DOMINION-PROVINCIAL YOUTH AT LOUGHEED HOUSE

In 1939, the City of Calgary rented Lougheed House to the Dominion-Provincial Youth Training Program, a federal initiative created to help young adults find work in the years following the Great Depression. The program provided $1 million to employ applicants between the ages of 16 and 30, and over 50,000 youth across Canada registered for training; 40% of whom were women. At Lougheed House, cohorts of 30 to 40 young women lived and trained on three-month rotations, learning the skills needed to run a household. Classes included cooking, proper table service, childcare, budgeting, home nursing, needlework, and first aid. For many trainees, the grand surroundings of the house felt like a dream. One former trainee recalled her wonder at being given the opportunity to live in such a beautiful place. She also remembered the day in September 1939 when she and other trainees were in the garden and heard neighbours shouting headlines from a few blocks away: Canada was at war. The program continued for two years before ending shortly after Canada entered World War II. In August 1941, the house was converted into a training camp for the newly formed Canadian Women's Army Corps.