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Conscription crisis (1917)

As the First World War dragged on, with its enormous demand for human and material resources and with voluntary recruitment declining, Prime Minister Sir Robert Laird Borden imposed military conscription in the summer of 1917. Following a campaign on this issue, the December elections deeply divided Canadians and resulted in persistent bitterness, especially between French Canadians who opposed conscription and English Canadians who favoured the Union government that had been created in October 1917 to impose conscription. The political cost was enormous: the Conservative Party’s support in Quebec was destroyed and would not be recovered for decades to come.

Related Biographies

BORDEN, Sir ROBERT LAIRD
BOURASSA, HENRI (baptized Joseph-Henry-Napoléon)
BRUCHÉSI, PAUL (baptized Louis-Joseph-Paul-Napoléon) (Napoléon)
BUREAU, JACQUES (baptized Marie-Joseph-Jacques-Napoléon)
DEMEULE, GEORGES (baptized Joseph-Elzéar-Georges)
GOODWIN, ALBERT (Ginger)
GOUIN, Sir LOMER (baptized Joseph-Alfred-Lomer)
KING, WILLIAM LYON MACKENZIE
LAPOINTE, ERNEST
LAURIER, Sir WILFRID (baptized Henry-Charles-Wilfrid)
MEIGHEN, ARTHUR

Other Resources

Avoiding the War
Civilization.ca - History of Canadian Medicare - 1914-1929 - Conscription Crisis
Conscription. Content archived on 24 Dec. 2017
Conscription - The Canadian Encyclopedia. Content archived on 20 Dec. 2024
Conscription Crisis of 1917 - Wikipedia
Conscription Crisis | Canadian Museum of History
Conscription Crisis: 1917
Conscription | Wartime Canada
NL in the First World War
Quebec’s conscription crisis divided French and English Canada | World War I. Content archived on 28 Nov. 2020
Recruitment and Conscription - Conscription, 1917 | Canada and the First World War
The Conscription Crisis
The Conscription Issue in Canada’s Two World Wars – NAOC. Content archived on 7 Dec. 2023 (original link)
World War One in Winnipeg – Conscription – ActiveHistory.ca

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We acknowledge the support of the Government of Canada.


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