Compared to the idea that Canada was a nation forged in victory on Vimy Ridge, the reality of dissent and repression at home strikes a sour note. Through censorship, conscription, and internment, the government of Canada worked more ruthlessly than either Great Britain or the United States to suppress opposition to the war effort during the First World War.

Polarity, Patriotism, and Dissent in Great War Canada, 1914–1919 examines the basis for those repressive policies. Brock Millman, an expert on wartime dissent in both the United Kingdom and Canada, argues that Canadian policy was driven first and foremost by a fear that opposition to the war amongst French Canadians and immigrant communities would provoke social tensions – and possibly even a vigilante backlash from the war’s most fervent supporters in British Canada.

Highlighting the class and ethnic divisions which characterized public support for the war, Polarity, Patriotism, and Dissent in Great War Canada, 1914–1919 offers a broad and much-needed reexamination of Canadian government policy on the home front.

Brock Millman is an assistant professor in the Department of History at Western University.

Brock Millman's profile page

• Winner, 2016 C.P. Stacey Award

‘Millman’s bold and provocative interpretation of wartime dissent offers a new perspective on a past that many Canadians continue to find embarrassing and shameful.’

Literary Review of Canada April 2016

‘Professor Brock Millman, an expert on home front politics and society in Britain during the Great War, has provided a stimulating book that examines, as the title suggests, how the extremity of the Canadian war effort rocked the dominion to the core.’

Canadian Military History vol 26:02:2017

"Considering both its strengths and weaknesses, Polarity, Patriotism and Dissent in Great War Canada, 1914-1919 is a fascinating read. Each chapter is filled with diverse and detailed accounts of Canada’s home-front during the Great War."

Seventeenth Century News