Editing Draft evasion (section)

===Canada===
Canada employed a military draft during World Wars I and II, and some Canadians chose to evade it. According to Canadian historian [[J. L. Granatstein|Jack Granatstein]], "no single issue has divided Canadians so sharply" as the military draft.<ref name=Broken>Granatstein, J. L.; Hitsman, J. M. (2017, orig. 1977).  ''Broken Promises: A History of Conscription in Canada''. Oakville, Ontario: Rock's Mills Press (orig. Toronto: Oxford University Press), p.&nbsp;v. {{ISBN|978-1-77244-013-3}}.</ref> During both World Wars, political parties collapsed or were torn apart over the draft issue, and ethnicity seeped into the equation, with most French Canadians opposing conscription and a majority of English Canadians accepting it.<ref name=Broken /> During both wars, riots and draft evasion followed the passage of the draft laws.<ref name=Broken />

====World War I====
[[File:Anti-conscription parade at Victoria Square.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|right|alt=Masses of people on big-city street.|Anti-conscription march in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, May 1917]]
Conscription had been a dividing force in Canadian politics during World War I, and those divisions led to the [[Conscription Crisis of 1917]]. Canadians objected to conscription for diverse reasons: some thought it unnecessary, some did not identify with the British, and some felt it imposed unfair burdens on economically struggling segments of society.<ref>Tough, David. "A Better Truth: The Democratic Legacy of Resistance to Conscription, 1917–1921". In Campbell, Lara; Dawson, Michael; Gidney, Catherine, eds. (2015), ''Worth Fighting For: Canada's Tradition of War Resistance from 1812 to the War on Terror''. Toronto: Between the Lines Books, Chap. 5. {{ISBN|978-1-77113-179-7}}.</ref> When the first draft class (single men between 20 and 34 years of age) was called up in 1917, nearly 281,000 of the approximately 404,000 men filed for exemptions.<ref>[[Desmond Morton (historian)|Morton, Desmond]] (1999). ''A Military History of Canada''. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 4th ed., p.&nbsp;156. {{ISBN|978-0-7710-6514-9}}.</ref> Throughout the war, some Canadians who feared conscription left for the United States or elsewhere.<ref>Dennis (2017), cited in "Draft evasion practices" section above, pp. 31, 46, 47.</ref>

====World War II====
Canada introduced an innovative kind of draft law in 1940 with the [[National Resources Mobilization Act]].<ref name=Byers>Byers, David (2017). ''Zombie Army: The Canadian Army and Conscription in the Second World War''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, Part 2. {{ISBN|978-0-7748-3052-2}}.</ref> While the move was not unpopular outside French Canada, controversy arose because under the new law, conscripts were not compelled to serve outside Canada. They could choose simply to defend the country against invasion.<ref name=Byers /> By the middle of the war, many Canadians – not least of all, conscripts committed to overseas service – were referring to NRMA men pejoratively as "Zombies", that is, as dead-to-life or utterly useless.<ref>Byers (2017), pp.&nbsp;6, 160, 234.</ref> Following costly fighting in [[Italian campaign (World War II)|Italy]], [[Operation Overlord|Normandy]], and [[Battle of the Scheldt|the Scheldt]], overseas Canadian troops were depleted, and during the [[Conscription Crisis of 1944]] a one-time levy of approximately 17,000 NRMA men was sent to fight abroad.<ref name=Two>Granatstein, J. L.; Morton, Desmond (2003). ''Canada and the Two World Wars''. Toronto: Key Porter Books, pp. 309–311. {{ISBN|978-1-55263-509-4}}.</ref> Many NRMA men deserted after the levy rather than fight abroad.<ref name=Two /> One brigade of NRMA men declared itself on "strike" after the levy.<ref name=Two />

The number of men who actively sought to evade the World War II draft in Canada is not known. Granatstein says the evasion was "widespread".<ref name=Broken /> In addition, in 1944 alone approximately 60,000 draftees were serving only as NRMA men, committed to border defense but not to fighting abroad.<ref name=Two />