What is the militia?

Vincent J. Curtis

7 July 24

What is a militia? What was the militia?  Though a term now somewhat archaic, the Canadian Army Reserve is still sometimes referred to colloquially as “the militia.” The word militia appears in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. 

To offer the broadest definition, a militia is the set of military aged males capable of bearing arms.  In Canadian history, the militia was often divided into the sedentary militia and the active militia.  The active militia referred to formed military units under the command, and, usually, though not always, in the pay, of the colonial or Dominion government, and to the membership of those units.  The sedentary militia referred to those males of military age capable of bearing arms who were not members of any organized military unit under the command of a colonial or of the Dominion government.  The sedentary militia were often, though not always, the largest component of the militia in Canada, and were looked upon as potential conscripts for a defense force of the colony or of the Dominion. (Potential conscription for defense was not abolished in Canadian law until 1950).

In modern Canadian history, the first Militia Act was passed in 1855 by the colonial government of the Province of Canada, and was occasioned by the departure of most British regular army units for the Crimean War.  The Act created a Non-Permanent Active Militia (NPAM) and a Permanent Active Militia (PAM), sometimes called the Permanent Force, which today would be regarded as s cadre Regular Force.  There was no life like it: volunteers were paid 5 shillings a day for ten days training per year, while artillery units were paid for an outrageous twenty days per year.  However, the men had to provide their own uniforms. The Active Militia was called out during the Fenian Raids of 1866.  The Act also created the office of Minister of Militia and Defense, which title existed until 1923, when it changed to its current Minister of National Defence.

The Militia Act of 1868 continued the colonial arrangements of pre-confederation.  In 1869, there were 37,170 volunteers serving in the Active Militia, and 618,896 in the Sedentary Militia.  The Militia was mobilized for the Fenian Raids of 1870, the Red River Expedition of 1870, and the North West Rebellion of 1885.

The Second Boer War saw Canada send over 8,000 volunteers overseas for service in South Africa, and for this purpose Canada created a Special Service force. The Militia was expected to defend Canada, but service overseas was another matter; and for organizational and legal purposes the Special Service Force was established.

A separate, legally distinct entity for overseas service was continued in World War I. Sam Hughes threw the entire mobilization plan overboard and into confusion by organizing the Canadian Expeditionary Force along numbered battalion lines instead of on existing militia battalions. The CEF was managed by the Minister of Overseas Military Forces

On the advice of CGS Harry Crerar, the term militia was, on November 19, 1940, abolished and replaced by army: thus, the Canadian Army (Overseas), Canadian Army (Active) and Canadian Army (Reserve). The term militia was briefly revived in the 1950s when the reserves were renamed Canadian Army (Militia), which, in turn, was abolished and renamed (Reserve).

Following WWII the successors to the PAM and NPAM became, respectively, the Canadian Army Active Force and Canadian Army Reserve Force.  Korea again saw the creation of an Army Special Force comprised of many volunteers with WWII experience.  In 1954, the reserve was renamed the Canadian Army (Militia).  After unification in 1968, the Army was renamed Mobile Command, and the Militia was redesigned Mobile Command (Reserve). In 1993, it was renamed Land Force Command (Reserve), and finally, in 2011, was renamed Canadian Army (Reserve).

“The Militia” in Canada is not some hoary anachronism; though obsolete today, the term is properly expressive of the historical development of today’s Canadian Army, both Regular and Reserve.

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