Protest sparks memories of wartime ‘zombies’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/02/2022 (1519 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CANADIANS today are divided over the so-called “Freedom Convoy,” the truckers’ protest in Ottawa. It reminds me of another time the country was divided, 82 years ago during the Second World War.

Back then it was over zombies. I’m not talking about the kind of zombies that eat brains; rather, that was the word that was pejoratively used to describe men who resisted the country’s call to serve overseas.

At the start of the war, prime minister William Lyon MacKenzie King pledged he would not introduce conscription for overseas military service — wouldn’t institute a mandate, if you will.

He declined to do that because of how bitterly the country had been divided along English-French lines over the 1917 Military Service Act during the First World War. Through that act, all men aged 20 to 45 were required to sign up for military service.

After the Nazis conquered Europe, many Canadians called for conscription and a more concerted Canadian war effort. The federal government came up with a compromise: it passed the National Resources Mobilization Act, giving it the power to conscript men — but only for service within Canada. Only those who declared their willingness to become general service, or “GS” men, would be sent to fight overseas.

Tensions soon arose between those who volunteered to fight and those who were conscripted but refused to serve overseas, with reports of fights between GS men and what they called “zombies” — alive, but of no use in the conflict.

Anger over their reluctance to fight grew as Canadian soldiers struggled against the Nazis in Europe. As one soldier wrote in a poem:

Down in Italy in a slit trench,

Listening to those Minnies whine,

Ducking mortars for the zombies,

3,000 miles behind the lines.

By the fall of 1944, with casualties mounting in Europe and progress against the Nazis slowed, there was pressure on King to send zombies, who totalled about 160,000, overseas. When he finally announced he would do that, it caused a wave of desertions and protests in Vernon, Prince George, Courtenay, Chilliwack, Nanaimo and Port Alberni, B.C.

And now we have a “mutiny” of sorts in

Ottawa in the form of the truckers’ protest

It also sparked a mutiny in Terrace, B.C., in November 1944, when 1,500 zombies stationed there took up arms for five days to protest the Canadian government’s decision to send them overseas. It was the longest lasting mutiny in Canadian history, with men marching from their camp into town carrying protest banners and chanting, “Down with conscription!”

In the end, only about 12,000 zombies ended up going overseas, with about 2,500 fighting in Europe.

Looking back, it seems some of those things are similar to what’s happening today.

Like then, there is a war going on now — this time, against an unrelenting virus. The main difference is all Canadians have been conscripted into the battle against COVID-19. Like back then, some have chosen not to fight — by not getting vaccinated or not following public-health orders on gatherings or mask wearing.

This has prompted considerable anger and frustration on the part of the many Canadians who are vaccinated and following restrictions. It is especially frustrating for health-care workers — the men and women on the desperate front lines of this battle — who are experiencing their own casualties due to burnout, exhaustion and illness. And yes, even some deaths, too.

And now we have a “mutiny” of sorts in Ottawa in the form of the truckers’ protest — people who are publicly declaring they won’t be part of the war against the virus any longer, even though it’s not over and people continue to suffer and die.

How will the country heal from this? When the Second World War ended, people got on with their lives and the divisions over the zombies were forgotten. Given time, maybe this war against COVID-19 will end the same way.

But that’s in the future. Right now, the situation is tense. Like back in 1944, we don’t know when or how this war will end. We can only hope for victory as soon as possible and then peacefully moving on.

John Longhurst is a Winnipeg writer who contributes regularly to the Winnipeg Free Press’s faith page. He also writes for Religion News Service in the U.S., and blogs about the media, marketing and communications at Making the News.