For the defence of Canada

by Canada. Military Service Council

XXVI.

The first call will be for men between the ages of 20 and 34, who are unmarried or are widowers without children, and all belonging to this class must within the period limited by the proclamation report for service or apply for exemption from service. Convenient arrangements have been made, and notified to the public, whereby these reports and applications may be submitted through the post without loss of time or expense to the persons who are required to report or apply. Medical boards have been established at convenient centres for determining the physical qualifications of all men within the class. It is advisable that each man affected by the call should make up his mind as to whether he will report for service or apply for exemption and promptly act in accordance with his resolution. No possible advantage, either in obtaining exemption or as to the time for entering upon active service, will be gained by delay; on the contrary, a man who delays may suffer some unnecessary inconvenience and loss of time in the attendance which will be required, if his report or application be postponed until near the expiration of the period defined by the proclamation. The importance of immediate appearance before the Medical Boards which will sit at every centre of mobilization is apparent. Until men have undergone medical examination they cannot know whether or not their services will be required. Certificates of physical unfitness from the Medical Boards will be accepted by the exemption tribunals without further investigation. But anyone dissatisfied with the decision of a Medical Board may nevertheless invoke the judgment of the tribunals upon his physical condition. Under the provisions of the Act only 100,000 men can be drafted. The Militia Department is anxious that only those of undoubted physical fitness shall be accepted. Unfit men reduce the efficiency of the army and become charges upon the country while still equal to civil duties. The Medical Boards, therefore, are under as great obligation to reject the unfit as they are to declare the soundness of any who may seek to escape by misrepresenting their physical condition. It is not suggested that there will be many cases of evasion or misrepresentation. We have had so many examples of persistent and even pathetic endeavor by those of doubtful physical vigor to enlist that the Medical Boards will have to guard against the unfit rather than to exercise vigilance against deceit and imposition.

XXVII.

It has been said that failure to volunteer does not necessarily imply want of patriotism, but it will be hard to find any decent excuse for men who neglect to register under the Military Service Act. There is assurance of consideration for those in difficult circumstances. There is certainty of exemption for adequate reasons. Failure, therefore, to respond to the State’s appeal will imply want of patriotism and expose the recalcitrants to compulsion in its ancient and more odious significance. The Government cannot be partial towards individuals or classes or communities. There is no provision for the purchase of substitutes such as unfortunately occurs in the Canadian Militia Act of 1906, and which constituted a flagrant defect in the draft as applied in the American Civil War. Rich and poor are on a common level. Equal in citizenship, from all equal service and sacrifice are required. As reinforcements are needed those who have been found liable and fit for service will receive notice to report at the nearest mobilization centre. Neglect of the summons will expose offenders to a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment at hard labor. Nor will any civil punishment relieve such offenders from the performance of their military duties. All sentences will be imposed ordinarily by the civil magistrates but in cases of refusal or wilful neglect to report for duty the military authorities may inflict the severe penalties due to deserters.

XXVIII.

A direct obligation rests upon employers to assist the registration tribunals. They will fail in patriotism and public spirit unless they encourage those in their service to enroll. They will fail as surely if they demand exemption for employees of military age and physical fitness who can be released without serious detriment to the enterprises with which they are connected or who are connected with enterprises of inconsiderable national significance. It is assumed that in many cases applications for exemption will be made by employers or by relatives rather than by those liable to military duty. The evidence of employers that men are indispensable in their civil occupations will generally be necessary to secure favorable judgment. In Great Britain many employers furnished lists of those whom they desired to retain and appeared on their behalf before the tribunals. No doubt this will also be the general practice in Canada, although the right of personal appeal must be regarded as proper and absolute. There will be those whose circumstances peculiarly justify exemption for whom no one else can appeal. While the great and immediate object is to secure reinforcements for the expeditionary forces, selection without injustice to individuals or unwise interference with essential industries is the definite duty and obligation of the tribunals.

XXIX.

In Great Britain there has been much controversy and some anger over the “disabilities of conscience.” Men have been found willing to fabricate “conscientious scruples.” Of these an official under the Military Service Acts justly speaks with severe reprobation, and he emphasizes “the bitterness with which a man who is required to leave wife, children and livelihood, and does so with a quiet dignity of which I have been a respectful witness in hundreds of cases, regards a conscientious objector, remaining at home and enjoying the fruits of other men’s sacrifices.” He accepts religious objection to combatant service as legitimate ground for exemption, but would require from such objectors the performance of other duties which war creates. Conscientious objections are apt to emerge as the demand for men becomes more searching and opportunities for escape from military service upon other grounds become more remote. And, in order to guard against imposition, since “having in your mind is nothing, for it is common learning that the thought of man is not triable,” conscientious objection has been made a ground of exemption in Canada only for those who belong to some well recognized religious denomination which forbids combatant service by the articles of its faith in effect when the Military Service Act was passed. Those who are able bona fide to place themselves in this category escape upon statutory grounds. It would be unwise and unjust if this were not so. But while religious objection is a lawful ground for exemption, it affects combatant service only, and such objectors who enjoy the privileges, although refusing the duties required of the ordinary citizen, remain liable for any other branch of the national service.

XXX.

If employers co-operate heartily and unselfishly with the tribunals any unnecessary delay in registering for medical examination and exemption will be avoided. The selective draft tests the patriotism of all classes. An employer who denounces “shirkers” and yet seeks to hold men who are not essential to his business is as deaf to the appeal from the trenches as he who would evade the call to the colors. If men of means and position, who by reason of age or other circumstances are not subject to the draft, refuse to sacrifice convenience or profit for flag and country, how can they ask other men to risk life itself? It is not suggested that employers should practise intimidation or coercion, but only that they should require their staffs to register and discourage dubious petitions for relief. We may not regard sacrifice as the exclusive duty and privilege of soldiers. Men may not live, write and speak as though the war had no relation to themselves or as though they knew no higher duty than to exploit the apprehensions, anxieties and miseries inseparable from war for selfish, personal advantage. There cannot be war without sacrifice for all elements and interests, and he is the best patriot who bears inevitable losses and distresses with fortitude and by word and example maintains the spirit and unity of the Commonwealth.