Canada 1900-1950
Canada was successful when…
Frederick Banting discovered how to safely distribute insulin in the human body.
Brief description of the event:
Frederick Banting, a man who first sought out to get a degree in arts at the University of Toronto, became a miraculous scientist in his later years. After one year of studying arts, Banting was confronted with the realization that he could not achieve his goals in the arts and was forced to go into medicine, a decision that had a major impact on the world. This career change contributed to Banting receiving surgical training at Toronto’s Hospital for sick children. Later Banting founded his own general practice of medicine and surgery in London, Ontario and grasped the opportunity of a part time position at the University of Western Ontario. On October 31, 1920, while reading an article, Banting had the idea to isolate an internal secretion of the pancreas as a cure for diabetes. He proposed his research to the University of Toronto, and had been approved to conduct experiments under the supervision of J.J.R.Macleod. He had also been assigned an assistant, C.H.Best. Banting and Best guided their experiments on dogs at first, but Banting’s love of dogs and the quantity of the supply, stood in the way of his research. After many months of experimenting, they decided it would be best to excrete insulin tissue from cow’s to spare the lives of dogs. Eventually, the team was ready to start testing on patients. However, the insulin was not purified enough to be distributed to humans. Banting and Best injected themselves with a dose. They reported feeling dizzy, but having no threatening side effects. James Collip took charge of purifying and discovering the correct dosage of insulin before it could be used on others. In January 1922, Leonard Thompson became the first ever chosen person to receive insulin. He was a 14 year old boy, nearing death, due to his condition. As the attempt was successful, his and million of other people’s lives were changed forever.
This event is considered a success because:
Frederick Banting saved millions of lives with his research and forever changed medical history. People with diabetes back then were put on starvation diets to decrease their sugar
intake, in hopes of bettering their symptoms and elongating their lifespan. The deceased bodies would arrive with liver damage outlining the cause of death, yet no one understood why or how this happened and were very not successful with their research. Banting forever changed the game when he decided tollgate the pancreatic ducts to extract the hormone.
2) Frederick Banting became the youngest person to receive a Nobel Prize in history, which was a great success for Canada. As great as the achievement is, Banting almost refused to accept the reward due to it being shared with J.J.R.Macleod and not C.H.Best. He believed that Best and him worked majorly on their own and that Macleod and Collip had not contributed a great deal to the research. Banting decided to equally share the earnings from his half of the award with Best as recognition, and Macleod did the same with Collip
3) Finally, Frederick Banting did not use his discovery to make money. At the end of his research he gave the rights to the University of Toronto to further fund new research being conducted. An article written by The Star in 1925 stated the formula was “given gratuitously to the University of Toronto in trust for the benefit of mankind”. Eli Lilly had been the first company
to mass distribute insulin globally.
Bibliography
Bliss, Micheal. “Sir Frederick Grant Banting” [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/ article/sir-frederick-grant-banting/] September 2012
Bliss, Micheal. “The Discovery of Insulin” [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ the-discovery-of-insulin/] August 2015
Hauch, Valerie. “Once Upon A City: Discovering insulin was Banting at his best” [https:// www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/once-upon-a-city-archives/2016/01/14/once-upon-a-city- discovering-insulin-was-banting-at-his-best.html] January 2016
Ortiz, Edward. “Frederick Banting” [https://myhero.com/Banting] July 2004
"The Discovery of Insulin” [http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/medicine/insulin/ discovery-insulin.html] June 2018
Canada 1900-1950
Canada was a failure when…
Antisemitism heavily influenced the way people were treated, especially during WWII.
Brief description of the event:
Antisemitism was the prejudice and discrimination against Jews. It had been a conventional way of thinking, and varied in
Source:http://www.annefrankguide.net/en-CA/bronnenbank.asp?oid=271499 severity throughout different social groups. During the 1800’s, there was not much regard to how this impacted the Jewish community, as the community was so sparse. The first time Canada experienced on a political level was when Ezekiel Hart was expelled from the Quebec Legislature in 1808. During the 1900’s, antisemitism was particularly bad in Quebec. The “Achat Chez Nous” movement was organized in Quebec from the influence the media took on from ideas inspired by Abbé Lionel Groulx. The movement was created in hopes of boycotting the Jewish businesses, and forcing them to leave. Other parts of Canada were effected by this too. Jews all across the nation were discriminated against certain jobs, getting accepted into different schools, certain pieces of property, and even signs put up in public places to restrict the access of Jews. Most Jews would have had to change their identity to get the jobs they wanted such as teachers, doctors, lawyers, and more. Antisemitism was particularly bad during WWII due to the lack of Jewish immigrants entering Canada. At one point the Prime Minister argued that there should be a complete ban on Jewish immigrants for the need of social and economic stability, and political caution.
This event is considered a failure because:
1) We took away Jewish peoples’ rights and freedoms. Many places in the country refused Jews to be able to participate in normal day actions such as going to the beach, going to their choice of university, or even getting the job they were qualified for. Restricting access to basic activities and degrading people in such a way was not a healthy way for a country to treat its citizens.
2) We did not allow Jews fleeing from Nazi Germany to seek refuge in Canada. We let our fear of them taking away our jobs and using their religious aspects to change the county control the restriction of immigration.
3) For those who had been successful in being accepted into Canada, living their best life was compromised. Either they needed to change their identity, survive in a Jewish community in a highly populated area (Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg), or settle in remote agricultural regions.
Bibliography
Abella, Irving. “Anti-Semitism in Canada” [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ anti-semitism/] March 2012
Sortz, Paul. “No Refuge” [https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/immigrants/021017-2531-e.html]