The Bonne Entente Movement, 1916–1917: From Cooperation to Conscription

The Bonne Entente Movement , 1916-1917: From Cooperation to Conscription BRIAN CAMERON In the early summer of 1916, John Milton Godfrey, a successful, middle-aged Toronto lawyer, arranged a meeting with a journalist for the Toronto Star in order to discuss the question of recruiting. Arthur Hawkes, a British-born writer and publicist, had recently returned from a four-month stay in Ottawa as the Star's parliamentary correspondent, where he had written a number of articles on the Borden government's recruiting policy that had favourably impressed Godfrey. The subject had recently become a focus of intense concern in English Canada, and perhaps for no one more than Godfrey. As Chairman of the Civilians League for recruiting in the Second Military Division - the largest in the country, with both Toronto and Hamilton in its area of responsibility - Godfrey had watched with frustration as the enlistment figures across the country dropped. The monthly total for June, when the meeting took place, was half of that for April, and would continue to fall.I Though Godfrey had had a good deal of success with recruitment in his Div~sion, he had come to the conclusion that the potential of the voluntary system in Ontario was all but exhausted. Accordingly , he and others active in the Civilians League had begun to campaign for a form of compulsion in order to replace the increasing number of Canadian casualties. Godfrey, acutely conscious of the low percentage of French-Canadian volunteers , was under no illusions as to the difficulties such a scheme would encounter in Quebec, and it was to this question that his conversation with Hawkes turned. The choice of Hawkes as consultant was fortunate. Though perhaps best known as the author of An Appeal to the British-Born,2 an anti-reciprocity pamphlet of 1911 promoting 42 economic ties with the Empire, Hawkes managed to combine his imperial sentiment with a deep sympathy for the French-Canadian culture, obtained during many years of travel and work in Quebec. It is entirely characteristic of Hawkes that he was, on the one hand, a founder of The Canadian War, a short-lived, non-profit weekly devoted completely to propaganda for the war, and, on the other hand, the author of a fair, perceptive profile of Henri Bourassa obtained from his own interviews.3 Hawkes' knowledge of French Canada was no doubt matched by Godfrey's own ignorance. As a former Conservative who had left the party with D'Alton McCarthy over the Manitoba Schools Question,4 Godfrey was perhaps justifiably described by Robert Rumilly as a frequenter of Toronto clubs "ou l'on vouait-entre le soda et le whisky Bourassa et Lavergne ala potence."s Nevertheless , such was his faith in the justice of the Allies' cause and of the willingness of all reasonable men to contribute to that cause once it had been properly presented to them, that he listened carefully as Hawkes outlined the reasons for the failure of recruiting in Quebec. From this meeting of frustrated recruiter and francophile publicist grew the idea of the "Bonne Entente" ("goodwill" or "cordial cooperation ") movement.6 Hawkes' exposition of the French-Canadian attitude made it clear to Godfrey that any outside attempt to improve recruitment would be fruitless, and that a change could only be brought about through the efforts of French Canadians already committed or sympathetic to Canadian involvement in the war. In order for this to be possible, however, it would first be necessary to dispel the current climate of mistrust between the two provinces. As Hawkes later described in a pamphlet on "Bonne Entente '': The suggestion then was made by Mr. Godfrey that an effort towards a better mutal understanding between the races should be made by a delegation of, say, fifty representative Ontario men visiting Quebec to get in .touch with a similar number of Canadian French - not for the purpose of settling outstanding controversies, but to ascertain the Revue d'etudes canadiennes Vol. 13, No. 2 (Ete 1978 Summer) chances of a more friendly feeling being developed, without which the settlement of controversy could not hopefully be approached.7 In the succeeding fourteen months, "Bonne Entente'' was to develop...