Toronto in the Second World War: Factories and Camps

Toronto became a centre of war production, military training and volunteer effort after Canada declared war on Germany on September 10, 1939. Factories in Downsview, Long Branch, Scarborough and downtown Toronto made aircraft, small arms and fuses, the Canadian National Exhibition grounds were turned over to the armed forces from spring 1942, and a Norwegian air force school opened on the Toronto Island airport in November 1940. The war ended for the city with services on V-E Day, May 8, 1945, and V-J Day, August 15, 1945.

Mobilization and Toronto regiments

Veterans Affairs Canada records that the federal government ordered units mobilized on September 3, 1939. The Toronto Scottish Regiment raised a machine-gun battalion for the 1st Canadian Division and, according to Veterans Affairs, was the first complete Canadian unit to land in the United Kingdom. It was moved to the 2nd Canadian Division in 1940, supplied machine-gun detachments for the Dieppe raid of August 19, 1942, and supported the division’s rifle battalions in northwest Europe from July 1944 to V-E Day. By the end of the war the regiment held 21 battle honours and had suffered 425 casualties. A Veterans Affairs monument to the regiment stands at 70 Birmingham Street in Toronto.

The City of Toronto Archives adds a general picture: thousands of people joined the armed services in the first months, consumer goods makers switched to wartime equipment, women entered the workforce in large numbers, and fundraising drew strong support. The Archives also notes that the war brought shortages of housing, food staples, alcohol and fuel, and that most people knew someone injured or killed.

Little Norway

After Germany invaded Norway in 1940, Norwegian airmen trained in Canada. According to the Store norske leksikon, the camp known as Little Norway opened on November 10, 1940 at the Island Air Port in Toronto on land supplied by the Canadian government. The Canadian Encyclopedia describes it as a Royal Norwegian Air Force training centre that ran in Toronto and Muskoka from 1940 to 1945 and trained more than 3,000 personnel. The first commander was Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen, who handed command to Captain Ole Reistad on January 1, 1941. In May 1942 a second centre opened at Muskoka Airport, about 110 kilometres (68 miles) north of Toronto, and flight training moved there. Pilot training moved again to Winkleigh in Devon, England, in autumn 1944. The Norwegian encyclopedia says about 700 service personnel were at the centre at any given time, and that the camp ended operations in August 1945. The airport itself is described in the article on Toronto’s airports.

War industry in the Toronto area

The City of Toronto Archives names several local plants:

Small Arms Limited, an arsenal in Long Branch.
De Havilland Aircraft of Canada, in Downsview.
General Engineering Company (Canada), known as GECO, in Scarborough, which operated from 1942 to 1945 and made fuses.
John Inglis and Company and Massey-Harris, both in downtown Toronto. A ceremony on August 20, 1943 marked the 100,000th Bren gun made at Inglis.

The Archives says GECO employed a staff of 20,000 working around the clock and reported no fatal accident during its years of operation. Factories also held Victory Bond rallies, gave land for victory gardens and organized dances and “Miss War Worker” contests. Women from the Massey-Harris workforce marched at an event at Maple Leaf Gardens around 1943.

For women’s work across Canada the Canadian War Museum gives about 373,000 women in manufacturing in 1943 and 1944, of whom roughly 261,000 worked directly in munitions industries, and women made up 30 percent of the aircraft industry workforce. In 1942 the federal government registered women born between 1918 and 1922 for possible labour shortages.

Life at home

The Archives photographs show the everyday side: Red Cross workrooms where volunteers knitted mitts, caps and socks; a woman buying food at Eaton’s with ration stamps on March 30, 1943; and vegetable plots on Fleet Street photographed on May 9, 1940. Metals, paper, rags and bones, which were used to make glycerine for explosives, were collected for recycling, and an aluminium drive was held on September 5, 1941. In 1943 the city had an extreme coal shortage, and Canada’s Fuel Controller asked that homes be kept at 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18.3 degrees Celsius).

Exhibition Place under military control

According to CNE Heritage, in spring 1942 the board of the exhibition association agreed to give the grounds and buildings to the federal government for wartime use on the understanding that no fair would run. Soldiers were housed in the buildings, and the stalls of the Horse Palace were fitted with double-decker bunks. The Automotive Building became the naval barracks and recruiting office of HMCS York. The military left on May 31, 1946, and the exhibition resumed in 1947. The earlier use of the site is covered in the article on the Canadian National Exhibition.

Victory in 1945

News of the German surrender reached Toronto on May 7, 1945, and a V-E Day bonfire was held on Clinton Street that day. On May 8 the City held a civic service of praise and thanksgiving at the cenotaph in front of City Hall, which more than 20,000 people attended. A service on August 15, 1945 marked Victory over Japan Day, identified by the City as the official end of the war.

Timeline

September 3, 1939: mobilization of units ordered.
September 10, 1939: Canada declares war.
November 10, 1940: Little Norway opens at the Toronto Island airport.
Spring 1942: Exhibition Place is given to the federal government.
May 1942: Norwegian flight training moves to Muskoka.
1943: coal shortage and rationing in Toronto; 100,000th Bren gun at Inglis (August 20).
May 8, 1945: V-E Day service at the cenotaph.
August 15, 1945: V-J Day.

The national picture and where sources differ

Veterans Affairs Canada says more than one million Canadians and Newfoundlanders served in uniform, over 45,000 died and another 55,000 were wounded. The Canadian Encyclopedia gives some 1,080,000 served and close to 44,000 killed, and its article cites both 55,000 and 54,000 for the wounded. On women war workers, the City of Toronto Archives says that “nearly a million women” worked in shipbuilding, aircraft, tank and munitions industries by war’s end, which is a larger figure than the Canadian War Museum gives for manufacturing jobs in 1943 and 1944. The two statements may count different periods or industries, and the sources do not say.

Common questions

What was Little Norway in Toronto?

It was a Royal Norwegian Air Force training camp that opened on November 10, 1940 at the Toronto Island airport. Flight training moved to Muskoka in May 1942.

Which Toronto factories made war goods?

The City of Toronto Archives names Small Arms Limited in Long Branch, De Havilland in Downsview, GECO in Scarborough, and John Inglis and Massey-Harris in downtown Toronto.

Was the CNE held during the Second World War?

No. The grounds went to the federal government in spring 1942, and the next exhibition was in 1947, according to CNE Heritage.

How did Toronto mark V-E Day?

The City held a civic service at the cenotaph in front of City Hall on May 8, 1945, attended by more than 20,000 people.

Last verified: October 2026

Sources

City of Toronto Archives, Toronto Remembers the Home Front, 1939-1945, and the exhibits “War on the Homefront” and “75th Anniversary of the End of the Second World War”
Veterans Affairs Canada, Second World War history page and Toronto Scottish Regiment (M.G.) Monument page
Canadian War Museum, women war workers page
The Canadian Encyclopedia, “Little Norway” and “Second World War Veterans”
Store norske leksikon, “Little Norway”
CNE Heritage, HMCS York and Exhibition Place in wartime

Cite this page

APA: History of Toronto. (2026, October 23). Toronto in the Second World War, 1939 to 1945. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/toronto-second-world-war

MLA: “Toronto in the Second World War, 1939 to 1945.” History of Toronto, 23 Oct. 2026, https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/toronto-second-world-war. Accessed .

Chicago: History of Toronto. “Toronto in the Second World War, 1939 to 1945.” Last modified October 23, 2026. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/toronto-second-world-war.

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