- The First World War
- Death on the Battlefield
- War in the Air
- Victoria Cross Winners
- The Generals
- Organizing for War
- The Wartime Economy
- Recruitment
- Conscription Divides Canada
- Pacifism
- Ethnicity and Race
- Civilian Contributions
- Writing on War
- The War's Impact on Families
- Demobilization and the Veterans
- Indigenous Soldiers
- Military Medicine
- Military Chaplains
Conscription Divides Canada
Source: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
This excerpt from the biography of Henri BOURASSA highlights the conflict over conscription:
“[Bourassa] repudiated the Union government formed by [Prime Minister Sir Robert Laird] Borden in the fall and joined forces with [Liberal leader Sir Wilfrid] Laurier in an effort to defeat him in the election of 17 December [1917]. Together, they swept the polls in the angry province of Quebec, but they were crushed in English Canada. In the divided country, Bourassa tended to support isolation for French Canadians, but not separation from the rest of Canada.”
To find out more about why conscription created dissension, explore the biographies listed below.