War on the Home
Front
Women’s Rights
The Conscription Crisis
The Election of 1917
The Struggle for Women’s Rights
• Since women were doing so
much for the war effort, they
wanted a share in making
decisions about the country.
• Women who fought in the
women’s right movement were
called suffragists.
• Women fought for the right to
vote (suffrage), work for political
equality to men, and equal
opportunities in employment.
• Nellie McClung was Canada’s
leading suffragist at the time.
Conscription
• Conscription: all
able-bodied men
would be required
to join the army.
• The war had dragged on much longer than
everyone had expected. As a result, casualty
numbers rose and volunteer enlistments dropped.
Because of these numbers…
• Borden was convinced
by military officials
that the war could not
be won without more
reinforcements.
• He asked parliament
to pass the
conscription bill.
A Country Divided
• Talk of conscription caused much uproar and
essentially divided the country, especially
between English and French Canadians.
• There was much protest in Quebec.
• English-Canadian newspapers accused Quebec
of not doing their part because they sent the
fewest volunteers in proportion to its
population.
Conscription Crisis: Comparative Chart
Conscription is Law
• In summer 1917, Borden passed the Military Service
Bill making conscription law:
– Military service was compulsory for all males between the
ages of 20 and 45. Only men in vital wartime production
jobs, those who were sick, or conscientious objectors
(those for whom fighting was against their religion or other
beliefs) did not have to join.
• Conscientious objectors were also known as Pacifists:
those against war based on religion. (Mennonites and
Quakers who came to Canada to escape military service
in their own countries and for religious freedom.)
Swaying the Vote
• Two more bills were passed in winter of 1917,
both to strengthen Borden’s position on
conscription.
• The Military Voters Act: allowed soldiers
overseas to vote
• The Wartime Elections Act:
– gave the vote to female relatives of soldiers
– took the vote away from people born in enemy
countries or who spoke the language of an enemy
country, and conscientious objectors.
The Election of 1917
• Borden and the union government won by an
overwhelming majority.
• 153 seats to 82 seats
• In Quebec, however, Borden only received 3
seats to Laurier’s 62.
Did Conscription Work?
• By 1918, only 45 000 conscripts reached the
battlefield.
• They was a huge divide in the country.
• Many say that national unity was a high price
to pay for 45 000 soldiers.