Editing Draft evasion (section)

====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 />