On May 8, 1945, Victory in Europe was declared by the victorious Allied Powers, which included Canada and Nova Scotia. The Port City of Halifax, Capital of Nova Scotia, was the scene of the Halifax Riot, an event simmering just under the surface waiting for the War to end in Europe for the War to begin at home.
Digging Deeper
Nova Scotia, Canada’s second smallest province, is on the Atlantic Coast and its Capital, Halifax, served during World War II as the important Western terminus of the vital ship lanes to and from England. The influx of about 25,000 military personnel strained the meager resources of the Wartime economy of the city, infringing greatly upon the populace, and taxing relations between locals and “come from aways” as the locals called the servicemen and outsiders. The servicemen, in turn, referred to the locals as “slackers” and vowed some sort of reckoning once the war was over.
