Canadian Newspapers and the Paris Peace Conference of 1919: A Study of English-Language Media Opinion

Abstract

This thesis is a study of English-language media opinion in relation to Canada’s involvement in the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Using The News Record, The Globe and the Manitoba Free Press, this thesis will examine how the English Canadian press presented the Paris Peace Conference to Canadians from November 1918 to its signing in June 1918. Historians have traditionally presented the Peace Conference as a turning point in Canadian history that accelerated Canada’s maturity from a colony to a fully-fledged nation. This paper will argue that Canadians’ understanding of the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 was far more complex than the orthodox interpretation would suggest. While Canadian newspapers were concerned with Canada’s status, they devoted far more attention to other matters. Canadian newspapers spent time discussing reparations, the Kaiser, old diplomacy and the future League of Nations.