Did you know? A short history of Conscription in Canada by WHS historian Matt Pritchard: The concept of Canadian Military Conscription is usually associated with the Great War rather than the Second World War, when being referred to by historians who are describing Wartime enlistment. After the Battle of the Somme in 1917, Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden was desperate to replenish troop supplies and was forced to pass the Military Service Act in order to conscript new soldiers. This move enraged the Canadian Francophone Community, whom the majority of did not support Canada’s fighting in continental Europe. The topic of conscription was a catalyst that created furthering tensions between the Francophone and the highly supportive of the War Anglophone population. At the start of the Second World War, Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King did not want to make the same mistake that his predecessor Borden did in 1917. Luckily for King for the first five years of the War he did not have to enforce conscription at any large extent. On September 10th. 1939, nine days after Germany invaded Poland, Canada declared war on the Third Reich, officially entering in the Second World War. Volunteerism and heroism seemed to be a central theme deeply embedded in the Canadian society , as by the end of that month 58,337 citizens had voluntarily enlisted. Between 1939 to 1945 approximately 1.1 million Canadians served their nation, out of a country that had a total population of just over 10 million people. With a ten percent of the total Canadian population enlisted, in modern terms this would be the entire population of the Greater Toronto Area leaving Canada for six years to serve in Europe. King’s government did not face a conscription crisis during the Second World War, until after the Normandy Landings in the Summer of 1944. In June of 1940, King’s government did implement the National Resources Mobilization Act, which lead to the registration of young men and women. But the NRMA was meant to ensure that the government could call up citizens but only for jobs crucial for Wartime production and they could not conscript people to go overseas. After D-Day and the drive towards Germany Canadian casualties began to dwindle the numbers of the military ranks. Due to an increase pressure by both the Canadian Military Commanders, Great Britain and Anglo Speaking Canadians, Prime Minister King was forced to change his stance on conscription of November 22nd, 1944. Following King’s reversal on sending conscripts overseas by the end of the 13,000 NRMA men left Canada. Out of those 13,000 men only 2,463 reached the front lines, in which conscripts suffered a total of 69 casualties. By 1945 a total of 100,000 thousand men were conscripted meaning that 1 million Canadians chose to put their lives on the line for the freedom of future generations.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 17:31:32 +0000
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