History of Montreal - War and The Great Depression

War and The Great Depression

Montrealers volunteered to serve in the army to defend Canada during World War I, but most French Montrealers opposed mandatory conscription. After the war, the Prohibition movement in the United States turned Montreal into a destination for Americans looking for alcohol. Americans went to Montreal for its drinking, gambling, and prostitution, unrivalled in North America at this time, which earned the city the nickname "Sin City."

Despite the increase in tourism, unemployment remained high in the city, exacerbated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression. Canada began to recover from the Great Depression in the mid-1930s, and real estate developers began to build skyscrapers, changing Montreal's skyline. The Sun Life Building, built in 1931, was for a time the tallest building in the Commonwealth. During World War II its vaults were used as the secret hiding place for the gold bullion of the Bank of England and the British Crown Jewels.

When Germany declared war on Great Britain, Canada could not escape World War II. Mayor Camillien Houde protested against conscription. He urged Montrealers to ignore the federal government's registry of all men and women because he believed it would lead to conscription. The federal government at Ottawa, considering Houde's actions treasonable, incarcerated him in a prison camp for over four years, from 1940 until 1944. That year the government instituted conscription in order to expand the armed forces to confront the Axis Powers. (see Conscription Crisis of 1944).