CANADA 



1130 



CANADA 



Military Affairs 



Canadian Militia. The constitution of Can- 

 ada, based on the. British North America Act 

 of 1867 (which see), authorizes the Federal 

 government of Canada to provide and main- 

 tain a militia force for the defense of the 

 country and the maintenance of law and order 

 within its borders. 



Composition. By the Militia Act (Chapter 

 41, Revised Statutes of Canada, 1906), all male 

 inhabitants of Canada between the ages of 

 eighteen and sixty, if they are able-bodied 

 and not exempt or disqualified by law, and 

 are British subjects, shall be liable to serve 

 in the militia, although the Governor-General 

 may require all the male inhabitants of Canada 

 capable of bearing arms to serve in a case of 

 grave emergency. 



Active Militia. The general system under 

 which the militia is organized at present is 

 based upon the voluntary offering for service of 

 male citizens between the ages of eighteen and 

 forty-five, and the militia is divided into two 

 sections, the active and the reserve. The 

 active militia consists of (1) Corps raised by 

 voluntary enlistment; (2) Corps raised by bal- 

 lot. 



Minister of Militia. The command-in-chief 

 of the militia is vested in His Majesty the 

 King, but the Parliamentary head of the mili- 

 tia forces of the country is the Minister of 

 Militia and Defense, one of the Cabinet Min- 

 isters of the Dominion government, who is 

 responsible for the administration of military 

 affairs, including the initiative in all matters 

 involving the expenditure of money. The Min- 

 ister is advised by a militia council, of which 

 he is president, with the Deputy Minister of 

 Militia and Defense as vice-president. As 

 constituted at present, the militia council, in 

 addition to the Minister, consists of six mem- 

 bers, and an official of the department acting 

 as Secretary. The members are 



The Deputy Minister. 



The Chief of the General Staff. 



The Adjutant-General. 



The Quartermaster-General. 



The Master-General of the Ordnance. 



The Accountant and Paymaster-General. 



Military Districts. The Dominion, for pur- 

 pose of military administration, is divided 

 into ten military districts, each administered 

 by a staff officer, who is responsible for the 

 maintenance and efficiency of the militia units 

 within the boundaries of his district. 



Permanent and Non-Permanent Forces. The 

 active militia is divided into the permanent 

 and non-permanent forces, the permanent force 

 (not exceeding 5,000) being enrolled for con- 

 tinuous service and furnishing schools of in- 

 struction for the active militia and instructors 

 for the same. The non-permanent militia con- 

 sists of units of various arms, namely, cavalry, 

 artillery, engineers, infantry and rifles, army 

 service corps, army medical corps, with details 

 of various other administrative departments 

 necessary for the administration of a military 

 force in the field. 



Officers and Men. Officers are appointed by 

 His Majesty, represented by the Governor- 

 General-in-Council, and are nominated in the 

 first instance by the officers commanding units, 

 who are responsible for the quality and stand- 

 ing of the candidates put forward. These may 

 be either men already serving in the units of 

 the active militia, or citizens who have not 

 hitherto served but who are obliged to qualify 

 at classes of instruction before being confirmed 

 in their rank. The men are enrolled volun- 

 tarily for periods of three years. An officer 

 holds office during pleasure. 



Strength. Under the above general system, 

 the strength of the active militia during the 

 year 1914 was 70,064, with 15,067 horses. The 

 personnel was made up of 5,379 officers and 

 64,685 N. C. O.'s (non-commissioned officers) 

 and men. 



Overseas Expeditionary Force. Upon the 

 outbreak of the War of the Nations, in 1914, 

 the Canadians at once began to cooperate with 

 the mother country, and the general system 

 of the militia was utilized for the creation of 

 an expeditionary overseas force. Provisional 

 units were officered and at the beginning 

 manned largely from the units of the active 

 militia. These latter maintained their skeleton 

 organization in their various centers through- 

 out the war and continued to provide recruiting 

 centers for the expeditionary units. In less 

 than two years after hostilities began more 

 than 350,000 men were under arms. See sub- 

 title Canada and the War. 



The Cadet System of Military Training. 

 Some of the universities, colleges, academies 

 and high schools in Canada have conducted 

 cadet work for more than a century. It has 

 been conducted as a part of the regular work 

 of the public schools in Toronto for over forty 

 years. Cadet work is recognized and encour- 



