Military Service Act (Canada)

The Military Service Act, 1917 was an Act passed by the Parliament of Canada in an effort to recruit more soldiers.

The First World War was going badly, casualties were enormous, and Canada's contribution in manpower compared unfavourably with that of other countries. Voluntary enlistment had been uneven, and the military believed they could not maintain the Canadian Corps at full strength without conscription. Encouraged by English Canadians and the British, Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden introduced the Military Service Act. Riots broke out in Quebec.

The Militia Act, 1904 already provided for military service for all male British subjects between the ages of 18 and 60, but the calling-up was by levée en masse, which would have caused massive disruption through the pulling of skilled workers from agriculture and industry.

Under the 1917 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:

Any man married after July 6, 1917 shall be deemed to be unmarried.

Anyone who has voted in a Dominion election after October 7, 1917 is ineligible and incompetent to obtain an exemption on conscientious grounds.

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.

A system of local and appeal tribunals was in place for determining exemptions claimed under the Act.

The men of Class 1 were called up to report for military service on November 10, 1917, 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).

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.

Further regulations issued on April 30, 1918, required all persons claiming an exemption to carry documention supporting such a claim, with lack of documentation resulting in detention without recourse to habeas corpus, and public notices of these regulations were published across Canada. This left farming operations across Canada short of much-needed labour.

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