The ''Military Service Act, 1917'' was an act passed by the Parliament of Canada in an effort to recruit more soldiers.

Background

The First World War was going badly, casualties were enormous, and Canada's contribution in manpower compared unfavourably with that of other countries. Voluntary enlistment had been uneven, and the military believed they could not maintain the Canadian Corps at full strength without conscription. Encouraged by

English Canadian English Canadians (french: Canadiens anglais or ), or Anglo-Canadians (french: Anglo-Canadiens), refers to either Canadians of English ethnic origin and heritage or to English-speaking or Anglophone Canadians of any ethnic origin; it is use ...

s and the British, Prime Minister Sir

Robert Borden Sir Robert Laird Borden (June 26, 1854 – June 10, 1937) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Canada from 1911 to 1920. He is best known for his leadership of Canada during World War I. Borde ...

introduced the ''Military Service Act''. Riots broke out in Quebec. The ''Militia Act'' of 1904 already provided for military service for all male British subjects between the ages of 18 and 60, but the calling-up was by '' levée en masse'', which would have caused massive disruption through the pulling of skilled workers from agriculture and industry.

Administration

Under the 1917 act, the male population of Canada was divided into several classes for the purpose of being called up for military service, from which certain exceptions were available: A system of local and appeal tribunals was in place for determining exemptions claimed under the act. The men of Class 1 were called up to report for military service on November 10, 1917, with the deadline delayed until December 12, 1917 for those living in the

Yukon Territory Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

(who did not need to report for duty until January 7, 1918). Men within any class who, after August 4, 1914, had moved to the United States or elsewhere were also required to submit to the provisions of the act. Further regulations issued on April 30, 1918, required all persons claiming an exemption to carry documention supporting such a claim, with lack of documentation resulting in detention without recourse to ''

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

'', and public notices of these regulations were published across Canada. This left farming operations across Canada short of much-needed labour.

Conscripts raised

Postwar sanctions

After the war, Ontario passed legislation providing that, for a ten-year period from April 24, 1919, anyone who failed to perform any duty required under the Act, or was convicted of any treasonable or seditious offences during the war, was disqualified from holding any provincial, municipal or educational office, or from being able to vote at any related election for such offices.

Impact

The act was unevenly administered, and there were numerous evasions and many exemptions. The act's military value has been questioned, but its political consequences were clear. It led to

Borden's Union government , _subheader = Canadian political party , logo = , leader = Robert Borden,Arthur Meighen , president = , chairman = , chairperson = , spokesperson = , leader1_title = , leader1_name = , foundation ...

and drove most of his French Canadian supporters into opposition, as they were seriously alienated by this attempt to enforce their participation in an imperial war. Conflicts between the government's calls for greater agricultural production and conscription would lead to the rise of the farmers' movements of the 1920s, and would have more lasting effects in rural and

Western alienation In Canadian politics, Western alienation is the notion that the Western provinces – British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba – have been alienated, and in some cases excluded, from mainstream Canadian political affairs in fav ...

Lessons learned Lessons learned (American English) or lessons learnt (British English) are experiences distilled from past activities that should be actively taken into account in future actions and behaviors. There are several definitions of the concept. The ...

from the First World War experience were used in framing the ''

National Resources Mobilization Act The ''National Resources Mobilization Act, 1940'' (4 George VI, Chap. 13) was a statute of the Parliament of Canada passed to provide for better planning of a much greater Canadian war effort, both overseas and in military production at home. Sco ...

'' that was passed in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The act fell into disuse, and was repealed as obsolete upon the proclamation of the ''Revised Statutes of Canada, 1952''.

Notes

References

External links

* {{cite CanLII, litigants=In Re George Edwin Gray, link=, year=1918, court=scc, num=86, format=canlii, pinpoint=, parallelcite=57 SCR 150, date=1918-07-19 Canada in World War I Canadian federal legislation 1917 in military history 1917 in Canadian law Conscription law Conscription in Canada