Polarity, Patriotism, and Dissent in Great War Canada, 1914-1919

by Brock Millman

Compared to the idea that Canada was a nation forged in victory on Vimy Ridge, the reality of dissent and repression at home strikes a sour note. Through censorship, conscription, and internment, the government of Canada worked more ruthlessly than either Great Britain or the United States to suppress opposition to the war effort during the First World War.

Polarity, Patriotism, and Dissent in Great War Canada, 1914 1919 examines the basis for those repressive policies. Brock Millman, an expert on wartime dissent in both the United Kingdom and Canada, argues that Canadian policy was driven first and foremost by a fear that opposition to the war amongst French Canadians and immigrant communities would provoke social tensions and possibly even a vigilante backlash from the war s most fervent supporters in British Canada.

Highlighting the class and ethnic divisions which characterized public support for the war, Polarity, Patriotism, and Dissent in Great War Canada, 1914 1919 offers a broad and much-needed reexamination of Canadian government policy on the home front."

Genres: Canada, War

336 pages, Paperback

Published February 16, 2016

About the author

Brock Millman was a Western under-graduate prior to going on to the University of London and McGill. Before arriving at Western to teach, he taught at the University of Windsor, the University of British Columbia and the Royal Military College. He is the author of a number of articles and books on international relations and its domestic connections 1917-1940. He is the author of a book concerning the Canadian home front during the First World War recently accepted by the University of Toronto Press. At present, his reseach concerns imperial administration. He has completed one study of the administration of the Somaliland Protectorate, currently under consideration, and is undertaking research into the constitutional history of the British Protectorate in Bechuanaland (Botswana). In another capacity, he is an Army Reserve Officer who is always interested in issues concerning the contemporary Canadian Military, about which he was published several articles.

Professor Millman is currently researching Canadian War Policy in the later war years, and examining, in particular, its domestic sources and its connections with post-war realities.

Reviews

[Joseph Spuckler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Polarity, Patriotism, and Dissent in Great War Canada, 1914-1919 by Brock Millman is an account of Canada's politics, support, and resistance to the first world war. Millman was a Western undergraduate prior to going on to the University of London and McGill. Before arriving at Western to teach, he taught at the University of Windsor, the University of British Columbia and the Royal Military College. He is the author of a number of articles and books on international relations and its domestic connections 1917-1940.

As an outsider from the south, I find Canadian history interesting and very much lacking in my education. Perhaps with the exception of the War of 1812 and much later the commissioning phase array radar, Canada rarely appears in most history studies in the United States. Later reading about WWI, Canada is given high praise for its efforts in the war. Often thought of as still part of the empire, Canada did become autonomous in 1867. Slightly less than 50 years after its independence Canada is called upon to support the war effort. This too is largely seen as supporting Britain, but Canada was its own entity. Woodrow Wilson was, perhaps, one of the first to internationally recognize this by allowing for a Canadian delegation at Versailles and a separate seat for Canada in the League of Nations. WWI was Canada's introduction to the world stage as an equal.

Millman examines the internal conflict and politics during the Great War. Just because the American history student hears little about Canada in the period does not mean it was a smooth or necessarily peaceful. Canada had three main groups British Canadians, French Canadians, and New Canadians. Each group had its own feelings towards the war. Unlike the US and the UK where resistance was thinly spread through the population, Canada had concentrated pockets of resistance to the war. Quebec and working class immigrants generally opposed the war.

Canada was strict on enforcement of restricting speech and later enforcing conscription. Compared to the US and the UK, Canada was extremely strict in punishing offenders. There was also the fear of communism working its way into the country with New Canadians (immigrants) taking most of the abuse in that scare. Labor activists and Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W. or wobblies) were seen as the enemy by many. German immigrants and other minorities such as Jews and Catholics were viewed with suspicion. Among the British Canadians, Britain remained mother country although it no longer controlled Canadian politics. Millman examines the many internal conflicts and documents his work extremely well. His examination of internal struggle is an important piece in the forming modern Canada.

I found it interesting that, first, Canada felt the duty to fight even though it was in no real danger from the Central Powers. The US in a similar position resisted fighting the war and was finally dragged into the war to turn the balance of an exhausting war. Secondly, that Canada at the time did not have the nationalist sentiment that others countries had developed. There was a much more regionalization of the country even beyond French Canada. There is an interesting dichotomy in the works. A country that is struggling for its own identity on the world stage and a country that wants to remain loyal to its past. It is interesting that Canada managed both. It fought with the Empire and afterward it earned its place as a country on the world stage.

[Andrew Hawkes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brock Millman was an incredible professor and writer. This book reflects that fact. The book covers the war years, which Millman astutely extends to 1920, in Canada and seeks to answer a central question: why did government policies of censorship, conscription, and internment differ so greatly from the policies adopted in Britain and the United States. The overall answer is that a virulent patriotic British Canada drove increasingly repressive Government policy as the war became a national crusade. Millman's work is thorough and precise. He differentiates between British Canada, French Canada, and New Canadians and provides sound reasoning for his decision to use those specific terms (as opposed to anglophones, English canadians, alien enemies, etc.). He meticulously guides the reader through the nature of French Canada, British Canada, and New Canadian communities as well as their respective tendencies to support the war, dissent, or keep their heads down. The most impressive part of his argument, in my opinion, is differentiating between repression and repressive. Millman contends that, while nearly all of Canada's wartime policies were acts of repression, some of them were more repressive than others (the context being the deciding factor). For example, censorship is an act of repression. However, Canada's censorship policy was particularly repressive, when compared to Britain and the US. Millman attributes this to British Canada's vigilantism and unwillingness to entertain sedition and dissent. Overall, while this book can be tedious at times depending on how interesting you find the topic, that is no fault of the author. Millman's writing is clear, persuasive, and grounded in a litany of factual evidence. This book is wonderful for anyone attempting to understand why Canada interned people in the First World War, why they introduced conscription despite its incredibly divisive effects, and why the Conservative Party collapsed in popularity following the war.