The Loyal Edmonton Regiment Museum

Canada; An Illustrated Weekly Journal, 10 February 1917. ©Chinook Multimedia Inc. "Vocational Training for Soldiers," Commercial Schoolroom, Deer Lodge Military Hospital, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1917. The Military Hospitals Commission converted the Deer Lodge Hotel into a facility to train returned and wounded soldiers for civilian life. Such facilities, however, were scarce. For the most part, the Canadian government did not offer effective programs to deal with the needs of the returning soldiers. As a result, First World War veterans had to contend not only with the physical and emotional scars of the war, but with a government that was insensitive to their situation.

In the years following the First World War, Canadians had to deal with a situation unlike any before encountered -- the return of hundreds of thousands of soldiers to civilian life. These soldiers had a unique claim to the gratitude of their country. They had suffered unimaginable horrors in Canada's defence, and their sacrifice had matured the nation. Many of them suffered from physical or psychological wounds; still others lost their livelihood. Yet, at that time in our history, Canadians and the federal and provincial governments, were not accustomed to giving public support to individuals, let alone to a large group like the returned veterans. Canada's record in assisting Great War veterans would leave much to be desired.

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