Conscientious Objectors
Not all Canadians were quick to volunteer for military service, which is evidenced through the conscription controversy. Check out our last blog post for more information on conscription in Canada during World War II! There were multiple reasons that people did not want to participate in active duty; the story of conscription highlights the way that the French-English divide in Canada influenced voluntary service. However, there were also conscientious objectors in Canada, those who did not want to serve for religious or moral reasons. The largest group of conscientious objectors in Canada were Mennonites, though not all objectors belonged to this community.
Clive Brown-John was a conscientious objector. He grew up in the Burnaby area. When Canada joined WWII, Brown-John “did not believe in war as a means of settling differences between nations,” and decided he “did not wish to be trapped into something [he] did not believe in, to fight and possibly die.” Brown-John was always against military conflict, but his objection to serve in the Second World War was partly influenced by the memories he had of his own father’s service in the First World War, and the tough time his father had reintegrating into civilian life due to chronic injury and trauma. The horrors of WWI were still fresh in many people’s minds as Canadians entered another global conflict in 1939. When conscription was introduced, Brown-John received an order to serve. He wrote that, “There was no way I was going to be a part or parcel of the army, although I had no ideas at the time what I would be able to do to prevent it happening.” Ultimately Brown-John did report for service but was dismissed, likely because he failed the necessary medical examination.
CLIVE AND DORIS BROWN-JOHN WITH THEIR YOUNG SON LLOYD.
There were more than 11,000 Mennonites, Quakers, and Hutterites that conscientiously objected to serving in the Canadian military during WWII. Mennonites that migrated to Canada had had multiple deals with Canada to ensure their exclusion from armed service since 1793. When the Canadian government instituted the National Resources Mobilization Act (NRMA), Mennonites went to Ottawa to negotiate for ‘alternative’ service. The Alternative Service program ran from 1941-1946 and over 10,000 men served. Those in Alternative Service contributed to the Home Front by participating in agriculture and mining, building roads, fighting fires, and working in hospitals and industry across Canada. Conchies (the slang term for conscientious objectors) were not paid very well for the work they did in Alternative Service and often faced brutal working conditions. Nevertheless, even though times were very hard, many were grateful they were able to resist active military service and had the right not to fight in Canada.
Large scale conflict often entails social, political, and economic upheaval. The Canadian Home Front during WWII experienced its own struggles and changes as the war progressed. This blog series will look at some controversies and uprisings that occurred on Canadian soil during the war, like conscription and conscientious objectors. This series will also address new roles for women and social changes that occurred as women filled new roles within Canadian society and the Canadian Armed Forces.