How Did Conscription Change Canadian Identity

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

The Quebec City mayor sent reinforcements from Ottawa to help control the rioting, which had been going on for two days. On the Easter Monday the crowds organized against the military presence in the city. Armed rioters started to fire at the troops and vise versa. There was an estimated four men killed by the fire and dozens injured. These riots represent one of the most violent disturbances in Canadian history. These riots erupted over conscription, which grew from how things were before in French Canadian nationalism. The military crackdown that lasted in Quebec until the end of the war resulted in an increase in state power in the growing of French Canadian nationalism. These riots over the conscription and the French Canadians sticking to their ways lead to a many difficult and unpleasant times in Quebec.

The government decided to conscript young men to the military and go overseas. The government had no problem enlisting people in the armed forces during the beginning of World War II. iN 1916 citizens discovered the information on the conditions of the newspaper accounts. These accounts were for wounded veterans who have not returned home yet. This caused lots of money for the newspaper accounts because lots of families have not seen their loved ones and were willing to buy the newspaper to find out about their significant other. Lots of canadians were given high paying war industry jobs. As a result from this enlistment campaigns were decreasing their targets. Britain wanted the government to make more reinforcements.

The battle of Vimy Ridge strengthened Canada’s relationship with Britain and helped Canada become autonomous. Canada participated in WWI because they were legally forced to the moment Britain declared a war. In 1910, Sir Wilfrid Laurier said that “when Britain is at war, Canada is at war. There is no distinction.”, and most Canadians agreed with this in 1914, when Canada was a self governing dominion of the British without control of their foreign affairs, but many debated about the war efforts of Canada and its relationship with Britain (War Museum). Many people volunteered to go to war, when 25,000 men were summoned at a camp near Quebec, 33,000 men showed up, which shows how most Canadians were actively willing to help Britain (Canadian

When Great Britain declared war on Germany in 1914, the Dominion of Canada was automatically motivated to mobilize. Nationalism and determination got Prime

For starters, King destroyed the national unity, which had only been recently recuperated after the division between the French and English Canadians during World War 1 as a result of the first conscription. Primitively, King’s plan was not to force conscription, as his campaign slogan was “Conscription if necessary but not necessarily,” as well as he also ruled out overseas conscription entirely in 1939 as a promise to the citizens of Canada. King was aware of the strong/negative francophone feelings towards conscription and knew much of his support in the election as a result of his repeated pledges about conscription came from the French- Canadians. War broke out in 1939, shortly after his election, and only a year later he adopted the National

As a nation, Canadians like to console themselves virtue wise with pride in Canada as an accepting nation. During the use of the underground railroad, it seems inherent that black individuals viewed Canada as safe haven where skin color did not matter at all. However, when world war one broke out, Canada’s response to black soldiers was racist because of their recruitment (or lack thereof), their role in the war, and a biased rewarding systems.

Durflinger Serge.“Recruitment And Conscription - Conscription, 1917 | Canada and the First World War.”Canada and the First World War Conscription 1917 Comments. Web. 2 Nov. 2015. http://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/history/life-at-home-during-the-war/recruitment-and-conscription/conscription-1917/

During the war, there was discrimination towards many groups such as the African Canadians, the First Nations, the Chinese Canadians, and German Canadians. Many were not allowed to join the Canadian forces unless they fit certain criteria or when the army was in dire need of men. Another event that pulled people apart was the mistrust of German, Austrian, and Hungarian Canadians as they thought that they were spies or that they would threaten their war efforts. Violence and prejudice was thrown upon them and harm was done to a large population of Canada. Conscription also created a rift between the francophones, who did not feel the need to serve Britain, the Mother country of others, and the anglophones who were for it. However, during the

To allied military planners, it was clear that conscription was necessary to replace the casualties on the front line and allow Canada to continue fighting in 1918 and 1919: without a decisive effort on the part of all allied nations, the German spring offensives of 1918 could have resulted in a loss for the allies. Canada was also one of the only nations that had not implemented conscription by 1917: almost all allied powers had done so in order to fight the war. Even though in hindsight conscription was not the main cause of allied victory in 1918, given the information at the time it would be reasonable to assume that it would be needed.

Since 1914, animosity has continued between the two largest ethnic groups in Canada, the French and the English. The two parties have repeatedly tried to undermine each other by refuting on the likes of religion, culture, and language. The Conscription Crisis of World War One separated the English and French as men were forced to fight. This brought in resentment towards the Anglophones as the French had to battle a war that was not theirs. The Quebec Referendum of 1980 gave the populace of Quebec the option to leave Canada. This identified the large amount of sovereignists in the province. The Official Languages Act (OLA) was implemented to induce change in

English Canadians were loyalty to Britain and considered part of British Empire. It was the period of high unemployment in Canada, but the army promised to pay and feed the soldiers three times a day. Also, Canadians were sure that the war would be over soon because many people volunteered to join the army. However, not the entire population wanted to support the war. French Canadians were not as loyal to Great Britain as the English Canadians; they believed that Canada should be independent.

Due to Britain’s alliance to defend Belgium’s sovereignty, it put forth a demand to Germany on August 4, 1914 for Germany to withdraw its troops. Except Germany did not respond and the ultimatum expired at midnight without German withdrawal, thus creating Great Britain and Germany to be at war; and as the statement in 1910 by the Prime Minister of Canada, Sir Wilfrid Laurier states “when Britain is at war, Canada is at war. There is no distinction.” By 1914 however Canada was an independent colony of Great Britain but it did not control its foreign policy or affairs, because during the South African War (1899-1902), the Canadian government decided the nature and level of the country’s war labours. Most Canadians accepted their subordinate role

Next, Jacques’ attempt to shine light on Adelard Godbout’s progressiveness also led to the unveiling of traits that may describe a “traitor”. Adelard was viewed as a traitor to the French-Canadians for multiple reason but mostly for trying to conscript them into the war, and his good relationship with Mackenzie King. His action to send a military to fight Hitler was derived from the Nazi’s saying: “To conquer Eastern Canada, we must subjugate French-Canadians”. Andre Laurendeau drew comparison from the way English-Canadians oppressed French-Canadians in the same way Hitler oppressed smaller nations like Poland. In the height of his political career, Adelard continued to push for conscription which led to the Conscription Crisis of 1944. This was a less drastic version of the Conscription Crisis of 1917, which Mackenzie King tried very hard not to replicate. In fact, Mackenzie King’s negative view on conscription was caused by his experience with it in 1914, which is why he always voted against it when he had political clout. Adelard got very serious backlash from

My grandfather, Bernard Sanders, was in his early twenties when Canada entered the WWII. At this point in time, he was pursuing medicine in graduate school. Bernard was studying to become a doctor and he knew that enlisting