The subject of Vocational Training was one in which the Commission took a deep interest from the very first. One of its early steps was to institute a careful survey of all existing educational facilities throughout Nova Scotia, which could be used for the re-education of disabled men. The re-training of this class was of the utmost importance, and the Commission successfully fought for the enactment of several regulations tending to broaden the scope of the Vocational Department.
One of the most persistent efforts was made in the interest of the physically fit “boy soldier.” Aside from the minor who had been disabled, no provision existed whereby these young boys could be afforded the opportunities of re-education or re-training. The need for this was foreseen by the Provincial Office some two years before the close of the War and no opportunity was lost in the furtherance of their proposal to place them on the same footing as the disabled man. It was most desirable to provide facilities for the education of these young soldiers who enlisted in the Forces at an immature age. Their decision was made at a time when they could not probably measure the consequences of their act, and for this reason the public was responsible for any disadvantages accruing to them. The years spent in the army were just those during which they should have been fitting themselves to win a position of self-support and independence; and it is not only an advantage to themselves, but to the country, that they have been assisted in preparing for the earning of a livelihood rather than having been forced into the ranks of unskilled labor. The step taken by the Government in the early part of last year was indeed satisfactory in consideration of the initial and continuous efforts of the Provincial Commission.
The Soldier Settlement Act, passed in 1917, has proved to be one of the most satisfactory measures of re-establishment provided by the Government. As originally framed, however, it was of very little value to a man who desired to go on the land in the Maritime Provinces. The free grants provided by the Act were restricted to Dominion Lands, while here any land of value for agricultural purposes is privately owned. This was clearly placing under a handicap the Nova Scotian soldier who wished to stay in his native Province, inasmuch as the maximum amount which could be borrowed under the Act was only $2,500. The Provincial Commission urged very strongly that the benefits to be derived should be equally distributed and enjoyed by soldiers wishing to go on the land in any Province. At the 1918 yearly meeting of Provincial Secretaries, held at Ottawa, the other Provinces were unanimous in supporting the Maritime representatives, and a resolution was passed petitioning the Federal Government to extend the provisions of the Act. This was done some time afterwards, and to-day we have in Nova Scotia some three hundred and fifty farms producing, and as many soldiers re-established in this way.
W. B. MACCOY, K.C.
The months which followed the erection of Camp Hill Hospital brought many changes. The Military Hospitals Commission ceased and was succeeded by the Department of Soldiers’ Civil Re-Establishment. New organizations arose, and new methods were inaugurated in old ones to meet the constantly increasing needs and changing problems. But space will not permit to deal with all the phases of this many-sided and deeply interesting work. At best details can only be touched upon, and the three instances quoted of the Commission’s connection with the larger problems of reconstruction by no means exhausts an interesting store of past events. The part taken by W. B. MacCoy, K.C., Secretary of the Commission, is deserving of the fullest public recognition. No man has been more sincere or more zealous in safeguarding the interests of the Nova Scotian soldiers. His work was not undertaken without a sacrifice, but the appreciation of thousands of soldiers and dependants expressed in the letters of thanks contained on the fyles of the Commission, and in many other ways, has doubtless repaid him in full.
Victory was the reward of loyalty and co-operation and the willingness of each and every soldier to subjugate self in the welfare of the whole, and play the game as best he could. Demobilization has required no less devotion, energy, and co-operation than did the War itself and the measure of success attained through the sympathy, tact, and ability displayed by however humble a servant in the great work of reconstruction will be reflected in the national life of Canada for the next generation.
CHAPTER XLIX.
VOCATIONAL TRAINING.
The aftermath of the Great War, which virtually ended with the Armistice on November 11, 1918, should be historically different from the social and economic muddles and messes which have succeeded other prolonged struggles. Human nature has not changed, but society is more enlightened, more highly organized, and more averse to waste.
The soldiers who returned to Canada from the Boer War were paid small Imperial pensions for disabilities incurred and were rewarded by grants of land in the great Canadian West, which almost all of them realized on immediately, selling them to “land sharks” for ridiculously small cash sums. It has been stated that most of the British veterans of the Crimea died in the workhouses.