
Election Day in WW1
Even though World War 1 was still raging, Canadian soldiers at the front exercised their right to vote in December 1917. Here we see a group of Canadian Non-Commissioned Officers (N.C.O.’s) and men standing outside a voting station, knee deep in the mud of war. They seem in good spirits, perhaps happy to be able to take a break from the trenches, and to return to a bit of pre-war normalcy.
The fact that Canada was able to keep its democratic ideals and institutions alive even under these conditions is commendable. I suspect that no one has been happier to vote than these men as it afforded them a temporary vacation from the font line, as they were allowed to leave the trenches to go vote.