Why The Conscription Crisis Of 1917

The year 1917, was a time of worry and despair. As there was not enough people in Europe to fight in the war. Ideas of conscription floated through the minds of members of Parliament. Before WW1 began, the French and the English were already having disagreements over Regulation 17, which was introduced by the Ontario Department of Education in 1913. The French felt they were having their rights taken away and that the English were being strongly favoured. Many French Canadians were beginning to have serious doubts about the need to go and fight against the "Prussians" Tempers flared at both ends of the school debate. An angry Henri Bourassa declared that the real war was not in Euope but in Ontario. The bitterness towards