Following Confederation in 1867, Canadians needed to move forward from their dependence on British imperial defence. Canadian militiaman Richard John Wicksteed was first to recommend adopting the model of the Swiss Army, a multi-ethnic, rifle-wielding citizen force powerful enough to ensure Swiss neutrality although surrounded by militaristic European powers. General Officer Commanding Edward Thomas Henry Hutton later proposed the Swiss model for a Canadian ‘National Army,’ echoed by Militia Minister Frederick Borden. In 1917, Colonel William Hamilton Merritt was the final advocate, drawn especially to the notion of equality in Switzerland’s universal military training programme. By this time, however, the Great War had changed concepts of Canada’s military needs from a reliance upon the defence-oriented citizen soldier to a more highly trained, expeditionary military force.

1867年联邦成立后，加拿大人需要摆脱对英帝国防的依赖。加拿大民兵理查德·约翰·维克斯特（Richard John Wicksteed）首先建议采用瑞士军队的模式，这是一支多族裔的持枪步兵，其力量足以确保瑞士的中立性，尽管被欧洲军国包围。总指挥爱德华·托马斯·亨利·赫顿后来提出了加拿大“国民军”的瑞士模式，民兵部长弗雷德里克·博登也对此表示赞同。1917年，威廉·汉密尔顿·梅里特上校（William Hamilton Merritt）成为最后的拥护者，特别提到了瑞士普遍军事训练计划中的平等概念。但是，到了此时，一次大战已将加拿大的军事需求观念从对面向国防的公民士兵的依赖转变为训练有素的，