Yesterday, while visiting the Nepean Museum, I was drawn to the ration books that had been issued during the Second World War. Today, while talking to my mom about the impacts of the Second World War on her and her family, she, too, mentioned ration books. That sent me on a quest to learn more about the wartime practice.

According to a Canadian War Museum article, the Government of Canada introduced voluntary rationing in 1939. When such voluntary measures failed to sustain the desired restraint, the Government introduced coupons to strengthen rationing, beginning with gasoline in April 1942. Ration books were issued to almost all adults and children. They contained coupons for such items as sugar, eggs, coffee, tea, butter, chocolate and meat. Consumers would exchange coupons for the specified amount of that item. "Rationing helped free up food for other countries, especially Britain, and helped feed Allied military forces," the article notes.

A Wartime Canada webpage explains the communication around rationing:

A common message to the Canadian civilian population during the Second World War was that their responsible food consumption was as important to the war effort as any other wartime activity. While soldiers fought overseas, Canadians at home could do their part in securing victory by adhering to coupon rationing, and abiding by the restrictions imposed by the Wartime Prices and Trade Board.

An article in The Western Producer recounts that the rationale for rationing was clear:

There was massive sympathy for the beleaguered British people, who were far worse off. Britain was fighting for its life, and everyone knew it. In Britain, rationing began in 1940 and didn’t end until 1954.

To supplement the limited staples available because of rationing, many people grew additional food in so-called victory gardens. According to a Veterans Affairs Canada article, radio broadcasts proposed weekly menus, taking into account rationing and the availability of produce from victory gardens, which were encouraged.

The Western Producer article adds interesting colour to the wartime experience through a 1942 letter penned by Marie Williamson:

"We are asked not to use any pork or bacon for seven weeks while our commitments to Britain are being filled, there is no beef at all for sale, the sheep raisers are asked not to slaughter in order to raise more badly-needed wool, so a great many butchers have shut up shop."

To facilitate the preservation of food, the article continues,

An extra "canning ration" of 10 pounds of sugar enabled home preserving to stretch food rations by canning and pickling of garden and wild-picked produce.

Of personal interest to me—given my involvement in the 2019 edition of Canada's Food Guide—the article points out that concerns about a war-time diet that was light on protein and heavy on starch led to the creation of the first Food Guide in Canada. A Health Canada webpage on the history of the Food Guide notes that the Official Food Rules introduced in 1942 "were intended to be a focal point for a wartime nutrition program to improve the health of Canadians by maximizing nutrition in the context of food rationing and poverty."

How did Canadians obtain ration books? According to a Fairview Historical Society article, the Wartime Prices and Trade Board in Ottawa distributed ration books to more than 600 local ration boards that served every city, town and hamlet in Canada. The exception was remote areas such as the Yukon and the Northwest Territories, which were exempt from rationing.

My mom recalled that ration books were given out by the same person who conducted annual evaluations for the purpose of calculating property taxes. She remembered being disappointed when her book contained a coupon for tea, something she didn't drink.

Some form of rationing continued in Canada until 1947. The Canadian War Museum article states:

Later in the war, rationing for coffee, tea and meat was suspended. From 1945 to 1947, rationing was reintroduced for some kinds of meat. This helped feed countries facing food shortages as a result of the war’s devastation. Meat tokens were introduced in 1945. If people bought less than a coupon’s worth of meat, they would get "change" in tokens to use for a later purchase. The tokens were made of wood fibre, and were designed to be difficult to counterfeit.

My mother was 9 years old in 1947 when rationing finally ended in Canada. It's fascinating to view history through the eyes of someone who lived it.