Speeches and Broadcasts

The 1914-1915 Star

The 1914-1915 stars are campaign medals awarded to soldiers and officers in honour of the battles fought by the British Empire in 1914 and 1915. A star was awarded to deceased Lieutenant Warren A. Andrews of the 91st Battalion CEF, and Gunner Fraser D. Philip of the 15th Battery CEF, who survived the conflict.

Thanks from Buckingham Palace

Special thank you letters were sent to soldiers, from Buckingham Palace, after demobilization. This letter was sent to Stanley Jones of Wellington (now Nanaimo), British Columbia, who was conscripted under the Military Service Act of 1917.

The King's Message to the RAF

A speech given by King George V to Lord William Weir, the Secretary of State and President of the Air Council in Great Britain, on the day of the armistice. Copies of the speech were mailed to RAF veterans in 1919, following their demobilization. 

Canada's Fighting Men: An Address by Prime Minister W. L. Mackenzie King

This address by Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King to the Canadian Club of Toronto on April 19, 1943 was given on account of the opening of the Fourth Victory Loan Campaign. In his speech, Mackenzie King emphasized the urgency and necessity for all Canadians to continue assisting the war effort by purchasing Victory Loans. 

"A Tribute to the Canadian People", a Statement by P.M. Mackenzie King

On March 25, 1941 then Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King addressed the House of Commons in a statement titled "What Canada is Doing" as a tribute to the Canadian people. The speech aimed to put into perspective what Canadians across the country had already been doing up to that date to further the war effort against the Axis powers, and to also enumerate the challenges undertaken to be completed the following year in 1942. 

To the voters of New Brunswick

The New Brunswick provincial election of 20 November 1939 saw Alison Dysart's Liberals returned to power, after the premier pledged in a letter to voters to stay the course as the country went to war.

A send-off for lodge members

When men of the King William Lodge joined the 105th Regiment, their fellow lodge members gave them each a pocket bible and their best wishes for a safe return at war's end.

Mackenzie King's manpower policy

The federal government of prime minister Mackenzie King used St Jean Baptiste Day, an important holiday in French Canada, as the occasion to clarify its manpower policy for the benefit of French Canadians.

At war with Japan

After the surprise Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Canada lost no time in declaring war on Japan.

Politics in wartime

In this radio broadcast, Union Nationale provincial cabinet minister Anatole Carignan criticized federal cabinet minister Ernest Lapointe for ignoring the wishes of Quebec. Carignan was defeated in the 1939 Quebec provincial election.