Amnesty

The Canadian Government decided to forgive & forget. In the House of Commons last week Defense Minister Douglas Abbott announced that henceforth the Dominion's 15,858 draft-dodgers, absentees and deserters would be exempt from arrest or prosecution. There was one exception : the order would not apply to absentees and deserters who are still overseas. To anti-conscription Quebec the amnesty brought immense relief: most of the delinquents hiding out at home are Quebeckers.

The move would save Canada around $12,000,000 annually--money which would have been paid to the delinquents (as clothing allowances, discharge pay, etc.) after their capture and punishment. But to some Canadians, that seemed small compensation. Said the conservative Toronto Globe & Mail: "Villainy. . . [The] Government has irreparably injured the moral fabric of this country. . . It has yielded to the temptation of the lowest sort of political expediency. The Government has forgiven the deserters. Who will forgive the Government?"

Last week the Government also abandoned its system of national registration, under which all Canadians over 16 had to register, carry identification cards.

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