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Canada Considers Conscription |
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Written by D.L. McCracken
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Friday, 13 April 2007 |
As the debate continues unabated in Canada on the pros and cons of staying the course in Afghanistan and as the troop death toll rises dramatically just within the last week, rumours are emerging from behind closed doors on Parliament Hill that Canada's top politicos have been bandying about the viability of implementing conscription otherwise known as compulsory military service. With suggestions by Canada's top military brass that perhaps we will be remaining in Afghanistan for much longer than 2009, the obvious question arises concerning Canada's ability to retain effective troop levels. Specifically, troop levels required to fight in this war over several more years.
Frequent polling measures being conducted at the national level in an effort to gauge the mood of the Canadian public indicate an almost even split with half those polled supporting our role and the other half demanding that Canada withdraw from Afghanistan immediately. Another area of concern surrounds the demographic of those troops being not only sent to active theatre in Afghanistan but also surrounding the disproportionate amount of troops being killed who are from the Atlantic Canada region. Of fifty-three Canadian troops killed in Afghanistan since 2002, 21 have come from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI and/or Newfoundland/Labrador.
Canada maintains a troop level of more than 2,200 soldiers who are deployed in Kandahar province as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The U.S. Bush administration this week has requested that NATO countries including Canada increase their troop levels in Afghanistan as well as additional equipment and supply contributions. U.S. Defence Minister Robert Gates who attended this week's NATO meeting in Quebec made it clear that although more troops are required in the war-torn country, the United States will not be contributing any of their own.
As far as the length of Canada's commitment to the NATO effort in Afghanistan, on April 3, 2007 Canadian Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor stated that Canadian troops will stay the course because of the continued threat posed by the Taliban. “This government will support the mission - by our words and by our actions - until the progress in Afghanistan becomes irreversible", said O'Connor. Most analysts will agree that to stay in Afghanistan until "progress becomes irreversible" translates to a mission that will extend long after 2009.
Which brings us back to the question of support in Canada for a long-term military mission and our ability to maintain effective troop levels. We hear at regular intervals that if we do not fight the enemy on their turf, we will eventually have to fight them on home turf. With this in mind unnamed sources at the highest levels of government have agreed to one method in which to gauge the real and true attitude of Canadians in regards to our participation in this war and our continued support of that effort. For lack of a better phrase, we'll call this the Put Up or Shut Up Campaign.
With compulsory military service as the ultimate goal, a national census-like questionnaire campaign is currently being prepared and fine-tuned. This questionnaire will be sent to every Canadian citizen with a special interest on citizens between the ages of 17 and 35. Funded by the federal government, Canadians will be instructed that it is an indictable federal offence to provide false or misleading information or to withhold information with the intent to protect conscription-appropriate persons between the ages set forth above.
The information provided in this questionnaire will be considered the property of the Canadian government until such time that Canada is no longer involved in armed conflict. From time to time Canada's New Government may select at random a set number of submitted questionnaires as deemed necessary to address future dwindling troop levels in Afghanistan.
Halifax Live has managed to obtain a working copy of the questionnaire and for informational purposes will include it here for our reader's perusal. Keep in mind that the following set of questions will in all likelihood be included in the final product but more may be added at a future date. Expect to receive the questionnaire in mid-July.
~begin form
Canada's New Government recognizes that many new Canadians do not use English and/or French as their first language. With that in mind an official website will be available to provide instructions translated into 62 languages for instructional purposes only. Please complete this questionnaire in English or French.
Blank space is provided on those questions which require further input by the respondent.
1.) Do you support Canada's role in Afghanistan?
a.) If you answered in the affirmative to Question # 1, would you vote 'yes' to the implementation of a temporary conscription program in Canada?
2.) If you answered in the affirmative to Question #2, please enter in the space required in this questionnaire the following information:
a) - Your name, address, phone/cell number(s), email address if applicable;
b.) - Your age as of January 1, 2007;
c.) - The ages of any children in your household who have reached the age of 17 as of January 1, 2007 *Note - any children who have reached the age of 17 by January 1, 2007 will have received their own questionnaire*
d.) - The ages of any minor children in your household who will reach the age of 17 before 2009.
3.) Did you graduate high school?
4.) What is the highest level of education reached at a post-secondary level?
5.) Are you employed?
a.) If you answered in the affirmative to Question # 5, please provide the name, address, phone/cell phone numbers and email (if applicable) so they can be contacted regarding their company policies regarding the granting of a leave-of-absence to employees for military purposes.
6.) What is your primary practicing religion?
7.) Will you be for any reason leaving the country for an extended period between 2007 and 2009?
a.) If you have answered in the affirmative to Question # 7, please provide details including dates of absences and reliable contact information for your destination.
~end of form~
Canada's New Government is confident that Canadian support for our role in Afghanistan will be reflected in the final results and tallies of this questionnaire. Their reasoning is quite simple - if the majority of Canadians fully and seriously support our mission in Afghanistan, they will willingly volunteer not only themselves for military service but also their children who have reached the age of 17 as of last January 1.
If for any reason a majority of Canadians fully support our role in Afghanistan but remain hesitant to personally volunteer or encourage their children to do so, Canada's New Government is prepared to make it easier for them by implementing conscription.
As you may have already suspected, the above is nothing more than a hypothetical scenario so you can exhale. The fact of the matter is that the issue of support in Canada for our Afghanistan mission needs to be examined. We must ask ourselves why there are so many young soldiers from one specific demographic being sent to war and being killed in that war. I speak of course of Atlantic Canadians.
If you believe that our men and women are fighting the good fight and doing it for all Canadians, it's time for all Canadians to put up or shut up. It's time to truly honour all 52 of our dead soldiers by walking the walk. Talking the talk isn't enough anymore.
Our leaders are telling us that Canada's role in Afghanistan will be ongoing. If we continue to contribute to the NATO effort, Canadians from all points throughout this great country must start sharing the load as opposed to the status quo of relying way too heavily on the lives of Atlantic Canadians.
If you still disagree with what has been written here, consider the content of the previous hypothetical scenario a warning of things to come. Troop levels must be maintained even after the largest segment - Atlantic Canadians - have been decimated.
You support this war? Prove it. Care to comment? Click here to email D.L. McCracken |
