Under national service the State calls all its manhood to arms but
relieves from odium and suspicion all those who can better serve its
interests on the farms, in the factories, or in other necessary civil
activities. The Military Service Act of Canada, as has been said,
was passed by Parliament in obedience to a general public demand and
in assertion of the Government’s deliberate conviction that only by
selective draft could the necessary reinforcements for the army in
France be obtained and the orderly continuance of production and
industry assured. In the machinery for applying and enforcing the
measure there are ample safeguards against partiality, injustice
or partisanship. The Military Service Council has been constituted
to advise and assist in the administration and enforcement of the
Act. The Deputy Minister of Justice is the chairman of the Council,
and the other members have been chosen equally from the two great
political parties. The advice of the Council is sought in order to
ensure that the Act will be administered with just and equal regard to
the interests of all classes of the community, and in all questions
affecting the draft, requiring the consideration of the Governor
General or the Minister of Justice, the conclusions will be reached in
consultation with the Council. Moreover, the provincial registrars and
the local tribunals receive instructions from the Council as to the
manner in which their duties are to be discharged; and, while the local
tribunals exercise their judicial functions with perfect independence,
so far as concerns the determination of individual cases, they may
nevertheless refer to the Council for direction or advice upon general
questions of doubt or difficulty. Provincial tribunals, chosen from the
judiciary of the various provinces, are provided for resort by those
who are dissatisfied with decisions of the local tribunals; and, in
order to ensure uniform treatment of claims for exemption, as well as
sympathetic and consistent consideration alike of local and national
conditions, an ultimate appeal is authorized to Mr. Justice Duff, a
distinguished member of the Supreme Court of Canada.