Transcript Was Conscription the right answer in 1917?

Was Conscription
the right choice
in 1917?
Canada’s contribution so far:
Prime Minister Borden initially pledged
25,000 troops; 30,000 volunteered
 “There has not been, there will not be,
compulsion or conscription.” -1914
 High unemployment; a short war?
 Independent battalion groups

Oct 1915: Borden increases
commitment to
250,000 men
 Jan 1916:
500,000 men
 Is this realistic?

French-Canadians
Regulation 17: Restrictions on language
 3% of volunteers were Fr-Can,
scattered amongst English
 Bitter about assimilation,
“Imperialist war”
 Little or no loyalty to Britain or France
 Nationalist Leader Henri Bourassa

Recruitment/
Propaganda
“Will we wait until
ours burns?
Let’s enroll and quickly”
“This is the moment
to act.
Don’t wait until the
Germans come to
reign destruction
here in Canada.
Be men!
Do not stay behind.”
Why did Canadians in
general stop volunteering?
 Farming
families needed their sons
 People heard about the horrors
of war
 Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele
“A matter of honour”
1917 Borden at Imperial War Conference
 David Lloyd George urges Borden to
commit more men
 Borden visits Canadian soldiers

The Election
Borden realizes Canada’s capacity to help
but knows volunteers will not be enough
 Military Voters Act
 Wartime
Elections Act
 Wilfred Laurier
& Conservatives
opposed

Outrage!
Riots in Quebec 1918
 French-English tensions
 Only 48,000
conscripts went
overseas…
was it worth it?

Outcome:
 Conscription
Crisis represented the
impossibility of reconciling French
& English views
 Quebec became anti-Conservative
 Canada deeply divided
Assignment



Write a letter to the local newspaper in 1917
arguing for or against conscription
Choose the perspective of a
-French-Canadian (anti-conscription)
-British-Canadian with son in war (pro)
-other Canadian (farmer, labourer, etc)
1 page, due tommorow