In 1939 when England joined the war, the Canadian military had dwindled to a mere 10,000 people. By the end of the second world war, the military would reach 1.1 million, a tenth of the population. The Canadian government passed the National Resources Mobilization Act (NRMA) in 1940 which allowed for conscription but only for domestic service. Conscripts who refused to serve overseas were mockingly called zombies and were forced to wear a unique uniform that made them immediately identifiable. Of course the military did everything it could to pressure the zombies into serving overseas. Conscripts would be subjected to verbal and physical abuse, had basic needs denied including medical attention and were generally treated very poorly. In Vernon, for instance, conscripts who refused to go overseas were forced to sleep outside in the cold. Their tent city became known as Zombieville.

As the years went by, the war heated up and more and more people were needed. In the spring of 1944 "hard core" resistors, people who were more vocal or determined, were rounded up and sent to Terrace in order to segregate them from the rest of the military.

On November 24th. 1944, when William Lyon Mackenzie King announced that Canada would be sending 16,000 NRMA men overseas, it spawned riot in Zombieville. It's reported as a protest, but you can imagine what it must feel like to think that you have been through hell but at least you aren't being killed and then find out that you in fact are going to be killed.

News of the riot was heard in Terrace, through radio reports and rumors, and a revolution began to foment.

When the country had been asked to vote on conscription in 1942, the majority of the country had said yes. The province of Quebec, however, had said no. So it's not surprising that the regiment that stole the guns on the night of the 24th was French.

Members of the Fusiliers du Saint-Laurent broke into weapons caches and stockpiled 50,000 rounds of rifle ammunition, 15,000 rounds of Sten gun ammo, and several boxes of hand grenades. The rest of the night was spent securing key points in the camp and convincing the rest of the 1500 soldiers in the 15th Brigade to mutiny. At this point the 15th Brigade was made up of over 80% Zombies and some of them were the "hard core" resistors that had been transfered from other camps, so it didn't take long.

The entire senior leadership had been called to a conference in Vancouver to discuss the prime ministers announcement, so it did not take long to subdue the junior officers that were left in charge.

On the morning of November 25th 1500 soldiers (minus the ones who had already hopped eastbound trains) marched through the streets of Terrace, brandishing machine guns and carrying signs that read "Down With Conscription" and "Zombies Strike Back". Then they returned to the camp that they now ran.

Over the next 2 days the Brigade held and defended the camp.

Then on November 28th, Major-General George Pearkes, arrived from Vancouver on a high priority troop train with the Senior officers. He walked to the gate, ignoring the machine guns pointed at him and gave the Brigade an ultimatum: they could surrender their armaments by the morning and have a "Clear slate" or they could be killed, as technically that is the sentence for mutiny.

[Major General George Pearkes and Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King]

Major-General George Pearkes was a career soldier who had served in the first war. He had five wound bars and a victoria cross. He was also sympathetic, he felt that what the government had done was done in bad faith.

The mutiny fell apart of course, nobody wanted to get shot, that was kind of the point. By November 30th most of the mutineers had been sent east on trains. Nearly 500 went absent without leave, including 76% of the Fusiliers du Saint-Laurent.

In the end only the "final five" members of the Fusiliers du Saint-Laurent were charged.

Due to heavy wartime censorship allot of the facts of this mutiny are obscured, including the names of the final five. This mutiny was kept out of the press, initially, for fear that it would inspire further mutinies. Then after the war ended it was suppressed because it embarrassed the government and they claimed it would disrupt national unity. They hid it so well from Canadians that even children who grew up in Terrace shortly after the war did not know it had happened. It would be still be unknown if it weren't for the personal accounts of veterans who were there.