How Did Conscription Affect Canada

World War 1 began in 1914, and because Great Britain was involved, Canada found itself pulled into the war as well. At the beginning of the war, Borden promised never to force men to fight. However, by 1916 the Allies found their situation had taken a turn for the worse, and were in desperate need of new soldiers. Canada’s Prime Minister, Robert Borden, was an imperialist. He desperately wanted Canada to be seen as an equal by Great Britain, and believed that providing large numbers of Canadian troops may accomplish this. However, as word of trench conditions and number of casualties reached home, fewer and fewer men were volunteering to be sent overseas, knowing that they would likely never return home. By 1917, Borden had only one unused

option to replace the depleted troops in Europe, which was conscription. Borden eventually passed the Military Service Act and men were forced to enlist.
Robert Borden’s decision to conscript soldiers was a huge mistake for Canada.

Essentially, Conscription brought more harm than good and led to a divide between French and English Canadians. As proven in the past, the 'all volunteer' military is more effective than any draft or mandatory conscription for all parties concerned. The Country gets men in the military who truly want to be there. Canada was not in danger of an attack from Germany, and therefore, there was no desperate need to force young men to serve into the army. The Russian Revolution in 1917 meant the Russians would soon quit the war and Germany would be able to bring it’s complete force to bear in the west. Conscription affected Canada’s economy, national unity and resulted in the sheer loss of

life.
At the start of the war, Borden had clearly stated that “ there has not been, there will not be conscription”.

In changing his mind, he lost many citizens’ trust in their government. The majority of those opposing Borden were French-Canadians. While Canada's involvement in WW1 was supported by the vast majority of English Canadians, the issue of conscription clearly and sharply divided the country. For some Canadians it was an important and necessary contribution for a faltering war effort. However, for others it was an oppressive act passed by a more British government than Canadian. Many francophones living in canada during World War 1 were not to fond of the idea of a draft army and were more reluctant to enlist as they felt a little attachment to Britain. They did not believe that it was their war, as a result they felt suppressed by the canadian government and that their opinion, linguistic and cultural independence was ignored. The French-Canadian’s reluctance to enlist had much to do with the fact that little accommodation was made for those soldiers that did not speak English. Francophones were expected to understand the English commands given by British officers, which they resented. Their linguistic barriers were ignored and the feel of having conscription being imposed on them led to public displays of resentment. Former Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier claimed that conscription "has in it the seeds of discord and disunion". He was correct since

anti-conscription demonstrations occurred regularly in Montreal in the summer of 1917. Angry crowds broke office windows of the pro-conscription Montreal newspaper, The Gazette. They rided and protested and in fact on May 18 1917 an anti conscription parade was held in Victoria Square in Montreal. Two days of horrible violence ensued. Buildings were violated, tram railways were destroyed, some people were killed and many other were injured. They enragement and aggravation simply defined the existing tension between the French and English canadians. Tensions were already running high since the French were enraged Ontario banned French as a language of instruction in their school in 1913.
Conscription simply stirred this situation and caused them to worry about the threat of assimilation in anglophone lifestyle and the demolition of their heritage and independence. This strong nationalistic feeling lasted for many years after the war and this has caused problems in canada ever since as Quebec wants secession from canada.

Additionally, conscription came into effect simply because Canada was proved to be exceedingly loyal to their colonizer. However, war puts the lives sanity and physical condition of soldiers at risk which is something Canada can not afford especially after losing so many men in the battle of Somme. The steep number of deaths of canadian soldiers before the implementation of conscription demonstrated canada’s commitment to the war in it of itself. Canada’s sacrifice in the war was already very substantial and Britain would not have been displeased if conscription did not come into place. Furthermore, conscription would have minimal impact on Canada’s war effort. By the ceasefire in November 1918 only 48,000 conscripts have been sent overseas. Half of which have been untimely been served at the front. More than 50,000 conscripts remained in Canada. Therefore, causing a commotion over the crisis and forcing men to risk their lives was therefore not necessary in these circumstances.
Finally, Canada's economy changed immensely during the course of World War 1. The huge expense for the essentials for war such as munitions, food and hiring people to fill the job vacancies created by the departure of the soldiers resulted in Canada’s wealth plummeting. Before going to war, the soldiers fighting in Europe were the ones that drove canadian economy as they worked as manufacturers, businessmen and farmers.
A huge source of income in Canada prior to and during the First World War was the exportation of wheat, timber and munitions. Conscription resulted in labor shortage affecting the quantity of resources and finished goods exported from Canada, the amount of money made ,subsequent tariff collected. The government was desperate for money and in 1917 income tax was introduced to Canadians to finance war debts. It began as a temporary measure and people were taxed 4% to 8% depending on their income. However, thanks to the heavy war expenditures, it has remained in place ever since. Additionally, because of the high wartime debts, the government was really desperate in trying to entice people into loaning them money through war bonds. People worried that the value of money would decrease after the war because in order to pay back the interest of the bonds the government would have to print more money. Printing money would devalue the currency as the quantity of money in circulation would be higher. There would be more money to spend on the same amount of goods and services and everything would cost more thus the money would be worth less. Conscription simply increased the demands of military service, industry and agriculture and therefore averaged the already fragile economic situation in Canada.

So for these reasons I believe that that compulsory enlistment of the army is therefore not justifiable when nation unity is at stake
In the end, conscription was a failure. The Military Service Act was vague, and the vast majority of men being forced to conscript managed to avoid service through exemption. Only an estimated 100,000 were ever conscripted, and only half of these men ever made it to Europe. Even worse still, only 25,000 made it to the front lines before the war’s end. The conscription crisis was not worth the lives lost in the protests, and the unity lost in Canada. The ruined relationship of English and French-Canadians can still be seen even to this day.