Was Conscription Divisive in World War One?

Canada allowing these races into the war showed the independence from Britain. This war was a turning point for the women’s rights, women started to do jobs that only men would do, and possess more money than some men. Women eventualy took over many jobs that ran Canada and many jobs that supported the war with supplies. Women gained much respect and were looked at the same as men. By now Canada was independent but didn’t really have an identity, this war gave Canada an identity of being hard workers and good people. This social impact greatly impacted because still to this day people think the same. One bad thing that happened during the war was when Canada shafted the Chinese, Germans and the Italians. Canada was still impacted well because this shafting of races didn’t impact Canada today, many of these races live here and love it. So overall Canada was impacted greatly socially by World War 2.

     With the American offences being stopped, and heroic men coming forth, Canadian nationalism was on the rise. Since most of the war had been fought in Upper Canada, retaining of the vast majority was as much a moral victory as a material one. The end of the war brought significant immigration from the United States into Upper and Lower Canada. Canadians resented this because they still regarded Americans as the enemy. Being banded together in the War of 1812 forced the people of the Canadas to feel as though they were a unified nation. The English-speaking Canadians could better understand the French-speaking Canadians and vice

The last and biggest way woman helped Canada and the allied effort defeat Germany was through the Canadian Womans Army Corps (CWAC). The CWAC was a combat free branch in the army made for specifically the purpose of reliving men from their non-combat roles in order to get them fighting in the war and increase our man count. Some of the many jobs woman would do while enlisted in the CWAC included working at radar stations, cleaning jobs, cooking, secretarial, and even as mechanics. without the CWAC we we would have put less men into combat decreasing our man count. These brave women wanted to help there country in the fight and they did it with pride

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

Not only did they have trouble fighting on enemy lines, but there were also political battles to be addressed within the country itself. Despite the enthusiasm with which most Canadians approached the war effort, there was, from the start some quiet voices of dissent. Those voices that would grow in volume as the slaughter in France became more apparent and dragged on from year to year. The dispute that took place from the beginning and all the way through the war was mainly divided into two groups: the English- Canadians and the French-Canadians. The English-Canadians felt that it was their duty to aid Britain in the war and their dedication never faltered during those long years. However, the French-Canadians were simply upset that so much Canadian effort was being put into a fight that was not really their own. Henri Bourassa, a French-Canadian politician and nationalist, spoke publicly against the war in I916. His parliamentary followers backed his opposition; this united front, however, was built more on circumstances than it was on deeper political principles. Most Canadians agreed that the German’s idea of expansionary war was unnecessary, destructive, and evil. They agreed that “The Great War” needed to be ended before too much damage was made. However, they could not come to an consensus about how that was to be accomplished. The French-Canadians did not believe

However, the War of 1812 is important for Canadians to understand; because in Canada, the war contributed to a growing sense of national identity. The war united the French-speaking and English-speaking colonies against the Americans, giving many citizens a sense of nationhood as well as a sense

At the beginning of World War I, the Canadian government was hesitant about Aboriginals in the military. When the war broke in 1914, recruitment of “Status Indians” was prohibited, as they were often connected to torture and scalping. Some natives enlisted in face of the law, thanks to a commitment to their land. It wasn't until 1916 that the government allowed active

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

In the past, WWII and WWI, women were very dominant; they had to take care of their children, do all the chores and also had to cook the food. During WWII, women had to take place for the men (First world war.com). The war changed the life for all Canadian women. When men went to fight, women were called upon to fill their jobs, and this included many jobs that were previously thought of unsuitable for women. Women were called up for war work from March 1941(Women during World War II). The roles of the women were positively impacted by World War II, because they had the potential to re-enter the workforce, control the farms and join the military for the first time. Taking control of the military was tough, but women had shown that they could work together and handle the situation.

The decision to pass the Military Service Act of 1914 by Sir Robert Borden’s Conservative Government was undemocratic and split Canada between the English and the French speaking, and the rural and city Canadians. In December 1914, Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden told Canadians that “there has not been, there will not be, compulsion or conscription.” By agreeing to conscription at the Imperial War Conference in England, he not only went back on his word, but also decided without considering that many Canadians opposed conscription. This was insensitive and as a result, there were numerous protests. Farmers across Canada, who needed their sons to help on the field, held a large protest in Ottawa in the June of 1918. Likewise, French Canadians

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

War on the home front was not a shaped many Canadian negatively in WWI. The Wartime Elections Act had an effect on Canadians politically. The great influenza affected Canada socially. Lastly, propaganda and victory bonds caused Canada to fall economically. Canada’s home front during WWI had a negative impact on the Canadian people politically, socially and economically.

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

Conscription; Compulsory enlistment for state service, typically into the armed forces. Many were all for conscription, while others were completely against it, including myself. Enforcing this caused a lot of violence and controversy between countries, which is something we should be avoiding. It had afttected Canada by ruining their reputation as being a free country, by taking away the rights of the men who were unfairly enlisted into the army. Lastly, it caused many problems with farms and their production which was very important because these farms supplied food for the army and citizens. Overall the 1917 conscription debate was one of the fiercest and most divisive in Canadian political history.