It Timmins history, it’s been 85 years this week since Canada became involved in the Second World War.
“Britain declared war on Germany on September the third (1939). Canada came in about seven days later, after a debate in the House of Commons,” says Timmins Museum director-curator Karen Bachmann, adding that Canada pledged full support to the British cause.
Municipalities across the country sprang into action. Here in Timmins, the Legion held meetings to inform people how to enlist.
“They had to hold two initial meetings on the first night,” Bachmann recounts, “because they had over 350 ex-servicemen from the First World War, who were coming back to re-enlist.”
That’s on top of the young people who were interested.
Women’s groups in Timmins also mobilized. Bachmann says the Daughters of the Empire enrolled all their members as war workers.
“Either doing work for the Red Cross locally, doing some knitting or doing those kinds of things, getting that stuff together and raising money for different organizations.”
Next week in our local history feature, contributing financially to the war effort.
