Immediate Aftermath

Although Borden’s Union government had given exemptions to the sons of farmers before the election, the exemptions were revoked in early 1918 after Borden’s reelection.

The results of the act were, for the most part, underwhelming. The first group of conscripts consisted of 404,395 people, of which 380,510 people appealed for exemption and 20,000 ultimately reported for training. Tens of thousands of French-speaking Canadians refused to register the mandatory selection process and 93% of people who did register applied for exemption.



At the end, only 48,000 conscripts were sent overseas by the time of the November 1918 armistice.

In Quebec, the aftermath included riots in Montreal lasting two days. Store windows were smashed the tramway rails were destroyed. 150 policemen had to be called in to restore peace.

On Easter weekend in 1918, military police grabbed a young man in a bowling alley in Quebec City. He was 23 year-old Joseph Mercier and he had been caught with neither conscription registration papers nor exemption papers. A mob formed and retaliated by attacking military registry offices, looting it, and destroying files by throwing them into the snow. Local police refused to act so Ottawa sent in soldiers to restore peace. Soldiers were pelted with bricks and snowballs so they opened fire. 4 died and many more were injured.

All this made many wonder whether or not the whole commotion about conscription had been worth it. It is clear that conscription did not work out as well as Borden had hoped. More than anything, it had caused conflict between different demographic groups in the country.