A common theme throughout the history of the world is conflict between two or more groups of cultures or ethnicities. Within Canada, much of the tension from past conflicts is arguably still present in today’s societies between Canadians of French and English descent. An example of this conflict lies around the concept of conscription being present in Canada during World War I. Conscription in World War I strengthened existing tensions from military volunteer rates and separated nationalistic British Canadians from French Canadians. Existing tensions were present during the time of the introduction of conscription, and negative feelings towards French Canadians and their participation in the war were circulating through the British Canadian
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In an effort to win the upcoming election, Borden passed the Wartime
Elections Act and the Military Voters’ Act, which in essence, was rigging the election. By passing these new acts, men overseas and woman with close relatives overseas could now vote. This targeted demographics that were made of people who were likely to support conscription, as people fighting and those supporting the people fighting would want more men to assist in battle. The rigging of the election shows the measures Robert Borden was willing to take to implement conscription and refuel Canada’s army, and the vast majority of Canada was in accordance with him. He won the election and all provinces except Quebec supported Borden and his union government. This disagreement from Quebec not only creates more tension between French and British Canadians, but further isolates French Canadians, as they were quite literally surrounded by pro-conscription Canadians, and were now being forced to register for military service. It most importantly goes to show the ignorance and neglect that the British Canadians and the government display towards the French Canadian …show more content…
This not only made service very difficult for the french speaking population, but it was also quite possibly a reason not to enlist, and insulting to anyone who wanted to understand battle commands. A very prominent example of the French resisting conscription was Henri Bourassa’s publishings and the following he amassed from his work. By publishing his strongly-opinionated writings in his newspaper, he became a symbol for the French Canadian population and came to represent the feelings that the French had towards the events occurring in Canada at the time. “Are we going to allow Robert, the Stubborn, assuming he receives the support of Wilfrid, the Conciliator, to risk our lives and also the Constitution and established order?” Bourassa’s articles were full of bias and opinion, and his writings came to represent and speak for many French Canadians against conscription. A very strong example of the French rebellion against conscription and the government’s method of enforcing it was the Easter riot in Quebec. Taking place over multiple days that happened to overlap Easter weekend, the arrest of a young man who did not have his conscription exemption card caused public outrage. Multiple gatherings of thousands of people took place and public buildings were destroyed, leading to a large group of english speaking troops to be sent to Quebec, and multiple people were killed in attempt to quell the riots. The riots themselves are an
In an effort to win the upcoming election, Borden passed the Wartime
Elections Act and the Military Voters’ Act, which in essence, was rigging the election. By passing these new acts, men overseas and woman with close relatives overseas could now vote. This targeted demographics that were made of people who were likely to support conscription, as people fighting and those supporting the people fighting would want more men to assist in battle. The rigging of the election shows the measures Robert Borden was willing to take to implement conscription and refuel Canada’s army, and the vast majority of Canada was in accordance with him. He won the election and all provinces except Quebec supported Borden and his union government. This disagreement from Quebec not only creates more tension between French and British Canadians, but further isolates French Canadians, as they were quite literally surrounded by pro-conscription Canadians, and were now being forced to register for military service. It most importantly goes to show the ignorance and neglect that the British Canadians and the government display towards the French Canadian …show more content…
This not only made service very difficult for the french speaking population, but it was also quite possibly a reason not to enlist, and insulting to anyone who wanted to understand battle commands. A very prominent example of the French resisting conscription was Henri Bourassa’s publishings and the following he amassed from his work. By publishing his strongly-opinionated writings in his newspaper, he became a symbol for the French Canadian population and came to represent the feelings that the French had towards the events occurring in Canada at the time. “Are we going to allow Robert, the Stubborn, assuming he receives the support of Wilfrid, the Conciliator, to risk our lives and also the Constitution and established order?” Bourassa’s articles were full of bias and opinion, and his writings came to represent and speak for many French Canadians against conscription. A very strong example of the French rebellion against conscription and the government’s method of enforcing it was the Easter riot in Quebec. Taking place over multiple days that happened to overlap Easter weekend, the arrest of a young man who did not have his conscription exemption card caused public outrage. Multiple gatherings of thousands of people took place and public buildings were destroyed, leading to a large group of english speaking troops to be sent to Quebec, and multiple people were killed in attempt to quell the riots. The riots themselves are an