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I can't answer the first question but as to the second, I recently read a book that said the French Canadian politicians of the day were opposed to serving under the Canadian flag during WWII for several reasons:
1) Canadian units at the time were required to speak English and all orders were to be given in English. There was one French Canadian sergeant who chose to address his regiment in French and was promptly rebuked by his superiors and told to switch back to English.
2) French Canadians at the time didn't share the sentiment of freeing Europe from tyranny when they themselves didn't gain the respect and liberties they wanted. This was already the case during WWI.
3) I cannot confirm this but somewhere else I read that some French Canadian politicians of the time secretly supported Vichy France and for this reason did not see the need to free even France from the Nazis.
I can't answer the first question but as to the second, I recently read a book that said the French Canadian politicians of the day were opposed to serving under the Canadian flag during WWII for several reasons:
1) Canadian units at the time were required to speak English and all orders were to be given in English. There was one French Canadian sergeant who chose to address his regiment in French and was promptly rebuked by his superiors and told to switch back to English.
2) French Canadians at the time didn't share the sentiment of freeing Europe from tyranny when they themselves didn't gain the respect and liberties they wanted. This was already the case during WWI.
3) I cannot confirm this but somewhere else I read that some French Canadian politicians of the time secretly supported Vichy France and for this reason did not see the need to free even France from the Nazis.
Where are you getting your information on your point 1?
There is and was the 22 Regiment that is Francophone. It was created during the First World War.
"First World War: the Accomplishments of the First French-Canadian Regiment
When it was raised in October 1914 at the beginning of the First World War, the R22eR was known as the 22nd Battalion (French-Canadian). The unit was created in response to popular demand for a regiment in which French-Canadians could serve in their mother tongue."
1. Did Canadians have to endure food and fuel rationing?
2. Why were French Canadians less likely to serve?
Yes there was some rationing of sugar, tea, and other items so that Canada could send food to the UK that they were short of and of course ration out fairly for everyone else. It was apparently widely supported as the right thing to do. There was also a price freeze on food. It was also done to feed our troops overseas.
"At the heart of the many of the government’s wartime food policies was the need to feed Canada’s overseas allies and soldiers. As Canadians were regularly reminded by propagandists and advertisers alike, food truly was a “weapon of war.” Particularly after the fall of France in June 1940, Canadian food exports provided an essential lifeline to Britain. By the end of the war, it was estimated that Canadian exports accounted for 57 per cent of British wheat and flour consumption – down from its 1941 peak of 77 per cent – as well as 39 per cent of bacon, 15 per cent of eggs, 24 per cent of cheese, and 11 per cent of evaporated milk consumed in Britain. Much of this was achieved through major state intervention on Canadian farms. Between 1940 and 1943, the wheat acreage in the Prairie provinces was reduced by 42 percent through a combination of subsidies, price guarantees, and other controls. Areas sown for agricultural products needed to meet gaps in Canada’s domestic and export requirements like feed grains, on the other hand, increased by 72 percent, flaxseed by 800 percent, and hog marketings by 250 percent over the prewar period.2"
Where are you getting your information on your point 1?
There is and was the 22 Regiment that is Francophone. It was created during the First World War.
"First World War: the Accomplishments of the First French-Canadian Regiment
When it was raised in October 1914 at the beginning of the First World War, the R22eR was known as the 22nd Battalion (French-Canadian). The unit was created in response to popular demand for a regiment in which French-Canadians could serve in their mother tongue."
My grandfather served in that regiment, and did not speak English at the time.
Yes, they did create the Royal 22e Régiment in order to draw more francophone soldiers but the Canadian armed forces only very, very slowly warmed up to French, and the perception that it's not a super friendly place for francophones persisted well into my lifetime.
In addition to what has already been said about francophones not wanting to go fight "Britain's war", there was also believe it or not not much sympathy for helping out France due to the bitter feeling of abandonment that many francophone Canadians still had over the Conquest in the 1760s. Yeah, I know that was 175 years before, but what can I say - people have long memories.
Again, I should say that the feeling of abandonment by France on the part of Canadian francophones even lingered into my lifetime, though at this point in 2018 it's pretty much faded away completely.
Where are you getting your information on your point 1?
I believe I read about it in Linguistic Conflict and Language Laws : Understanding the Quebec Question, a 2003 publication by Pierre Larrivée. I read the book two years ago so I don't quite remember if this was the source but it was likely. Like the O.P. I was also interested in the Franco-Anglophone relations of Canada, having just visited Montreal for the third time in 2015.
Yes, they did create the Royal 22e Régiment in order to draw more francophone soldiers but the Canadian armed forces only very, very slowly warmed up to French, and the perception that it's not a super friendly place for francophones persisted well into my lifetime.
In addition to what has already been said about francophones not wanting to go fight "Britain's war", there was also believe it or not not much sympathy for helping out France due to the bitter feeling of abandonment that many francophone Canadians still had over the Conquest in the 1760s. Yeah, I know that was 175 years before, but what can I say - people have long memories.
Again, I should say that the feeling of abandonment by France on the part of Canadian francophones even lingered into my lifetime, though at this point in 2018 it's pretty much faded away completely.
Yes I know all this, but I'm asking for documentation of his story and they have answered that
My mother kept a ration book from when she was a kid during WW2. There were limits on butter, sugar, tea and several other things.
fortunately, Canada was still very much a rural agri. based country, so our family had eggs and already grew most of what they needed. You needed sugar, however, for a lot of the farm preserving going on. No freezer in those days. And not much money.
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We still have ours..
