours. With industrialization now
booming, many people were moving away from farms to find work in cities.
WORKING IN FACTORIES
Many of the jobs available in the cities were in factories. Most people who
worked in the factories were either from the working class or were new
immigrants. Many working-class families and new immigrants lived close
to the factories in crowded neighbourhoods. Examine Figure 5.13, which
shows Griffintown, a factory district in Montréal. What do you think it
would have been like to live and work in a factory district?
How might
industrialization
change people’s
relationships with
their families and
neighbours?
FIGURE 5.13 This is a photo of
Griffintown, a factory district in
Montréal, in 1896. Analyze: What
does this photo reveal about the
industrial age?
FIGURE 5.14 This photo shows workers cleaning up
after the Great Toronto Fire of 1904. Analyze: What
challenges does this photo show as the consequence
of a factory fire?
WORKING CONDITIONS
Sometimes inspectors showed up at factories to check
on the conditions in the workplace. Read examples of
injuries from the report of a factory inspector on working
conditions in Figure 5.15. What do these injuries suggest
about the working conditions and training involved?
Factory workers lived under the rule of their employers.
Their pay was low and they were often forced to work
overtime for no pay. It was very hard to improve their
quality of life. Read the excerpt from an interview with
a worker in Figure 5.16. How does Goyette describe his
working experience?
“Question: Were you ever
beaten during your apprenticeship?
Answer: Yes, sir.
Q: How old were you?
A: I might have been fourteen or fifteen.
Q: Who beat you?
A: The foreman.
Q: Why did he beat you? …
A: It was [most often] because I would
not work after regular hours.
“• Reaching under table left arm cut off by saw.
• Arm burned by molten [liquid] iron; he stumbled.
• Fell down elevator shaft.
• Caught in belt and wound around shaft. Died five
hours after accident.
• Fell on a circular saw in motion. Killed instantly.”
— Report from a factory inspector
FIGURE 5.15 From the Twelfth Annual Reports of the Inspectors of
Factories from the Province of Ontario, 1899. Analyze: Do you think any of
these injuries could have been prevented? Which ones and why?
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UNIT 2: Canada’s Changing Society: 1890–1914
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NEL
Q: Did he strike you with his hand, his
fist or some tool?
A: With whatever he had in his hand. He
balked [stopped] at nothing.”
— Stanislas Goyette, a cigar maker
from Montréal
FIGURE 5.16 This is an excerpt from an interview with
Goyette, a 20-year-old cigar maker from Montréal. It
was published in the report of the Royal Commission
on the Relations of Labour and Capital in 1889.
Analyze: Why do you think Goyette would endure this
treatment in the workplace?
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149
WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE
In the 1700s and early 1800s, most women worked in the home raising
children, preparing food, making clothes, and caring for farm animals. They
did not receive a wage for this work, although everything they did supported
their family’s quality of life. Caring for one’s family was expected by society.
In the late 1800s, an increasing number of women began working outside
of the home. Life in the city presented new job opportunities for women
and a chance to earn money for the work that they did. Young women in
Canada who moved to the cities often found work as domestic servants.
This means they took care of someone else’s home or children. In Canada,
40 percent of women who worked outside the home took jobs as
domestic servants.
MORE JOBS FOR WOMEN
domestic servant someone
who is paid to work in
someone else’s home to help
with children or chores
The Bell Telephone Company of Canada, established in 1880, initially
hired mainly boys and young men as telephone operators. The management
was dissatisfied with the quality of work that the male operators were
doing. It was felt that they lacked patience and manners on the phone,
and they were often caught wrestling and fooling around on the job. The
company decided to try employing women instead. Female operators were
paid $8 per month for working long days, sometimes 12 to 16 hours. The
management at Bell developed strong opinions on the differences between
male and female workers at the time. Read Figure 5.19. What is Bell’s
general manager’s opinion of hiring young women? Do you think his opinion
was informed more by facts or by stereotypes?
“A woman would give better service and be a better agent….
The young women would be directly under the company’s control,
would attend promptly to calls and are as a rule more honest and
careful than men.”
FIGURE 5.17 This is an excerpt from
the Labour Gazette, September
1900. Analyze: According to this
article, what was happening in the
garment industry at this time?
Some women worked in stores and offices. As new machines such as
typewriters and telephones were adopted, women were hired as telephone
operators and secretaries. Women were often employed
in the clothing industry. What does Figure 5.17 reveal
about the changing conditions and wages that women
“In the ready-made clothing
trade, the demand for hands has been
were receiving?
exceptionally good, more especially
Women also worked on assembly lines in factories.
for women employees. The trade is
In 1891, women made up 34 percent of the manufacturing
centering
more and more in Toronto,
workforce in Ontario. Women worked long hours, often in
where better sanitary conditions prevail,
difficult conditions. Like children, women were paid less
than in some of the smaller places
than men for doing the same job. Examine the photo of a
where it has been carried on … Wages,
textile factory in Figure 5.18. How does this photo show
however,
continue far from satisfactory
evidence of changes in hired factory workers at the turn of
in many cases.”
the 20th century?
— C.F. Sise, general manager of the Bell Telephone Company of Canada
How do you
think women might
have felt about this
job opportunity?
FIGURE 5.19 These comments were
made by Sise, general manager
of the Bell Telephone Company
of Canada, in 1887. Analyze: What
do you think Sise means by “The
young women would be directly
under the company’s control”?
Within a few years, almost all telephone operators across Canada were
women, as shown in Figure 5.20. How does the increase in female telephone
operators show that industrialization was changing the workplace?
— Labour Gazette
FIGURE 5.18 This 1908 photo shows
women and men making cloth
on an assembly line. The exposed
belts and wheels of the machines
spun at high speeds. Analyze:
What connections can you make
between this photo and the injuries
described in Figure 5.15?
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UNIT 2: Canada’s Changing Society: 1890–1914
NEL
FIGURE 5.20 This 1886 photo shows telephone operators in Montréal. Analyze: What
does the body language of these women suggest about their behaviour and the tone of
this workplace?
NEL
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151
ANALYZING AND CONTEXTUALIZING
PHOTOGRAPHS
After cameras were invented in the mid-1800s, photography became an
important tool for documenting history. Photographs provide records of
activities, environments, and events of the past. We often do not know
who took historical photos, when exactly they were taken, or why they
were created. While a photo may seem to show an instant of real life
exactly as it occurred, the photographer’s creative choices influence
what the viewer sees. Often, historical photos were carefully posed.
The photographer chose the people, objects, and activities included in
the photo. The context in which a photograph was created also shapes
the image and its meaning. The photographer may have been hired by
someone with a particular interest in the event. Historians must consider all
these issues when trying to decipher what a photo tells us about the past.
Asking questions such as those listed in Figure 5.21 will help you to
analyze and contextualize photographs. In this activity, you will analyze
Figure 5.22 to look for evidence that can help you answer the inquiry
question: How was industrialization changing the workplace?
The photo in Figure 5.22, taken in 1903, shows the Montréal office of the
McKim advertising agency. Anson McKim was a pioneer of modern-day
advertising in Canada. The McKim agency opened in 1889, and between
1900 and 1910 it was one of the most important agencies in Montréal. The
photo was taken by an unknown photographer from William Notman &
Son, the leading photo studio of the day.
FIGURE 5.22 This 1903 photo shows men and women at work in the McKim advertising
agency in Montréal. The McKim agency created ad campaigns and newspaper ads for
many large Canadian and American companies.
Questions to Ask When Analyzing and Contextualizing a Photograph
About
Examples
Creation of the photograph
• When and where was the photograph taken? Who took it? Who for? What for?
Content of the photograph
• What do I see? For example, do I see people, places, objects, activities, or events? Who or
what did the photographer leave out?
• Who or what is the most important part of this photograph? Why do I think this?
Creative choices of the
photographer
• What did the photographer want viewers to feel as they look at the photograph?
• How do the decisions made by the photographer produce this feeling?
Audience response
• What effect did the photograph likely have on its viewers at the time it was taken? How
might a different audience have responded?
Events and conditions at
the time
• What else was going on at the time when the photograph was taken?
• How was the world in which the photograph was created different from ours?
Life at the time
• What things were different then? What things were the same?
Position of the photographer
in society
• How was the photographer involved in events of the time? What was his or her position or
role in society?
Worldviews
• How did people’s beliefs and customs at the time differ from ours today? How might this
affect the content of the photograph?
• How might it have influenced how the audience responded to the photograph?
HOW TO ANALYZE AND CONTEXTUALIZE A PHOTOGRAPH
Write down everything you know about the
creation of the photo shown in Figure 5.22.
Observe the photo closely for a minute. What
choices did the photographer make? How do your
eyes move across the photo? What are the first
details you notice? What does this tell you about
what the photographer wanted you to notice?
Now consider the audience response. Think about
how this photo makes you feel. Would you like to
hire this company to create your ads? Might you
want to work here? What aspects of the photo
make you feel this way? How do you think people
at the time would have responded to the photo?
UNIT 2: Canada’s Changing Society: 1890–1914
STEP 2
NEL
NEL
Examine the content of the photo. What
information does it give you about this workplace?
What are the workers doing? How are they
interacting? Do men and women have different
roles? What does the design and layout of the
room tell you about the workplace? What do
the objects and details in the room reveal about
the types of work being done there? What new
technologies do you see?
STEP 3
STEP 4
FIGURE 5.21 These questions will help you analyze and contextualize images.
152
STEP 1
Consider the events, the conditions, and the
worldview of the time. How was this workplace
different from a factory workplace? What does
this photo show about how industrialization was
changing the workplace?
CHAPTER 5: Canada’s Industrial Age: 1890–1905
153
POWERING THE NEW INDUSTRIES
What are the
similarities and
differences between the
sources of industrial
power in the late
1800s and those we
use today?
FIGURE 5.23 This photo from
1900 shows child workers on a
break outside the Tuckett Tobacco
Company in Hamilton, Ontario.
Analyze: Looking closely at the
photo, what can you tell about the
children the company hired?
CHILDREN IN THE WORKPLACE
Industrialization brought machines to make work life easier, but the
machines required people to operate them. Unskilled workers were the
cheapest labour available to companies, because they had no training or
special skills. Children were the cheapest to hire. An average weekly wage
for a man in Montréal in 1897 was $8.25, for a woman it was $4.50, and for
a boy it was $3.00. Examine Figure 5.23, which shows a large group of child
workers outside a tobacco factory in Hamilton, Ontario. What type of work
do you think these children would have done in that factory?
Children were employed in many different industries. As the new century
approached, more people in Canada were beginning to question the use of
children as workers. In 1882, the Royal Commission of Mills and Factories
investigated this practice. Read the quote in Figure 5.24, which is an excerpt
from the commission’s report. What were its findings?
“The employment of children and young persons in mills
and factories is extensive, and largely on the increase.… [The hours and
type of work are] too heavy a strain on children of tender years, and
[are] utterly condemned by all except those who are being directly
benefited by such labour.”
FIGURE 5.25 This 2010 photo
shows the Chaudière Falls
hydroelectric station on the Ottawa
River, between Ottawa, Ontario,
and Gatineau (formerly Hull),
Québec. Analyze: In what ways do
you think this facility changed the
cities of Ottawa and Gatineau?
unskilled worker a worker
who has not been trained in
a particular skill or trade
FIGURE 5.24 This is an excerpt
from the findings of the Royal
Commission on Mills and
Factories, 1882. Analyze: Which
two perspectives are revealed in
this text?
CHECK-IN
— The Royal Commission on Mills and Factories
Such investigations eventually led to stricter laws, and by the 1900s the
use of child labour began to diminish. For example, there were 1373 children
employed in sawmills in Ontario in 1891. By 1901, this number had dropped
to 425 children. During the same 10-year period, the number of children
employed by Ontario printing presses dropped from 512 to 371.
154
UNIT 2: Canada’s Changing Society: 1890–1914
The growing cities needed power to run the new factories, light the streets,
and improve living conditions. Before 1880, the main sources of power in
Canada were steam engines fuelled by gas, coal, and wood. At that time, gas
and coal were expensive. Wood was becoming more expensive as it became
more scarce. As electricity technology developed over the course of the
1880s, Canadian cities replaced their gas street lights with electric lights.
Stores and hotels also installed electric lights. Electric streetcars replaced
horse-drawn streetcars in the 1890s in Toronto, Montréal, and Ottawa.
To meet the new demand, companies like the Toronto Electric Company
began generating and selling electricity. There was not a lot of competition
in the power industry at the time, so the price of power was high. Businesses
wanted more power at lower rates to run the growing factories and offices
and to keep their profits high. As industries switched to electric power,
factories and the people who worked in them became dependent on the
availability of electricity.
An important source of electricity is hydroelectric power. This is
electricity generated from the force of moving water. In the late 1800s,
wealthy investors across Canada began building hydroelectric stations
to generate electricity. Examine Figure 5.25, which shows the Chaudière
Falls hydroelectric station on the Ottawa River, operating since 1891. What
impact would the development of this industry have on other industries
in a community?
Soon, new innovations allowed for the transmission of power over
long distances. Cities across Ontario began to buy electricity from private
companies. People were
concerned that big cities
like Toronto would buy up
all of the power. In 1906,
the Hydro-Electric Power
Commission of Ontario,
or Ontario Hydro, was
established to sell electricity
to Ontario communities at
the cost of production.
NEL
1. CONTINUITY AND CHANGE How did life stay the
same and how did it change for people who
moved from farms to the cities?
3. FORMULATE QUESTIONS What questions would you
ask to learn more about women and children
working in factories at this time?
2. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE What were the most
significant changes that were happening in the
workplace at this time?
4. CAUSE AND CONSEQUENCE What were the intended
and unintended consequences of the rise of
factories in the cities?
NEL
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