During the election campaign of 1940, Liberal leader William Lyon Mackenzie King promised to limit Canada's direct military involvement in the war.
However, as the war progressed, mounting losses combined with a lack of volunteers put greater pressure on the government to send conscripts overseas.
Elsewhere in British Columbia, conscripts alleged being bribed with alcohol or money, reduced in rank, placed in isolation where they were subjected to freezing temperatures, and refused medical attention in order to persuade them to volunteer for overseas service.
At the time the Mackenzie King government was reconsidering its conscription policy, the 15th Canadian Infantry Brigade of Pacific Command was stationed in Terrace, in north-west British Columbia.
The morale of the 15th Brigade was low, largely due to the poor relationship between the soldiers and the local populace, the isolation of the post, the damp weather, lack of recreation, crowded facilities, and the distance from home for most of the men.
On 24 November 1944, members of the Fusiliers du St-Laurent, who were part of the 15th Brigade, resolved to resist any efforts to deploy them overseas and some men seized weapons.