Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 3-1-2016 12:00 AM Peace Dividend: The War Assets Corporation and the Disposal of Canada's Munitions and Supplies, 1943-1948 Alex Souchen The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Dr. Jonathan Vance The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in History A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Alex Souchen 2016 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Canadian History Commons, Defense and Security Studies Commons, Military and Veterans Studies Commons, Military History Commons, Peace and Conflict Studies Commons, and the Political History Commons Recommended Citation Souchen, Alex, "Peace Dividend: The War Assets Corporation and the Disposal of Canada's Munitions and Supplies, 1943-1948" (2016). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 3638. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/3638 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract This dissertation is the first full-length study to explore how the Canadian government and military disposed of surplus munitions and supplies after the Second World War. By investigating how the state planned and implemented its disposal program from 1943 to 1948, this thesis places objects at the centre of attention and demonstrates their profound political, social, and economic significance. By examining the extended social lives of munitions and supplies in relationship to their postwar impact on civilian life, this study offers a new and innovative perspective that links material culture with postwar reconstruction, rehabilitation, and demobilization. What follows is a history of how Canadians turned swords into plowshares that contributes to the fields of military history, Canadian history, material culture, and disarmament studies. Disposal was an important element of Canada’s exit strategy for the Second World War because the objects accumulated to fight survived long after hostilities ended and required diligent procedures to demobilize or destroy. In November 1943, the Canadian government established the Crown Assets Allocation Committee (CAAC) and the War Assets Corporation (WAC) to plan, control, and implement its disposal program. This study elaborates on four critical themes: 1) the continuous and evolving nature of public pressure for government action on disposal; 2) the role of the CAAC and WAC in controlling disposal operations; 3) the way the objects of war require stewardship from one use to the next; and 4) the process through which munitions and supplies were reduced, reused, recycled, and upcycled into new forms, functions, and intentions. This thesis argues that through the CAAC and WAC surplus assets were disposed of to support, and not hinder, postwar reconstruction and rehabilitation. Although disposal was not perfect and left behind some dangerous environmental legacies, the conversion of surplus assets into peacetime purposes ensured that objects gained new uses and meanings thereby mitigating their threatening nature to economic stability, political authority, and public safety. Keywords: Canadian history; military history; munitions disposal; material culture; demobilization; disarmament; reconstruction; rehabilitation; peace. ii Acknowledgments They say it takes a village to raise a child, but I think the same proverb applies to writing a dissertation: it takes a village to write one. Over the past five and half years I have benefited from the help and support of so many different institutions and people. I am eternally grateful to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program (OGS), Western University, and the Department of History for their financial support throughout my degree. Quite frankly, their generous funding quashed the “starving student” stereotype and allowed me to pursue my studies full time. I would also like to thank the Ley and Lois Military History Fund and the Office of the Digital Humanities at the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for several travel grants that covered some of the costs related to research trips, conferences, and professional development workshops. I am indebted to many archivists, librarians, technicians, and staff at several institutions. At the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) every single staff-member I dealt with was genuinely helpful when sorting out my many requests and questions, but Kathy Chow, Suzanne Lemaire, and Martin Lanthier deserve special mention. The research and reference staffs at the Canadian War Museum (CWM), the Directorate of History and Heritage (DHH), The National Archives (TNA), the Archives of Ontario (AO), the City of Toronto Archives, and the Canada Science and Technology Museum were equally helpful in facilitating my research trips. At Western, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the History Department’s outstanding administrative staff for all their help and support! The Cultureplex and Elika Ortega deserve a special thank you for letting me use their book scanner in 2013. I owe an incredible amount of thanks to Liz Mantz, Weldon’s subject librarian for history. I cannot recall any instance in which Liz failed to find me access to a book, article, or document I needed – no matter how obscure or rare it was. Over the years she also forwarded news stories, documentaries, or other books she thought I would like. Her help was always appreciated. It is difficult to adequately express how thankful I am for having Jonathan Vance as a supervisor. Dr. Vance is a towering figure, both physically and intellectually. He is easily the tallest, smartest, and most humble human I have ever met. I feel very fortunate iii and honoured to have him in my corner. Over the years I have witnessed his relentless work-ethic and love for teaching firsthand. Quite simply, it still astounds me. During the early part of my degree, he was supervising a dozen PhD students and publishing nearly a book a year, but he always had time to meet, returned comments on chapters at lightning speeds, and always kept his office door open. Every step of the way he remained a bastion of buoyant positivity. His energy and enthusiasm for my work never wavered, no matter how many pages he read or how many times I bothered him with random facts about war junk. Dr. Vance also taught me many things about the historian’s craft. His fascination with the cultural ephemera produced and discarded by past societies never ceased to amaze me – I mean how many postcards from the First World War does he really need? However, his curiosity for ordinary things inspired me to ask different questions about conflict and culture and find meaning in the things that people throw away. Thank you for everything! There are many others who deserve acknowledgement for their assistance. My colleagues in the writing group – Danielle Demiantschuk, Steve Marti, and Tyler Turek – read and re-read most of this dissertation. Their comments, especially in the early stages, were integral to developing my ideas and improving my writing skills. Graham Broad, Francine McKenzie, and Robert Wardhaugh also read several chapter drafts and provided valuable feedback for which I am grateful. Two other professors in Western’s History Department deserve special thanks. Michelle Hamilton, who supervised a field in Public History for my comprehensive exams in 2011, first introduced me to material culture and by extension this dissertation’s topic. Without Bill Turkel’s help (and patience) in teaching digital methods and outfitting the History Department’s Digital Research Lab with so many useful tools, writing this dissertation would have been impossible. I would also like to thank Tim Cook, Andrew Burtch, Steve Harris, Andrew Iarrocci, Alan MacEachen, Peter Neary, Keith Fleming, Rob MacDougall, Nolan Brown, and Dave Blocker for taking the time to meet with me, talk shop, answer millions of questions, or offer potential research leads. I should also extend some thanks to Terry Long, the Chairman of the International Dialogue on Underwater Munitions (IDUM). In February 2015, I emailed him out of the blue and after several Skype meetings he invited me to join the IDUM’s International Technical Advisory Board as a Senior Historical iv Researcher. I am excited to be involved with the IDUM and look forward to future collaborative opportunities. I hope the lessons drilled into me by my Master’s adviser, Serge Durflinger, are present throughout. His guidance was instrumental in preparing me for the challenges of writing a PhD dissertation. My colleagues and friends in the History Department’s PhD Program were a source of great entertainment and support. Tyler Turek, my officemate for the past half-decade, epitomises that statement. I know we often make fun of each other, but I could not ask for a better friend and bromance. Tyler’s better half, Emilie Pilon-David, has been a source of great friendship, laughter, and many delicious dinners. My other officemate, Erin Pocock, was a tower of stability and wisdom. After some serious lobbying I am happy to report that she named me Bethany’s favourite “Honorary Uncle.” Steve Marti’s indomitable work-ethic, wit, and puff pastry skills make him one of my most dependable and entertaining friends. Even though she moved far away, Danielle Demiantschuk remains close. I thought about saying something profound and meaningful in Klingon, but everything I wrote was so clichéd: it is an honour to be friends with someone so smart, caring, fun, and patient. I can easily say the same things about my “favourite person” and conference buddy, Claire Halstead. A fellow Sens Fan, Shezan Muhammedi, found his way into these acknowledgements at the last minute when he showed me how easily Zotero creates bibliographies.