{"id":103935,"date":"2026-04-17T12:31:54","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T16:31:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=103935"},"modified":"2026-04-17T12:31:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T16:31:54","slug":"canada-urgently-needs-a-civilian-defence-strategy-before-the-next-crisis-forces-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/17\/canada-urgently-needs-a-civilian-defence-strategy-before-the-next-crisis-forces-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada urgently needs a civilian defence strategy \u2014 before the next crisis forces one"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By William Michael Carter On April 9, 1917, my great-grandfather, A. Harold Carter, was a 16-year-old underage Canadian Expeditionary Force soldier from the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles, 8th Brigade, 3rd Division. At 5:30 am, he went over the trench at Vimy Ridge. He was a scrawny, 5&#8217;4&#8243; kid from London, Ont., who defied his mother and signed up two years earlier at age 14. He survived. Almost 109 years after the war that was to end all wars, Canada must once again consider training its citizens, as it did my great-grandfather, for a potential global conflict. Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s first mandate letter in May 2025, a month after his election, clearly prioritized Canada\u2019s industrial, military and civilian global sovereignty as a key pillar of his new government. His first&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F04%2F17%2Fcanada-urgently-needs-a-civilian-defence-strategy-before-the-next-crisis-forces-one%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By William Michael Carter On April 9, 1917, my great-grandfather, A. Harold Carter, was a 16-year-old underage Canadian Expeditionary Force soldier from the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles, 8th Brigade, 3rd Division. At 5:30 am, he went over the trench at Vimy Ridge. He was a scrawny, 5&#8217;4&#8243; kid from London, Ont., who defied his mother and signed up two years earlier at age 14. He survived. Almost 109 years after the war that was to end all wars, Canada must once again consider training its citizens, as it did my great-grandfather, for a potential global conflict. Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s first mandate letter in May 2025, a month after his election, clearly prioritized Canada\u2019s industrial, military and civilian global sovereignty as a key pillar of his new government. His first... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F04%2F17%2Fcanada-urgently-needs-a-civilian-defence-strategy-before-the-next-crisis-forces-one%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Canada urgently needs a civilian defence strategy \u2014 before the next crisis forces one - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/17\/canada-urgently-needs-a-civilian-defence-strategy-before-the-next-crisis-forces-one\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Canada urgently needs a civilian defence strategy \u2014 before the next crisis forces one - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By William Michael Carter On April 9, 1917, my great-grandfather, A. Harold Carter, was a 16-year-old underage Canadian Expeditionary Force soldier from the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles, 8th Brigade, 3rd Division. At 5:30 am, he went over the trench at Vimy Ridge. He was a scrawny, 5&#8217;4&#8243; kid from London, Ont., who defied his mother and signed up two years earlier at age 14. He survived. Almost 109 years after the war that was to end all wars, Canada must once again consider training its citizens, as it did my great-grandfather, for a potential global conflict. Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s first mandate letter in May 2025, a month after his election, clearly prioritized Canada\u2019s industrial, military and civilian global sovereignty as a key pillar of his new government. 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