Automobile Truck Driver.
Automobile Upholsterer.
The man who was placed in industry for training or employment was kept under constant supervision and visited every two or three weeks to ascertain his progress. If he was not securing proper treatment or opportunity to learn, he was moved to some other position. If his choice of occupation had not been wise, he was tried out in some other line of work. After he had finished his course, he was visited at least once a month for four months to see that his re-establishment was complete and his progress satisfactory.
The first group to receive industrial re-training in Canada consisted of a number of unfortunate members of a British West India Regiment. A large number were landed in Halifax in February, 1917, from a transport and were sent to hospital to be treated for severe frost bite. Nine of them had to have both legs amputated and eight of them lost one leg or a portion of a leg. Previous to enlistment these Jamaicans had been “cultivators” or agricultural laborers, and had very little education. When their hospital treatment was completed they were re-trained by the Vocational Branch in Halifax. Mr. W. J. Clayton gave over his whole residence and the Provincial Branch of the Red Cross Society fitted it up completely for a convalescent hospital and re-training centre. The men were given instruction in three trades suitable to their disability, viz., tailoring, shoe repairing, and tin-smithing. At the end of five and one-half months they were sent back to Jamaica able to earn at least fifty per cent. more in their new occupations than they had received before as laborers.
The work of re-training disabled Nova Scotian soldiers began seriously in the spring of 1917. A centre was established at the Technical College in Halifax. It was fortunate, indeed, that the Province had embarked on its scheme of technical education before the War, and that this splendid institution stood ready with all its equipment and trained Staff to render service to the men disabled in war. The Provincial Government turned practically the whole establishment over to the Dominion Government for this work. Classes in garage mechanics, automobile tire vulcanizing, electricity, mechanical, architectural and ship drafting, land surveying, machine tool operation, stationary engineering, oxyacetylene welding, shoe repairing, etc., were organized. The institution became a busy hive of industry. The numbers grew until larger quarters had to be secured for part of the classes. In the summer of 1919 a large group of demobilization barracks on Cunard St., Halifax, was taken over and specially fitted and equipped for educational purposes. This was called the Borden Re-training Centre, and the main portion of the work has been done there since that time. A number of the classes are still maintained at the Technical College, and this service will be rendered by the College until the whole task is completed.
The number of re-training students in Nova Scotia increased rapidly in 1919 until it reached its peak with a strength of about 2,300 in March, 1920. From this number it has rapidly declined. Altogether, in the Province, about 4,000 returned men have been granted courses to this date. When one considers that they were training for nearly 300 trades, and that they were being admitted to and discharged from courses every day, that they and their dependants must be paid twice a month, that employment must be found for them, that they must be followed up for four months after completing their training, and thousands of their difficulties smoothed out, the magnitude of the task can be appreciated.
A centre for re-training men in agriculture was established at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College at Truro. Here again this advantage of having a fully equipped institution, with a Staff of highly-trained specialists ready to render service to the discharged soldiers, cannot be overestimated. All the re-training students from the three Maritime Provinces were sent here, because it was the only place in this area competent to meet their needs. Special courses adapted for the purpose were provided, and the regular Staff of the College gave unstintingly of their time and knowledge. Like the Technical College, the Agricultural College allowed discharged soldiers to attend all regular courses without any tuition fees. The number of men applying for re-training in agricultural branches was small because most forms of farming demand physical fitness, and the army experience of the soldiers tended to make them wish to stick to industries in the towns.
Contrary to the expectations of the public, very few men were blinded in the army. Wounds that would deprive a man of his sight usually killed him. Out of our forces of about a half million men, only 130 have had their vision impaired to such an extent that they require re-training. The Canadian authorities arranged with Sir Arthur Pearson that the blind men should all be trained in that splendid institution, St. Dunstan’s Hostel, in London. In the early days of the War, however, a few blinded men drifted back to Canada without training. These were collected and about a dozen sent to Halifax, where they were given special instruction under the Military Hospitals Commission at the School for the Blind. They were taught Braille reading and writing, typewriting, Braille stenography, massage, and shoe repairing. Most of the men made remarkable progress, and are successfully earning their own livings to-day.
Altogether Canada has granted about 53,000 courses of re-training. From the very first she has followed a sane, practical policy, and has enjoyed the advantages of uniformity and centralized control throughout all the Provinces.
The results speak for themselves. In Nova Scotia 65 per cent. of the men who have completed their courses are successfully re-established in the occupation for which they were trained. Another 20 per cent. are earning satisfactory wages in other lines of work than those for which they were specifically prepared. These men have changed because they saw better opportunities for themselves, individually, in another vocation, or they may have felt fit enough, after their course, to return to their old occupation. Their training will not be lost, because they are so much more competent because of having it. Ten per cent. of the men have gone out of the Province and cannot be traced. It is safe to conclude that most of these are successfully re-established. Two per cent. of the men are reported as unemployed, but it is not known to what extent this is due to lack of temporary opportunity or disinclination on the part of the man. Three per cent. of the men are reported as still ill and temporarily under treatment.