Friends and Peace: Quaker Pacifist Influence in Ontario to the Early Twentieth Century

By Lise Hansen

The Quaker quest for peace, rooted in seventeenth century England, branched into Ontario more than two hundred years later and continued to flourish and expand.

In 1661, the Society of Friends made this declaration of conscience to King Charles of England:

“We utterly deny all outward wars and strife and fightings with outward weapons, for any end or under any pretense whatsoever. And this is our testimony to the whole world. The spirit of Christ, by which we are guided, is not changeable, so as once to command us from a thing as evil and again to move into it, and we certainly do know, and so testify to the world, that the spirit of Christ which leads us into all Truth, will never move us to fight and war against any man with outward weapons, neither for the Kingdom of Christ, nor for the kingdoms of the world.”

War and strife followed Friends to the new British colony, where maintaining non-compliance with war and its mechanisms proved difficult. Internal differences divided and reduced their membership, but Quaker commitment to peace remained. During their early years in Upper Canada, the scope of their quest was limited to philanthropy and the avoidance of military service. But during the early twentieth century, due to their effective use of conciliation and their firm belief that war is basically wrong, Quakers influenced and became actively involved with other Ontarians in addressing the causes of war. Thus, the historical development of the Society of Friends in Ontario has, of necessity and desire, included political conciliation, pacifist activism, and promotion of arbitration as a route to peace on a local and global scale.

During the first century and a half in Ontario, Quaker membership declined due to schisms and strict codes of conduct. The structure and principles of the society guided the remaining members towards a leadership role in the promotion of peace in Ontario.

The fundamental ideals of Quaker opposition to war are religious and ethical, whereas other concerns, such as economics, are subsidiary to the main positions of Christian peace and conscience.(1) In their early days in Ontario, Quaker customs of plain dress and speech set them apart from their neighbours. Codes demanding adherence to Quaker principles were strong; therefore those who diverged were disowned by their congregations or ‘meetings.’ Whereas other Protestant denominations offered “overpowering emotionalism”, Quaker meetings ideally were, and still are, quiet affairs at which men and women, as equals, seek to listen and share in a search for the truth. As arguing and voting are felt to be divisive, language is seen as a peacekeeping device in which “each insight refines the other until the group’s ideas have been blended into an agreeable and creative solution.”(2) This process starts at several constituent preparative meetings held in anticipation of the ‘Monthly Meeting.’ Representatives of all Monthly Meetings attend ‘Quarterly’ or ‘Half Yearly Meetings’ and the representatives of these meetings attend the highest jurisdiction, the ‘Yearly Meeting’.(3) Throughout the process consensus is sought; thus Yearly Meeting decisions reflect the entire membership. This process is slow and cumbersome but relatively effective in achieving unity.

However, on three occasions in the 1800s consensus could not be reached, resulting in schisms which diminished membership dramatically.(4) By the turn of the twentieth century, there were three doctrinally separate Yearly Meetings in Ontario, with a combined total of approximately twelve hundred members, less than one-quarter of their former total. Whereas each new group maintained affiliation with American Friends, they had practically no contact with Friends who had settled in the Maritimes.

Ontario Friends who later migrated to Western Canada developed strong ties with western American Friends.(5) Natural geographic access has played a more important role to Canadian Quaker associations than have political boundaries. Strong affiliations within the society do not, however, preclude strong association with the non-Quaker community; therefore the conciliatory process practiced in meetings tends to spill over into their dealings with the larger society.

The first American Quakers who settled in Upper Canada in 1784, and those who followed, were part of a great migration of Americans which lasted until the 1820’s.(6) Some pro-British Quakers fled the United States to be free of political persecution and post-revolutionary economic hardship.(7) Although not technically United Empire Loyalists, the Quakers were invited and welcomed to Upper Canada by Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe because of their qualities of honesty and hard work, as well as their sense of community-building in the wilderness.(8) Although a few American Quakers fought for the British (and lost Quaker membership as a result), those who had not fought had at least not supported the revolution.(9)

Although Simcoe would have preferred to populate Upper Canada with members of the Church of England, who would have been willing to further British ideals, including a strong militia, insufficient numbers of Anglicans were available.(10) Therefore, he enticed the American peace sects – including the Quakers, Mennonites, and Tunkers – to Upper Canada with promises of the benefits of British law, an abundance of land, and respect for their pacifist ideals.

These ideals were reflected in the Militia Act of Upper Canada of 1791, which excused the peace sects from military service – but in lieu of bearing arms, the law imposed a tax on all military-aged objectors. Whereas the Mennonites felt that the tax was simply an imposition and a financial hardship, the Quakers could not reconcile payment with their religious principles as paying money for the support of war was tantamount to supporting war.(11) The Quakers, therefore, refused to pay the tax and, as a result, their goods were frequently seized and sold to cover the amount of the tax.

As an ill-will was brewing, not only between the Quakers and the government but between the Americans and the British, Quaker leaders felt a need to reassert their principles of non-compliance. In 1806, Timothy Rogers and Amos Armitage of Yonge Street Monthly Meeting met with Lieutenant-Governor Gore to advise him of Quaker loyalty to the existing government and to reaffirm Quaker opposition to war.(12) The Governor indicated his support and acknowledged the Quaker peace testimony. Nonetheless, in 1809, a law was passed authorizing military officials to impress horses, carriages, and oxen to be used for military defence – and imposing jail sentences upon religious objectors who had not paid their tax in lieu of military service.(13)

Men from the Yonge Street Monthly Meeting, which was located on a military road, were regularly jailed or went into hiding to avoid imprisonment.(14) Local meetings suffered confiscations estimated in the thousands of dollars.(15) These impressments, seizures, and incarcerations resulted in a strong, active lobby by each of the peace sects for the repeal of the 1809 statute.(16)

During the following War of 1812, the Anglican governing class of Upper Canada suspected all American immigrants of disloyalty to the Crown. Thus, settlers were, for a while, threatened with the loss of their land – and at least one Quaker lost his right to vote and hold office.(17) Yet, for the most part, despite physical and emotional hardship, Ontario Friends refused to be co-opted into this war effort.

Members of the next generation, however, found themselves embroiled in armed political conflict with the governing class of Upper Canada causing unsettling effects in the Quaker community.(18) Despite their peace testimony, several young Quakers decided to participate in the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837 and 1838. After years of intimidation, some individual convictions to peace principles faded in the midst of social and political injustice. A few of the Quakers who were involved in the insurrection were subsequently caught and served prison terms. One was hanged for treason.

Within the society, those who did not admit error in bearing arms were disowned by their meetings.(19) Shaken by these events, some meetings felt it was best to withdraw from external influences and a period of relative quietude followed. This stance was reinforced when, in 1849, the three peace sects received a blanket unconditional exemption from military duty by the government of Canada West, resulting in a period of decreased political activism by the Quakers.(20)

Throughout their history in Ontario, Friends had been and continued to be active in the promotion of social justice. They took a leading role in Ontario in supporting the ‘underground railway’, the mechanism which allowed American blacks to escape slavery, and helped the fugitives to adjust to their new life in Ontario. Far ahead of public sentiment, they advocated equal rights, universal suffrage, prison reform, and the abolition of capital punishment.(21) They petitioned the Canadian government for acceptance of Doukhobour refugees into Canada and for the fair treatment of Hindus in British Columbia.(22) Through promotion of social issues such as these, Friends developed expertise which would stand them in good stead in the fight for peace.

After Canadian Confederation in 1867, the first Canada Yearly Meeting of Friends, held at Pickering, Ontario, delivered a statement of the Quaker position on war, oaths, and liberty of conscience to Governor-General Monck and Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, in an attempt to maintain the exemptions contained in the Militia Act of 1849.(23) Subsequently, the new Dominion of Canada reaffirmed the Militia Law as it stood at this time.

In the new province of Ontario, Quakers resumed their lobby for non-aggression. In 1869, the Canada Yearly Meeting formed a committee to address the aggressive nationalism that appeared in Ontario’s public school text books. In 1891, each of the three Yearly Meetings in Ontario became affiliated with “The Peace Association of Friends of America,” which historian Arthur Dorland refers to as “the most important peace organization among Friends in the western hemisphere at the time.” By 1895, Quakers of Ontario were influenced by the Quaker-inspired Lake Mohonk Conference of New York, which favoured arbitration instead of war as a method of settling international disputes. In 1896, the Genesee Yearly Meeting sent a deputation to Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier, urging him, among other things, to address the responsibility of public men to curb militarism.(24) These were precursors to activities in the wars which followed.

In 1899, when the British government became embroiled in the Boer War, the Quakers passed and published strong anti-war resolutions, while the only other Protestant body in Ontario to express opposition was the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (whose membership included many Quaker women). Presbyterian and Methodist church newspapers actually endorsed the war.(25)

Opponents of war were labelled an ineffectual and unrepresentative body of agitators, chronic objectors, traitors, and villains.(26) Nevertheless, Friends persisted in their denunciation of strife and at the conclusion of the war the “Friends Association of Toronto” helped organize the non-denominational “Peace and Arbitration Society,” the first secular peace organization in Canada. It adopted the statement of the Lake Mohonk Conference favouring peace and arbitration. This document was then endorsed by the Boards of Trade of Toronto, Ottawa, and Hamilton – as well as the Farmers Convention of Ontario and several churches and civic and religious leaders.(27)

Notable among those who endorsed the statement were Quakers: Charles Zavitz, interim president of Guelph Agricultural College, and Elias Rogers, businessman and Liberal politician. The Peace and Arbitration Society eventually attracted over a thousand members, headed by William Mulock, chief justice of the Ontario High Court of Justice.

In 1907, as a response to the popular peace movement, a resolution to turn the Hague Conference into a permanent international congress with powers of arbitration was endorsed by the Ontario Legislature. As a result of the influence of the Peace and Arbitration Society, the Presbyterian Assembly condemned war as contrary to Christian morals in 1911. Methodists involved in the Peace and Arbitration Society proposed labour strikes in protest of war.(28) Thus, the early public support for the Boer War was transformed by many into revulsion for war after its conclusion.

In Ontario, principles of peace were regaining public favour; however no peace mechanism had been created to enable “Christian good-will to express itself.” The chairman of the Peace and Arbitration Committee lamented that within Ontario society peace had “been accepted generally as a beautiful abstract idea, worthy of realization, but impracticable, and war as undesirable, yet necessary and practical.”(29) The Canada Yearly Meeting then called for Quakers to take a lead in instituting a peace movement which would be “memorable in history.”(30)

Pacifists in Ontario underwent a transition and adjustment to social reality. According to historian Thomas Socknat, there are those who believe that war is inhumane and irrational and should be prevented but is sometimes necessary, and those who believe that war is absolutely and always wrong.(31) Religious groups who oppose war in the abstract but who become convinced that some wars are just fall in the first category, while sectarian pacifists like the Quakers and Mennonites fall into the second category.

Historian Peter Brock labels Mennonites as ‘separational’ pacifists who maintain their pacifist stance exclusive of outer society and thus had less influence on the peace movement. Quakers are referred to as ‘integrational’ pacifists whose ideals led to social change.(32) The Quaker transition during the Boer War and the upcoming Great War was in methodology, not in the basic principle of religious non-compliance with war and its mechanisms.

Socknat contends that “Quakers went beyond negative anti-militarism and… began to relate war to socioeconomic conditions and to encourage interest in international affairs.”(33) In 1913, the Genessee Yearly Meeting at Coldstream, Ontario expressed a need for change of the basis of its operations “to give more liberty to each monthly meeting” and hoping that Quaker effectiveness in reaching its goals would be enhanced.(34) The Canadian Peace and Arbitration Society, a wing of this meeting, called for celebration of one hundred years of peace with the United States, the formation of neighbourhood peace societies, and the observance of Peace Sunday to counter military propaganda.(35)

At Newmarket, in the same year, the Canada Yearly Meeting Committee on Peace delivered a resolution to the government and people of Canada expressing “the earnest concern of Friends” that Canada should encourage peace and arbitration both nationally and internationally, rather than to continue increasing expenditures and activity in preparation for war and ‘so called’ defense. It went on to suggest that money appropriated for the military would be better spent on the establishment of a ‘Canadian Peace Commission,’ to help eliminate distrust between nations and to help stem the tide of militarism in Canada.(36)

Quaker writer David Starr Jordan, in the same year, reported on Canadian involvement in the military. He contended that the campaign for naval defense of Canada was coincident with three allied syndicates attempting to sell armaments at enormous profits to both sides of the dispute and to drum up fear of aggression.(37)

As indicated earlier, promotion of militarism in Ontario’s schools had drawn Quaker attention as early as 1869. Cadet training had been instituted in Ontario in the 1880s and had blossomed since the Boer War. A huge cadet parade became an annual event in Toronto on Empire Day.(38) This fostering of aggression was once again addressed by Friends. The Canada Yearly Meeting contended that militarism in schools should be supplanted by “intelligent teaching as to the terrible results of war economically and morally to a nation.”(39)

Prior to 1914, massive armies had been building up in Europe and politicians declared that such action alone was a deterrent to war. However, neither massive armaments nor peace rhetoric would prove to stop the inevitable war.

Some political, church, farm, labour, and women’s groups endorsed peace and arbitration in a general sense but did not connect it with the economic structure of society, nor did they have a solid commitment to its implementation.(40) When war erupted in Europe, Ontario’s commitment to peace declined rapidly. Despite the about-face of much of Christian Ontario, the Quakers, once again, maintained their pacifist stance during wartime.

In August of 1914, when Germany declared war on Russia and invaded France, there was unrestrained enthusiasm in the streets of Toronto, as hundreds of men celebrated the war. After mobilization was announced on August 5, volunteers throughout Ontario paraded to the railway station and the crowds cheered them on. Ontario had found new heroes – and an idealized and unrealistic attitude towards the coming war.(41)

War propaganda, controlled by the government and promoted by the military establishment, helped to reinforce fears for the future of Christendom, causing Ontarians to respond emotionally. Enthusiasm for the war quickly rose, as the religious press – including the Canadian Baptist, the Anglican Canadian Churchman, the Presbyterian Record, the Presbyterian Witness, and the Methodist Christian Guardian – declared the war to be a righteous cause.(42)

By September of 1914, S.D. Chown, the superintendent of the Methodist Church in Canada declared Christianity itself to be at stake and asked Methodists to answer the will of God and enlist.(43) Dorland claims that “a few young Friends [perhaps a dozen] to whom the Peace Testimony of the Society was merely traditional, either were swept along with the popular current, or they truly believed this was a ‘just war’.” The Society of Friends in Ontario as a whole, however, never wavered in its conviction that war was not compatible with Christianity.(44)

In the midst of such war fervor, Ontario Friends continued their peace activism and worked in support of war relief associations and the freedom to abstain from war and its mechanisms.

Men who had not enlisted in the war effort were taunted as ‘slackers’ by women and children on the streets,(45) and W.B. Creighton, editor of the Methodist Guardian, asserted that “pacifists were guilty of ‘dull obstinacy’, ‘bitter prejudice’, and ‘plain stupidity’.”(46) But The Canadian Friend of 1914 continued to admonish against militarism in schools.(47) Meanwhile, the Genesee Yearly Meeting of July 1915 gave financial support to the Friends Ambulance Corps in Europe, and Edgar Zavitz was appointed as the meeting’s representative for War Victims Relief the following year.

In 1916, the same meeting reported that “the bending of religious principle had allowed poverty, excessive wealth, ambition, [and] class distinction” to develop, adding that “civilization had produced an intricate machine for cultivating production or destruction” and that the education and legal systems had “distorted Patriotism, Loyalty, and Free Institutions of Democratic Civilization.” The meeting expressed a need to influence the course of events by taking responsibility for practical application of peace principles.

Also in 1916, the various meetings that had become dissociated during the nineteenth century schisms started to correspond with each other for “closer bonds of fellowship and love”, thus beginning a united and concerted effort for a common pacifist goal. In May of 1917 the three Yearly Meetings of Friends in Ontario joined forces in the Friends Legislative Committee to attempt a more effective resistance to an anticipated conscription bill culminating in a resolution sent to Prime Minister Borden.(48) Leaders Albert Rogers, Charles Zavitz, and George Clark affirmed Quaker opposition to bearing arms and requested that Militia Act exemptions be carried over to any new measure and be extended to all conscientious objectors regardless of affiliation.(49)

Throughout the war, Ontario Friends served humanity in non-military ways. Some served in the Friends Ambulance Unit in Europe or gave financial help to relief organizations. The War Victims Relief Committee of the Society of Friends had been in France, Holland, and England since 1914. Letters from George Bycraft of Coldstream, Ontario, describe his volunteer effort in France where he and other Quakers had built over four hundred small wooden houses in northern France for inhabitants whose homes had been destroyed by war.(50) Pickering College, the Quaker school at Newmarket, Ontario, was donated until 1921 as a hospital for returning veterans.(51) Thus the Quakers of Ontario made their pacifist influence felt.

As the supply of volunteers dried up and war casualties increased, Prime Minister Borden called for conscription and in July of 1917 the new Military Services Act was passed. Once again exemption was granted to those who conscientiously objected to undertaking combatant service and were “prohibited from doing so by the tenets and articles of faith… of any organized religious denomination existing and well recognized in Canada… and to which he in good faith belongs.”(52)

Despite the Quaker appeal for inclusion of all conscientious objectors within the terms of this legislation, several churches opposed to military service were excluded.(53) As in the older Militia Act, Quaker exemption was from combatant service only, therefore a Friend might be compelled to become part of the military machine. Ontario had relatively few young Friends at the time – and most of these were farmers, who were granted exemption from military service so that they could carry on this industry vital to the country. Nevertheless, two young Friends from the Genesee Yearly Meeting who were granted exemption from combat were sentenced to one term of hard labour in prison for refusing mandatory non-combatant service.(54)

The Canadian Peace and Arbitration Society disintegrated during the war,(55) but as a precursor to their post-war activities, the three Yearly Meetings continued to work together on war-related problems.(56) During the twenties, Quakers in Ontario continued to sponsor peace societies. Friends continued to donate to relief work in Poland, France, Germany, Russia, and Austria. Some remained in Europe to help the victims of war. And in 1922, Ontario Friends Albert Rogers and Fred Haslam collected donations from across Canada ($60,000 from Toronto alone) for the American Friends’ Service Committee and the Canadian Save the Children Fund. Ontario Friends also became involved with the Conference of Historic Peace Churches, which met to discuss war issues.(57) Then, in 1926, Arthur Dorland organized the Canadian Branch of the World Alliance for International Fellowship through the Churches so that the member churches could work towards common Christian goals.

In 1931 the Canadian Friends Service Committee, a natural outgrowth of earlier endeavours, was founded at Toronto Friends House to promote global peace. The committee collected funds from Quakers and non-Quakers alike for distribution to world relief organizations. It endorsed the ideal of international co-operation expressed by the League of Nations, but called for economic rather than military sanctions as a means to peace. It also called for nations to share equitably in the resources of the world as an essential preliminary to permanent peace.(58) This body encouraged Prime Minister Bennett to appoint delegates to the Geneva Disarmament Conference in 1932, in the hope that it would encourage the various parties to try to understand their corresponding needs and conflicting viewpoints.

Arthur Dorland and Raymond Booth, Quaker leaders in Ontario, joined others to found the Institute of Economic and International Relations – commonly referred to as the Couchiching Conference – which met at Geneva Park, Lake Couchiching, Ontario in 1932. This organization was set up on the understanding that a search for the fundamental causes of war and the educational dissemination of the findings were the building blocks on which peace could be created. It attracted outspoken Canadians such as Eugene Forsey, who joined the staff the following year. Ontario Quaker spokesperson Fred Haslam later became a leading figure in the Institute.

Throughout the thirties, Peace Caravans of young Quakers promoted passive non-resistance in Ontario, Friends organizations sent leaflets to members of the Canadian Parliament advocating peace, and the Quaker organization the Toronto Peace Library promoted peace and social justice.(59) These were impressive accomplishments for a relatively small group of people.

Such promotion of peace on a global scale was made possible by the efforts of a century and a half of individuals seeking conciliation and guided by a strong conviction of conscience, both religious and ethical. Ontario Quaker activism in the early years manifested itself in a narrow focus – that is, the maintenance and improvement of the Militia Act, which allowed Quakers abstention from militia duty. While their role in the social welfare of others was significant, their pacifist influence on the province was somewhat limited. Their pacifist activism and their Christian commitment to peace by arbitration and consensus were precursors to a broader pacifist perspective that was developed during Ontario’s involvement in the Boer and the First World Wars. Practical application of this perspective resulted in the organization of the non-denominational Peace and Arbitration Society and the joining of the three Yearly Meetings in Ontario in the Friends Legislative Committee. After the First World War, as a natural outgrowth of Friends’ peace activities with outside groups, the Canadian Friends Service Committee and the Institute of Economic and International Relations were formed in Ontario to deal with global issues of relief and peace. Thus, during and after these wars, Ontario Friends increasingly involved themselves in the larger community in an attempt to influence the way in which Ontarian, Canadian, and global societies dealt with matters of war and peace.

Notes:

  1. Friends and War: A New Statement of the Quaker Position, adopted by the “Conference of All Friends,” (Philadelphia: Friends Bookstore, 1927), page 5.
  2. Cavey, Verna Marie, Fighting Among Friends: The Quaker Separation of 1827 As a Study in Conflict Resolution, (Doctoral Dissertation, Syracuse University, 1992), pp. 20-43.
  3. Hovinen, Elizabeth J., Quakers of Yonge Street, (York University, Department of Geography, Discussion Paper Series), pp. 32-33.
  4. Dorland, Arthur G., History of the Society of Friends (Quakers) in Canada, (Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1927), p. 104. The local schism of 1812 created a short lived sect, the Children of Peace, which decimated the Yonge Street Monthly Meeting. The larger North American schisms of 1828 and 1881 had more lasting effects. In 1828, the Hicksites split from the Orthodox New York Yearly Meeting to become Genesee Yearly Meeting. In 1867, a Canada Yearly Meeting of Orthodox Friends was formed in Ontario. In 1881, the Orthodox Friends split into the Progressive and Conservative branches, each retaining the name Canada Yearly Meeting. After WW II, the Progressive, Conservative, and Hicksite branches formally united to become the Canadian Yearly Meeting.
  5. Haslam, Fred. 1921-1967: A Record of the Experience with Canadian Friends (Quakers) and the Canadian Ecumenical Movement, (n.p., 1968), p. 103.
  6. Ibid., pp. 55-57.
  7. Peers, Laura L., “The Not So Peaceable Kingdom: Quakers Took up Arms in the Rebellion of 1837,” The Beaver, June/July, 1988, p. 5.
  8. Epp, Frank H., Mennonites in Canada 1786-1920: A History of a Separate People, (Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1974), p. 67.
  9. Ibid., p. 99.
  10. Ibid., pp. 70-71.
  11. Brock, Peter. Freedom From Violence: Sectarian Nonresistance From the Middle Ages to the Great War, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991), p. 225.
  12. Dorland, Quakers, p. 94.
  13. Brock, Freedom, p. 227.
  14. Reflections on the Pioneer Settlement of Newmarket by Two Yonge Street Quakers, (The Newmarket Historical Society, Occasional Papers, Volume 1, Number 2.)
  15. Dorland, Quakers, p. 317.
  16. Epp, Mennonites, p. 101.
  17. Peers, Peaceable, p. 6.
  18. Ibid., pp. 4-9.
  19. Ibid., pp. 7.
  20. Brock, Freedom, p. 225.
  21. Dorland, Quakers, pp. 293-312.
  22. Canada Yearly Meeting Report, July, 1913.
  23. Dorland, Quakers, p. 325.
  24. Ibid., p. 327.
  25. Miller, Carman, “English Canadian Opposition to the South African War as seen through the Press,” Canadian Historical Review, December, 1974, pp. 422-434.
  26. Ibid., p. 438.
  27. Dorland, Quakers, p. 328.
  28. Socknat, Thomas P. Witness Against War: Pacifism in Canada, 1900-1945, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1987), p. 30.
  29. Minutes of the Proceedings of the Genesee Yearly Meeting, at Coldstream, Ont., 1913.
  30. Canada Yearly Meeting Report, July, 1913.
  31. Socknat, Witness, p. 7.
  32. Brock, Peter. Pacifism in Europe to 1914. (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1972), pp. 474-475.
  33. Socknat, Witness, p. 21.
  34. The Genesee Yearly Meeting encompassed meetings in New York State as well as in Ontario. Canada and the United States responded to the upcoming war at different times and in different ways. More autonomy within the individual meetings allowed different responses to federal laws within each country.
  35. Minutes of the Proceedings of the Genesee Yearly Meeting, at Coldstream, Ont., 1913.
  36. Dorland, Arthur G. “Militarism in Canada”, The Canadian Friend, July, 1913, pp. 5-6.
  37. Jordan, David Starr “The Defense of Canada”, The Canadian Friend, Dec., 1913.
  38. Socknat, Witness, p. 35.
  39. The Canadian Friend, July 1913, pp. 5-6.
  40. Socknat, Thomas P., “Canada’s Liberal Pacifists and the Great War”, Readings in Canadian History: Post Confederation, Third Edition, ed. R. Douglas Frances and Donald B.Smith, (Toronto: Holt, Reinhart and Winston of Canada, Ltd., 1990), p. 349.
  41. Wilson, Barbara M., ed., Ontario and the First World War 1914-1918: A Collection of Documents. (Toronto: The Champlain Society, 1977), pp. xvi-xix.
  42. Socknat, Witness, pp. 49-50.
  43. Marshall, David B.,”Methodism Embattled: A Reconsideration of the Methodist Church and World War One”, The Canadian Historical Review, LXVI, 1, 1985, pp. 49-50.
  44. Dorland, Quakers, p. 329.
  45. Marshall, Methodism, p. 51, and Socknat, Witness, p. 62.
  46. As in Socknat, Witness, p. 62.
  47. The Canadian Friend, Feb., 1914, p. 15, and April, 1914, p. 9.
  48. Minutes of the Proceedings of the Genesee Yearly Meeting, at Coldstream, Ont., 1916.
  49. The Canadian Friend, Oct., 1917, pp. 6-7.
  50. Bycraft, George, of Coldstream, Ontario, private letters.
  51. The Canadian Friend, June, 1920, p. 11.
  52. Excerpts from the Military Services Act, as quoted in The Canadian Friend, Oct., 1917, p. 9.
  53. Penton, James M., Jehovah’s Witnesses in Canada, (Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1976), p. 56. Excluded from the legislation were the Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ, International Bible Students, Pentecostal Assemblies, and Plymouth Brethren. Exempted from military duty were the Seventh Day Adventists, Christadelphians, Quakers, Western Mennonites, and Doukhobors. Ontario Mennonites had lost their exemption in a 1904 change to the Militia Act.
  54. Dorland, Quakers, pp. 332-333.
  55. Allen, Richard, The Social Passion: Religion and Social Reform in Canada 1914-1928, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1971), p. 320.
  56. Haslam, Record, p. 22.
  57. Ibid., p. 83.
  58. An Alternative to Sanctions: A Statement of the Canadian Friends’ Service Committee (pamphlet published in 1935).
  59. Ibid., pp. 49-50.