The Militia Myth

It will be told by the future Historian, that the Province of Upper Canada, without the assistance of men or arms, except for a handful of regular troops, repelled its invaders, slew or took them all prisoners, and captured from its enemies the greater part of the arms by which it was defended. ... And never, surely, was greater activity shewn in any country, than our militia here exhibited, never greater valour, cooler resolution, and more approved conduct; they have emulated the choicest veterans... – From a sermon delivered by Rev. John Strachan 22 Dec 1812. 1

With this address by Rev. Strachan, the “militia myth” was born. Throughout history, Canadians have held the belief that they could effectively defend themselves through the use of citizen-soldiers if the need ever arose. The country believed that robust Canadians could respond to a call-to-arms with little or no training, performing the job as well as professionally trained soldiers. In the years that followed, Canadians have entered many conflicts with citizen-soldiers, achieving success in battles despite the continued employment of untrained militia.
At the outbreak of the Great War, Canada had only approximately three thousand professional soldiers in the permanent force. This was a fraction of the over 600,000 soldiers that made up the contribution to the war effort. The volunteers and conscripts that comprised the ml were, for the most part, untrained and unprepared for the industrial battles that awaited them in Europe.
As the Canadian Corps fought through the first few years of the war, they it gained valuable combat experience, and become proficient. This proficiency, however, came at a high cost in casualties. After the five months on the Somme for instance, there had been close to 25,000 Canadians killed or wounded.
The Canadians’ fortunes changed, however, in the months approaching the Battle of Vimy Ridge. The new commander of the Canadian Corps, Major-General Arthur Currie placed great emphasis on ensuring that all soldiers were exercised in smaller battles, allowing them to gain the experience that they would require to defeat the Germans at Vimy. This coupled with extensive planning and preparation brought the Canadians victory in capturing Vimy Ridge. Canada’s citizen soldiers, with their hard earned experience had achieved the competence of professionally trained soldiers.
This success at Vimy, and the battles that followed, reinforced the ideals of the “militia myth.” Despite the tragically high cost in lost lives and wounded, the Canadian public once again believed that their soldiers could achieve great things without the need for a permanent standing army. While it could be said that this was technically accurate, perhaps the high casualty count during the early years could have been lessened had the training occurred prior to deployment.
As the Great War passed into memory, Canadians quickly returned to the status quo in not maintaining a sizeable permanent force. This placed Canada into a similar predicament situation of having insufficient trained troops to react to the onset of World War II. Now, in the 21st century the Canadian Forces face the continued challenge in maintaining the public support for a sufficient military to defend Canada and her interests.