Canadian conscientious objectors

Under the terms of the Canadian Military Service Act of 1917, a man ordinarily subject to conscription for military service could obtain a certificate of exemption if he objected conscientiously to combatant service and was prohibited from engaging in warfare by the organized religious denomination to which he belonged. Conscientious objectors, particularly of non-traditional pacifist church backgrounds, were, however, victims of discrimination during the First World War. The War-time Elections Act of 1917 disenfranchised them, and some were imprisoned for refusing to be conscripted.