Social Studies 11- French-English Relations
A Country Divided: The Conscription Crisis
Vocab:
Casualty- soldiers who die or are injured in battle
Profiteering- to make unfair profits by taking advantage of an emergency or crisis such as wartime
Conscription- forced military service for all adult males
Conscientious objector- someone who refuses to fight a war for moral, or religious reasons
Recruitment- to advertise and get people to join – in this case to join the military
This Conscription Crisis takes place during World War I (1914-1918), a war fought overseas in Europe.
Read The Recruitment Crisis
Discuss the following with a partner:
Why was the Canadian military having a difficult time recruiting new soldiers to fight overseas?
1. Why was the Canadian government having even more trouble recruiting men from Quebec?
Read the Election of 1917
1. Describe the Military Voters Act?
2. Describe the Wartime Elections Act:
3. What was the result of the election? Explain.
Discuss the following quote made by the leader of the Official Opposition, Wilfrid Laurier. Why does he
think conscription was introduced?
""Is it not true that the main reason advocated for conscription - not so much publicly as
I privately, not shouted but whispered - is that Quebec must be made to do her part, and FrenchsCanadians forced to enlist compulsorily since they did not enlist voluntarily?"
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, 1917
Violence in Quebec
On August 28, conscription became law and was followed by two days of violence in Montreal. Store windows
were smashed and tramway rails ripped up. One hundred and fifty policemen were called in to disperse the
crowd, and four were wounded, along with two demonstrators. The following evening, a demonstrator was
killed in Philips Square.
On Easter weekend 1918, a 23 year-old man named Joseph Mercier was arrested at a Quebec City bowling
alley, for not having his conscription registration papers on him. The incident sparked retaliation: a crowd
looted the offices of the army registrar, pitched files out in the snow and smashed the windows of English
shops.
Paragraph Response:
How did the conscription issue divide Canada and affect French-English relations?
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Interesting note:
Conscription in South Korea
There are many reported instances of citizens of other countries (United States, Canada,
etc.) being forced to serve in the South Korean military. Under South Korean law, one is
considered a citizen if one's name is entered into the Korean Family Census Register, or
hojuk. If a male between the ages of 18 and 35 travels to Korea, he is in the hojuk, and
his presence there is discovered by the Korean government, there is a strong possibility
that he will be held there to fulfill his military duty.