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Impact of conscription on canada
Impact of conscription on canada
Impact of conscription on canada
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Canada’s refusals to certain demands of the French Canadians demonstrated it as a country that cherished the big picture. For instance, concerning the low enlistments and high casualties Canada had three years after the Out broke of World War One, Prime Minister Robert Borden introduced conscription in 1917. In addition, 27 years after the first conscription crisis, Prime Minster King enabled conscription again for the same reason. Furthermore, the federal government and other provincial governments excluded Quebec’s sentiment as they agreed to partition the constitution in 1982. This was because Rene Levesque, the Premier of Quebec, stayed in a different hotel instead of the Chateau Laurier, where the officials made the agreement. Thus, the
...e to power in Quebec. This indicates that Quebecers supported non-violent methods in order to achieve independence for Quebec, rather than the violent methods of the FLQ, also indicating that the efforts of the FLQ would have been subdued by the Parti Quebecois. The death of Pierre Laporte was another unfortunate occurrence as a result of the War Measures Act which could have been avoided, yet some still believe his death is not related to the invocation of the War Measures Act. Justification is required for all actions which spark debate, and in events where the justification is provided under false pretences, someone must be held responsible. In this case it remains the Trudeau government. Trudeau may have had an admirable political career in which he made many wise decisions, however, the invocation of the War Measures Act in October 1970 was not one of them.
Canadian history consists of many memorable moments, including many great leaders that helped Canada become what it is today, like the well-known Louis St. Laurent. He was born on Feb. 1st, 1882 in Compton, Quebec, and died on July 25, 1973 in Quebec City (Coucil, 13). Louis St. Laurent was raised in a mixed family, with a French - speaking father, and English - speaking Irish mother, and was fluently bilingual. He studied many years in law, where he graduated from law school, at Laval University in 1914, and had been a successful corporation lawyer (“St-Stephen, St. Laurent”). Laurent entered politics a lot later in his years, as he became older; however he still managed to have a large impact on Canada, and achieved many accomplishments. Louis St. Laurent was an extremely important, and well-respected politician, because he helped resolve the conscription crisis from 1940-1944 (,Pickersgill,14), and prevented the government and cabinet from collapsing, which would have caused the society to fall apart at the time, he was involved in the establishment of the Canada Council, which introduced support for Canadian arts, to help Canada separate from the influence of American culture (Jocelyn), and lastly he welcomed Newfoundland into confederation in 1949 (“Newfoundland History”), which was a large accomplishment because of the failures Many other politicians experienced in trying to do so before.
During this time, Canada was still a member of the British Empire and was legally at war the minute that Britain was. Even though the Canadian government was had no control about being at war, it did have control over what role Canada would play during the war. Canada could send soldiers, food and clothing, or they could even do nothing about the war. Robert Borden, who was Prime Minister at the time, felt that Canada should send soldiers, food, and clothing to Britain. He felt that Canadian's should be proud to fight for their king and country. Wilfrid Laurier, who was leader of the Opposition at the time, was hoping that the war would be over soon, and that we should offer money and food to France and Britain. Henri Bourassa, who was the publisher of Le Devoir news paper felt that Canada should do nothing, and that Britain got into the mess by themselves, so to can they get out of the mess. After much debate, the government decided to send soldiers, and economic aid to Britain for the war.
Before the General Strike, the Canadian government was fully invested in WWI, whereas most Canadian citizens were not; the dissonance urged industrial workers to unionize. From the beginning of Canada’s involvement in the Great War, their industrial complex mass-produced supplies and armaments for the Allied Powers. Most Canadian citizens had no qualms with the shift in the job market until there were not enough workers to produce the basic material goods necessary within Canada’s borders. The citizens began to form groups, seemingly in opposition of the government and its advocacy for war. To the Canadian government, this was incredibly concerning, presenting the possi...
The assistance that the war veterans receive in Canada today is considered one of the best in the world. With assistance programs that provide support to the veterans in the form of attentive health care, health insurance, health related travel expenses, assisted living, career training, rehabilitation, financial benefits, and much more. But, this wasn’t always the case with the Veterans Assistance Commission in Canada. Very little was done prior to WW1, for the war veterans. Even though much difference was promised and greater commitments were made by the Canadian government during and after the First World War, it still was not nearly enough. Pensions were denied to deserving candidates, assistance was provided to many in a form that was nowhere near enough to start a new life, and because of the great depression it was even harder for the veterans to make a living.
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
To answer this, one must address the severity of the crisis, as well as the degree to which the War Measures Act would alleviate the situation. This proves to be an unexpectedly difficult task, as it is impossible to accurately capture the zeitgeist of such a turbulent time period without being subject to bias. However from a purely objective standpoint, the evidence clearly identifies that there was no insurrection, nor was one likely to take place. Trudeau relied heavily on galvanizing the risk that the FLQ posed to the Canadian public. However, this came to be a detriment to his case when the supposed danger was discredited. According to most authorities, the FLQ “was a collection of scattered, radical grouplets who communicated amongst themselves with great difficulty and apprehension”(Conrad et al). It is of course, rather difficult to carry out widespread insurrection without a cohesive unit to do so. Trudeau’s speech relied heavily on the notion that the FLQ posed a greater threat than they realistically did, and by the end of the crisis it was clear that his claims were null. However, Trudeau did not operate alone in his endeavors. The crisis was rapidly escalated in scale by local and national media alike. The media “Fed the notion of a hydra head conspiracy, unknown, unknowable, but of course infinitely dangerous”, an error that almost did more to aid in the FLQ’s influence over the country, than it did to call in any sort of justifiable action (Bothwell, 447-50). This combined with rumors of Quebec dissolving their government due to the “severity” of the situation, a rumor that was initially reported to be started by Trudeau (although it was enforced by numerous parties”) in order to gain the support of the public for the actions he was preparing to take (Clement). It is generally agreed upon that War
During the First World War, Canada suffered a great conscription crisis that divided the nation. The French-Canadian nationalists, led by Henri Bourassa, opposed conscription and felt that they were fighting an English war, and therefore felt no obligation to fight. The vast majority of those who enlisted during the age of voluntary recruitment were Anglophones; in contrast, very few Francophones volunteered to fight. On 17 May 1917, Prime Minister Robert Borden announced that military service was to become compulsory among men of fighting age of all classes. French-Canadians protested; however, despite their best efforts, the Military Service Bill came into effect. The protest eventually led to lengthy riots. Following this, Canada became
...s a distinct society because they had both a differing view of domestic and foreign policies than the rest of Canada and for that reason should become a separate country (www.pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca). Lévesque experimented with several ideas on how to gain support for Québec sovereignty. To try and find support from other countries on Québec's independence, Lévesque started L'Opération-Amérique (www.pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca). In response to Lévesque's attempts to separate from Canada, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau proposed a constitutional reform to renew federalism and promote unity (www.pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca). Despite all of Lévesque's efforts to separate, the results of the referendum on May 20, 1980 did not favour Lévesque's separatist party and the province of Québec has, to this day, remained a part of Canada.
In 1919, King was elected leader of the Liberal party in the first leadership convention held in Canada. The party was still unpleasantly divided, with some Liberals in the Union government and some in Opposition. King stood on conscription two years before it won him the loyalty of Quebec.
Canada: The Quiet Revolution in Quebec The English-French relations have not always been easy. Each is always arguing and accusing the other of wrong doings. All this hatred and differences started in the past, and this Quiet revolution, right after a new Liberal government led by Jean Lesage came in 1960. Thus was the beginning of the Quiet Revolution.
The question of whether Quebec will secede from Canada to become an independent nation has been a hot topic in the country for several years now. It dates back to the abortive rebellions of 1837-38. In 1980, a referendum to secede was rejected by a 60-40 margin. Since then though, the numbers of Quebeckers that want to become sovereign has significantly increased. There is so many questions of what will happen if this does happen. In this paper I plan to take a deeper look at this situation and try to figure out what it would actually be like if Quebec was its own country.
Canada did not enter into World War one voluntarily, instead due to the relationship with Britain, Canada entered automatically. During the war, millions of Canadians volunteered to sign up for the war and not only represent for Canada, but also Britain. Until the Battle of Vimy Ridge in April 1927, this was the day Canada started to emerge under the shadow of Britain. During the battle, four Canadian divisions carefully planned out the attacks which resulted in Canada brining victory for our nation. (Cook, n.d., para 1). BGen A.E. Ross stated that “In those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation,” his comment clearly states that Canada as a country is capable to govern itself
As the government of Canada was taking its first steps as a united country after confederation it was eying a vast amount of land which is now part of the Canadian prairies and Manitoba. The Canadian government was interested in Rupert’s land because Canada wanted to expand from sea to sea (A Mari Usque Ad Mare) therefore accomplishing sir MacDonald vision for a bigger better Canada. One of the main reasons why Canada was eager to buy Rupert’s land was because good farmable land was scarce in Ontario. In addition many settlers were thinking of moving toward the west (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba) the Canadian government was ecstatic about this because it was like hitting two birds with one rock why? Provided Canada was afraid of the American expansion toward the north. Lest, it wanted settlers to settle in the west therefore claim it for Canada. When Macdonald found out that settlers were interested in moving to the west he wanted them to settle as soon as possible and preferably before their neighbours. However, Rupert’s land was in the way and it was up for sell from the once powerful Hudson’s Bay Company whom controlled the area. In conclusion the British fur trade giant had been in decline for years and now it was up for grabs. The Canadians were afraid of The Americans, who had just paid Russia millions of dollars for Alaska in 1867, whom were also looking for other properties to expand their Republic and eyed the territory. But Canada saw Rupert's Land as the natural extension of its new nation which included Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec and it was not going to let it get away. However, The Hudson's Bay Company was prepared to sell to the Americans who would pay top dollar. But on March 20, 1869, ...
Canada got involved because of Great Britain declaring war against Germany on August 14, 1914. Since Canada was still part of British Dominion at time, so Canada is obligated to join the war and help Great Britain. Canada send 600,000 men and women in war like nurses, soldiers, chaplains. They let the non-white people and born in enemy nation join the war. So, they called it white man’s war, until 1915 when they allowed 3,500 first nations to join the war. Many Canadians thinks of it as an adventure