Conscription Crisis In Canada

Conscription was so controversial because was that it was very normal for two people from within the same social group and who would normally share a similar opinion on something, to have two completely opposing views on the topic of conscription. For example, many of the ANZACs who had fought on the Western Front and returned home to Australia. Some ANZACS strongly agreed with conscription because they knew that more reinforcements were needed on the

Canada is a prime example of a nation harmed by conscription. In its past, has had two separate conscription crises during each world war. More harm was caused during world war one known as the “Canadian Conscription Crisis”. As presented in the facts that correlate with the economic effects. Workers were forced to leave their jobs to serve in the Canadian armed forces as it was estimated that approximately 4000 farms were left unworked due to the draft (Twatio). If the United States were to implement a draft today, it would be possible for a situation very similar to that of the Canadian Conscription Crisis to occur. It is common sense that the United States today has an extremely large working class. In the hypothetical scenario that jobs are beginning to be left unworked, the nation would arrive under the same effects. Canada has a much smaller economy than the United States does today. It took Canada over a decade to recover from their first conscription crisis

In the years between 1914 and 1929, relations between French and English Canada were shown to be very unpleasant, due to events which occurred throughout the time frame. To begin with, the conscription crisis of 1917 brought upon hostility and division between French and English Canada. The conscription crisis occurred when the federal government of Canada, as well as Canada’s Prime minister at the time, Sir Robert

In further analysis, angry people are more likely to listen to militants and commit violent acts, building a tense environment for Quebec citizens to live in. According to CBC Digital Archives, in response to the FLQ and other revolutionary groups forming, “when innocent people became injured from terrorist attacks, the cry for police involvement became shrill.” (FLQ Backgrounder Web) It is evident in this statement that many separatists who resorted to acts of terrorism consequently stimulated anger and fear in Quebec. If the Quiet Revolution had not occurred and the feelings of separatism and rise of terrorist groups did not follow, fewer people would have been hurt by the violence, both directly and indirectly. All things considered, the encouragement of separatism also weakened English-French relations as Quebec left 30 large shared programs, though the other provinces did not have the right to do so. All things considered, “from the Quebec Act of 1774 to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canada has protected the place of its French minority. If Quebec were to separate, that protection would be gone and the Francophone society would be assimilated by the wider world within a generation or two.” (Kheiriddin) In relation to this comment, many English Canadians viewed Quebec’s special status during the revolution as

Due to the bitter rivalries of their mother countries, the two sides also had a strong feels of animosity against one another. This animosity was furthered when the French surrendered New France. This cession of French territory to the British occurred after the French and Indian Wars of the mid 18th century; specifically after the treaty of Paris in February 20th of 1763. The essential annexation brought about much anger within the French. This was illustrated during the highlights of the Patriote movement (the rebellions of 1837 and 1838) and the secession of New France to become British. These events, along with prior rivalry with Britain and its colonies brought forth a substantial amount of Francophone nationalism. Though the rebellion was also caused by famine and poverty on some level, it was the strong French nationalism was the spark that brought about Canada’s first “civil war.”

It is no secret that French-English relations in Canada have been strained in the past and still are – albeit to a lesser extent.

The Front de Libération du Québec, or the FLQ was the main group that was responsible for the October Crisis. This group of French Canadians were violent to reach their goals. FLQ members were trained by revolutionaries who supported Che Guevara, and some were trained by Palestinian commandos. They’ve committed 200 violent actions, have robbed banks, and participated in bombings. Not only did they commit those actions but they also kidnapped British Trade Commissioner James Cross and kidnapped Pierre Laporte. Laporte was found dead on October 17, 1970 which led to Prime Minister Trudeau broadcasting the FLQ manifesto and transporting five FLQ terrorists to Cuba to release James Cross. The government responded to this crisis by implementing the War Measures Act. This gave the government the power to take people’s civil rights away. They responded with the crisis using the War Measures Act as they believed that the people wanted to overthrow the Canadian government. French-English relations were greatly affected from the October

Firstly, the Conscription Crisis of 1942 provoked conflict between the French and English Canadians, but also changed Canadian identity positively during the 1940s. Ever since World War ll began and Canada joined the war the French Canadians highly opposed to the idea of conscription; “[...]English-Canadians, who were mostly in favour of conscription, and French-Canadians, who were strongly opposed.” To begin with, the prime minister of Canada at the time, Mackenzie King had acknowledged the great disagreement the French Canadians had against conscription and made a promise to the nation: “King’s government [...] had promised the nation, and particularly Quebec, that it would not send any conscripts to serve overseas.” The last thing that King wanted to do was to impose conscription especially when Quebec strongly believed in anti-conscription: “The Quebec ministers kept a strong vigil over King's anti-conscription predisposition, reminding him of the terrible divisiveness of the World War 1

In 1917 during WW1, the Canadian government justified in enacting the Military Services Act to register and conscript men for war. Almost all French Canadians opposed conscription because they felt they had no loyalty to France and Britain. Other Canadians were at ease with the conscription as they supported the British Empire. The farmers, union heads, and pacifists were all opposed of the conscription like the French Canadians. I believe the Military Services Act was not the best choice because it ripped up the relations between the English and the French Canadians, it eliminated the freedom of the people by forcing them to go to war, and caused a riot in Quebec City leading to a few deaths. The

Once the Military Service Act was put in place, the problems began that made the Conscription Crisis of 1917 so significant. Almost immediately Quebec anti-conscription riots broke out all over Montreal. The province of Quebec was totally opposing the fact of serving in World War One. The fact that forcing young men to fight and die was thought to be an outrage in Quebec. Never minding the fact that the Canadian Corps was nearly in Complete English. During the riots nearly forty percent of the Québécois conscripted men did not report for their duty in the war. The views French-Canadian's between the majorities of the English Canadian's were basically utterly opposed to each other causing the relations between the two the lowest ever within Canadian history. In both the elections of 1917 and 1921 seventy percent of the Quebec Population voted liberal for the loss of trust from the conservatives due to this event. "The 1917 Election was the most bitter in Canadian history, viciously fought on both sides"- said

At the outbreak of war the Australians were signing up by the hundreds to serve ‘the mother country’ without conscription, but soon they began to realize that war wasn’t some romanticised adventure and the number of troops signing up began to slow down because they were learning more about war so they weren’t so keen to sign up anymore because of that the number of troops for the wars was so little that by 1916 they had a shortage of men. The Labour Party Prime Minister William (Billy) Hughes decided to have a referendum for the idea of conscription even though his party was opposed to it. Conscription had a big effect on Australia and it caused the nation to be divided over the issue because some people believed that the young men of Australia

Canada as a country was not ready for the things that came with war such as the costs of war and decrease in labour. The general francophone population did not support the Military Service Act while the English supported it. The main groups who were against conscription were the pacifists, farmers, trade unionists, French Canadians and immigrants. (P2 notes)

Over ten percent of black Canadians were now able to serve at war. They assisted in logging, milling, shipping, repairing roads, providing water, and digging trenches. Moreover the men were able to prove their efficiency, and even made their way onto the frontlines. Thirdly are the Ukrainians and Germans Canadians. At the time in 1914, there was over one million German and Ukrainian decent living in Canada.

The source clearly communicates a perspective that is in favour of conscription. The source starts off by portraying their opinion through the key term ‘to maintain the contribution of Canada’s fighting force.’ Conscription was a way to build up a stronger force for Canada because more soldiers became involved this way. This was seen as ‘necessary’ according to the source because as stated in the beginning, “Canada would not back down from the commitment it made to Great Britain.’ The key words in the context ‘in order to protect freedom and democracy,’ are in correlation to Canada’s determination to defeat in battle and to keep their force strong. This term demonstrates that Canada’s morals were for the better of our country and how conscription

Firstly The military service act was passed in the year 1917 by prime minister Borden, who was a great nationalist and wanted to make sure that his country was well protected. Conscription took away from french Canadian culture because many of the soldiers were mainly English speaking creating language barriers between french Canadians and English Canadians.