The issue of conscription or mandatory military service tore Canada apart during the First World War. Pictured here, soldiers standing by a sign denouncing men who did not sign up for the war.

At the start of the First World War, patriotic enthusiasm and economic hard times kept volunteer recruitment numbers high in Canada ... from his promise of no conscription.

This policy is called conscription. While most other countries used conscription to increase the size of their armies in the lead up to the war, Britain’s army was entirely made up of volunteers.

In fact, no Ukrainian in Canada that CBC Radio spoke to for this story wanted their full name used. The reason: Ukraine has ...