The Militia Act, 1904 already provided for military service for all male British subjects between the ages of 18 and 60,[3] but the calling-up was by levée en masse,[4] which would have caused massive disruption through the pulling of skilled workers from agriculture and industry.[5]
Under the act, the male population of Canada was divided into several classes for the purpose of being called up for military service, from which certain exceptions were available, if they were:[7]
ordinarily resident in Canada; or
has been at resident in Canada at any time since August 4, 1914, unless where he
falls within one of the specified exceptions, or he
reaches the age of 45 prior to his class or subclass being called up.
Men who have served since August 4, 1914, in the military or naval forces of Great Britain or her allies in any theatre of actual war, and have been honourably discharged.
Clergy, members of holy orders and ministers of any religious denomination existing when the act came into force.
Persons exempted from military service by the Orders in Council of August 13, 1873[a] and December 6, 1898.[b]
Importance of continuing employment in habitual occupation.
Importance of employment in a special occupation for which one has special qualifications.
Importance of continuing education or training.
Serious hardship owing to exceptional financial obligations.
Serious hardship owing to exceptional business obligations.
Serious hardship owing to exceptional domestic position.
Ill health or infirmity.
Adherence to a religious denomination of which the articles of faith forbid combatant service.
Amendments and regulations
Dominion Elections Act
Dominion Elections Act, s. 67A[c] introduced an exception to the original Act:
Anyone who has voted in a Dominion election after October 7, 1917, is ineligible and incompetent to obtain an exception by reason of being a Mennonite or Doukhobor.
And an additional exemption, alongside an removed exemption, to the act:
British subjects naturalized after March 31, 1902 (together with their sons not yet of legal age) who were either born in an enemy country, or came from any European country and whose mother tongue is a language of an enemy country, are exempted from military service.[d]
Anyone who has voted in a Dominion election after October 7, 1917, is ineligible and incompetent to obtain an exemption on conscientious grounds.
Regulations
Regulations under P.C. 919 of April 20, 1918[14] retooled the classes, stating;
Class 1 and Class 2 shall include all those have attained the age of nineteen years, but were born on or since October 13, 1897, and are resident in Canada.
Any person who subsequently reaches the age of nineteen, and is unmarried or a widower with no child, becomes immediately subject to military law and must present himself to the local registrar within the following ten days for the purpose of being placed on active service.
It also introduced a redefinition:
The words "in any theatre of actual war" shall not include the
high seas or Great Britain and Ireland.
Lastly, it removed previously granted and instead permitted ministerial discretion in individual cases:
Any exemptions previously granted under the Act shall cease forthwith, but the Minister may grant leave of absence without pay by reason of death, disablement or service by other members of the same family while on active service in any actual theatre of war.
Leave of absence without pay extended to those men being the sole support of widows, an invalid father, or other helpless dependants.
A system of local and appeal tribunals was in place for determining exemptions claimed under the act.[16]
The men of Class 1 were called up to report for military service on November 10, 1917,[17] with the deadline delayed until December 12, 1917, for those living in the
Yukon Territory (who did not need to report for duty until January 7, 1918).[18]
Men within any class who, after August 4, 1914, had moved to the United States or elsewhere were also required to submit to the provisions of the act.[19]
Further regulations issued on April 30, 1918, required all persons claiming an exemption to carry documentation supporting such a claim, with lack of documentation resulting in detention without recourse to habeas corpus,[20] and public notices of these regulations were published across Canada.[21] This left farming operations across Canada short of much-needed labour.[22]
Conscripts raised
Men raised under the Military Service Act, 1917[23]
Status of Men
Number
Class I Registrations
401,822
Granted exemption
221,949
Liable for Military Service
179,933
Unapprehended defaulters
24,139
Available but not called
26,225
Reported for Military Service
129,569
Permitted to enlist in Imperial forces
8,445
Taken on strength CEF
124,588
Performed no military service and found medically unfit, eligible for exemption or liable for non-combatant service only
After the war, Ontario passed legislation providing that, for a ten-year period from April 24, 1919, anyone who failed to perform any duty required under the Military Service Act, or was convicted of any treasonable or seditious offences during the war, was disqualified from holding any provincial, municipal or educational office, or from being able to vote at any related election for such offices.[26]
Impact
The act was unevenly administered, and there were numerous evasions and many exemptions. The Act's military value has been questioned, but its political consequences were clear. It led to
Borden's Union government and drove most of his
French Canadian supporters into opposition, as they were seriously alienated by this attempt to enforce their participation in an imperial war.[27] Conflicts between the government's calls for greater agricultural production and conscription would lead to the rise of the
farmers' movements of the 1920s, and would have more lasting effects in rural and
Western alienation.[28]Lessons learned from the First World War experience were used in framing the National Resources Mobilization Act that was passed in the
Second World War.[29]
The act fell into disuse, and was repealed as obsolete upon the proclamation of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1952.
^Gravel, Michel (2005). "Appendix". Tough as Nails: The Epic Story of John Hillie Foley, DCM and Bar, MM, C de G, 1914–18. Ottawa: CEF Books.
ISBN1-89697962-9.
^Gravel, Michel (2015).
"CMH Mailbox". Canadian Military History. 22 (2): 2–3.