Conscription Crisis of 1944

Overview

In 1940,  Mackenzie Lyon King had decided  to restrain French and English-speaking  Canadian   involvement in the war. Even though King enforced this, French and English still enrolled to go overseas. Aside from this most of  the French-speaking Canadians didn’t agree with the conscription act so they felt there was need for them to participate. Two years after the European conflict in 1942, The Prime Minister of Great Britain along with the English-speaking Canadians were insisting that King enforce conscription in order to provide a larger contribution to the war.

So in response to the pressure King decided to ask his people what their thoughts were on this situation by holding a national plebiscite to ask for the opinions from the different citizens.There was a result of  80% supported and the other 72% known as the French-speaking Canadians opposing. Since there was a larger percentage of the population supporting conscription McKenzie Lyon King passed a bill saying conscription could be used.

As they proceeded with conscription King was still unsure about his decision due to the outcome in the WWI and he was afraid that since the French-speaking Canadians did not agree with his decision that there would be a crisis so he said that conscription would go forward two years later. Mackenzie King still monitored the numbers that were going over and put a limit of 16,000.

Cause/Consequence

The causes of the Conscription Crisis were the demand of more volunteers from Winston Churchill, the lack of volunteers, the  French-speaking Canadians opposed to conscription and the higher recruiting rates  in Ontario than Quebec which became an issue for the government.

Again, Winston Churchill was putting pressure on the Canadian government to enforce the conscription in order to supply a larger number of  conscripts to go toward the war effort. Along side him the English-speaking Canadians had supported him from the beginning but this is what had come between French and English Canadians. The french felt that since they did not agree with conscription they had no obligation to contribute to the war in Europe. when Mackenzie King held the Plebiscite right then the pressure had started from both sides making the situation delicate.

The Conscription Crisis of 1944 was also caused by the amount of casualties after the Battle of Somme. They needed to replace all of those who had passed and fast in order to keep up with the demand of conscripts that were needed. So this is why King had to put conscription in place.

Primary Source

                         

The photo on the left side  represents the significance of the anti-conscription put in place by King in order to avoid any conflicts like World War one in 1940.  later on King gave into the government and decided to start enforcing conscription  to provide more combat forces. In this photo The french speaking Canadians are proceeding with a civil protest against the conscription that has been put in place. The French-speaking population of Canada felt no obligation to contribute to the war in Europe, especially since they had been separate from France for so long. The photo on the right side shows the men who were conscripted but hadn’t been sent overseas. These men were know as” Zombies” that had to be sent overseas eventually due to the amount of casualties.

Ethical Dimension

When you look back on the process by which Mackenzie King went through, it helped prevent various situations that could of happened. By waiting for the appropriate time and monitoring  the amount of conscripts Mackenzie King had managed to avoid any riots or political damage that had happened in the Conscription Crisis of 1917. Since the  larger percent of English-speaking Canadians agreed  to move forward with conscription and were willing to support the war effort they had a greater perspective on the conscription crisis. Now on the other hand The French-speaking Canadians didn’t agree with anything about the conscription because they didn’t think of Britain and France as a respectable allies.

Historical Significance

The significance The tension between French and English-speaking Canadians could be linked to the Conscription Crisis of 1944 because it played a big role in this event. If both the French and The English had a stronger relationship before the conscription was put in place by King, the issue may not have been considered to people today as a crisis, there wouldn’t have been as much tension between the two representatives. Like i had said before the second conscription crisis wasn’t as politically damaging as the Conscription Crisis of 1917. if a larger percentage of French-speaking Canadians had more respect for France/Britain then there could have been a greater chance that a larger percentage of the French would have approved of the conscription. They would be following in something that they truly believe in and not what the Canadians want them to.

Sources

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/king/023011-4050.02-e.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_Crisis_of_1944

http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/newspapers/canadawar/conscription_e.shtml