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 In 1918, confronted with the raging First World War,
Britain turned to its dominions requesting reinforcement troops. In an
attempt to comply, the Canadian cabinet quickly passed an order-in-council
rescinding military exemptions outlined a year earlier in the Military
Services Act. Though formerly excluded from the draft, farmers and farm
labourers between the ages of 20 and 22 years were suddenly called to duty.
 In order to obey the amended law, many young farmers,
such as Norman Earl Lewis, were conscripted and placed at military camps
across the country, and left wondering about the constitutional nature of
their detainment. In search of recourse, Lewis and his father retained
lawyer R. B. Bennett and proceeded to apply to Alberta’s Supreme Court for
discharge by way of habeas corpus. What should
have been a simple legal procedure set off a chain of events so
extraordinary that it culminated in the most serious confrontation between
civil law and the military in Alberta’s history.
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Heritage Community Foundation Presents
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