Victory Loans and War Savings

Ontario high school student Ross Densmore was one of tens of thousands of subscribers to the 1944 Victory Loan, the seventh such campaign in Canada during the Second World War.

This letter reveals the impressive totals raised in the campaign to aid the Canadian Legion War Services, the IODE, the Knights of Columbus Canadian Army Huts, the Salvation Army Red Shield Fund, and the YMCA and YWCA War Services: over $613,000 in British Columbia, and over $7.2 million (over $106 million in 2012 values) in Canada as a whole.

The First World War was over when this Victory Loan campaign was launched, but there were still bills to be paid.

Canada's third Victory Loan campaign - symbolized by a Commando dagger - aimed to raise $750 million; ultimately, $991 million was subscribed, thanks to some of the innovative measures suggested in this brochure.

The theme of the 7th Victory Loan campaign, which opened in October 1944, was "Invest in Victory." There were nine campaigns in total, and together they raised roughly $12 billion.

Encouragement to invest in support of the war was everywhere in wartime Canada, like on this ink blotter from an insurance company in Guelph, Ontario.

The Better Business Bureau encouraged patrons to consult professionals before spending their war savings and victory bonds. This "Before you invest - investigate" motto was especially meant to protect from racketeers and swindle schemes.

This pamphlet presents an appeal by Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King for increased fundraising efforts on behalf of the people of Canada. Anticipating an increase in wartime demands in the following months, King explains the importance of "total war" and the critical role played by people on the home front.

These cards were intended to be placed in a home or business window, as proof that the individual had supported the war effort by purchasing Victory Bonds.

Fund-raising advertisements often used images of children to encourage their parents to donate generously.