Attitudes towards the First World War

At the outbreak of the First World War, Canada, which was automatically at war by virtue of its status as a colony within the British empire, was bursting with enthusiasm. When the political parties agreed to help the mother country and send volunteer troops overseas, both francophones and anglophones supported these measures. In just three years these fine sentiments were transmuted into tragedy. As the 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. This decision stunned some workers and farmers, and the vast majority of French Canadians. Cultural and partisan differences reached new heights in Canada.