Upper Canada. Militia : Militia - part-time military forces - have played an important role in Canadian defence over the centuries. Militia have participated in most major conflicts and, until the organization of modern police forces, played an important law enforcement role as well. The earliest militia forces in Canada were those of the French Regime, in existence as early as 1651, when adult male settlers of New France were obliged to maintain arms and rotate guard duty as defence against attacks by the Iroquois. This militia would assist regular troops of the French Army during the Seven Years War. After the French were defeated by the British in 1760, the new British administration in Canada adopted the existing militia system, and Francophone settlers fought with British troops against the Pontiac rising of 1764.
Many of the Loyalist units that assisted the British during the American War of Independence, would be perpetuated after that war, in Canada. In 1794, the second session of the first parliament of Upper Canada passed a Militia Act, obliging all males between the ages of 16 and 50 (later 60) to enroll in a "Sedentary Militia" of regiments whose companies were mustered and inspected bi-annually - a force neither armed, uniformed nor paid by the government. The militia was organized into regiments and companies based on counties and "military districts" or parishes. In 1793, many of the British forces left to fight France and, over the next several years, "Provincial" regiments were established in the colonies Upper Canada, Lower Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, some of them later elevated in status for the general defence of British North America. These regiments were disbanded in 1802 with the Peace of Amiens in Europe, but were re-established when the war between Britain and France resumed.
The Nineteenth Century would see the growing importance of a volunteer militia over a "Sedentary" one, in Canadian defence. In the years leading up to the War of 1812, General Isaac Brock proposed a more frequently trained nucleus of "flank companies", and these would assist regular British troops early in that war. Some of these units would be perpetuated after 1814, often under different names. A "Volunteer Incorporated Militia Battalion," established in 1813, drew largely from these "flank companies."
Canadian militia forces participated in suppressing the Rebellions of 1837, and the 1840s and 1850s would see an increasing role for Canadians in their own defence, particularly when the Crimean War of 1854 to 1856 drew many British troops away from Canada. In 1855, the Legislature of the united Province of Canada passed a Militia Act authorizing the formation of a "Volunteer Militia" which was to be armed, uniformed and, while training or active, paid. Many units were established that year, some of which survived well into the Twentieth Century. The Mutiny in India from 1857 to 1858 drew still more British regular troops away from Canada, so a regular British regiment, to be recruited from the Canadian population, was authorized by the British government, with the concurrence of the government of the Province of Canada: the 100th (Prince of Wales Royal Canadian) Regiment of Foot. From 1859 to 1863, independent "companies of rifles" were brought together into militia regiments, most units of which would participate in defending Canada against the Fenian Raids of 1866 and 1870. These volunteer militia units also participated in suppressing the Red River Rebellion of 1870.
A significant increase in defence spending on the part of the Canadian government in return for military aid from the British, when necessary, was one of the most important conditions of Confederation. An 1868 Militia bill amalgamated the militia systems of the founding provinces, establishing an Active Militia of volunteers and a Reserve Militia of other able-bodied Canadian males aged 16 to 60. The emphasis was on the former in both the legislation and in practice. Canada would have nine military districts, each divided into Brigade and Regimental Divisions, with each of the latter providing a quota of Active Militia. If a sufficiently large Active Militia could not be raised, it could be supplemented by a Regular Militia, preferably of volunteers. The British withdrew most of their garrison from Canada from 1868 to 1871. The government of the new dominion organized military schools at Kingston and Quebec to produce trained leadership for militia units, and authorized the formation of permanent "batteries" of garrison. Volunteer Militia units were mobilized to suppress the Northwest Rebellion of 1885, and the Canadian volunteers who fought in the Boer War were largely drawn from existing Militia units. Canadian Encyclopedia, February 2001.
Ministers and generals : politics and the Canadian militia, 1868-1904 / [Desmond Morton]. - [Toronto] : University of Toronto Press, [1970]. - x, 257 p. : ill., ports. ; 23 cm.
The Canadian militia [microform] : a history of the origin and development of the force / by Ernest J. Chambers. - Montreal : L.M. Fresco, c1907. - 2 microfiches (70 fr.) : ill., ports. - CIHM/ICMH Microfiche series = CIHM\ICMH collection de microfiches ; no. 73765. - ISBN 0665737653.
The Canadian militia from 1855 : an historical summary / by David A. Morris ; with a foreword by C.P. Stacey. - Erin, Ont. : Boston Mills Press, c1983. - 328 p. : ill. : 27 cm. - ISBN 0919822517.
The origin and services of the Prince of Wales regiment [microform] : including a brief history of the militia since Canada became a British colony, with an account of the different actions in which they have engaged, including the Northwest Rebellion of 1885 / edited by Ernest J. Chambers. - Montreal : E. Ruddy, 1897. - 2 microfiches (55 fr.) : ports. - CIHM/ICMH Microfiche series = CIHM/ICMH collection de microfiches ; no. 00547. - ISBN 0665005474. 206975
