The database of Canadian Pilons and Pillons who took up arms during the Great War numbers 89 individuals.  It should be pointed out that in the Archives and Library Canada, there are 135 CEF attestation documents relating to Pilons and Pillons.  Clearly, of these, a number chose not enlist or were refused enlistment for a variety of health or family reasons.  Unfortunately, these decisions are not included in the files.

Of the 89 Canadian Pilons and Pillons who served their country, not all were francophones.  For example, Charles Cole Pilon (510246), originally from London, England and residing in London, Ontario at the time of his enlistment, was almost certainly of XVIIthe century Huguenot descent and likely did not speak any French.  As well, some of the Pilons coming into Canada from the United States to enlist may not have spoken  French (Philippe Pilon 1102297 from Massachusetts, Wilfred Pilon 2320409 from Iowa).  Yet, judging from their areas of origins, it is probable that the remaining Pilons were francophones or at least would have been classified as French-Canadians by their English-speaking neighbours.

Attestation documents were filled in and signed the first time recruits presented themselves for enlistment.  They indicate the unit that the new soldier was assigned to upon enlistment (there are 8 exceptions: in 7 cases no enlistment unit is provided while in the last case the individual was attached to the 6th General Hospital but we are not certain of the language he spoke).  It is important to note that following attestation, a soldier was often transferred to other units, especially if they went overseas where they became reserve soldiers being sent where needed.  And so, even if a Pilon attested in a French-Canadian battalion, they could easily find themselves integrated into an anglophone unit later on.  However, for the purpose of this analysis, even if a soldier served in a number of battalions, we will only retain the battalion that the solider initially joined upon attestation.

Of the remaining 81 Pilons/Pillons for whom we have initial unit information, 31 initial joined francophone units: the 22nd Battalion, the 2 battalions of the Québec Regiment (recruiting battalions which provided reinforcements for overseas francophone battalions), a Manitoban French-Canadian battalion, the 178th Battalion, the 150th Carabiniers du Mont-Royal.  However, the great majority of the other Pilons/Pillons, that is 50, initially joined non-francophone units.  As Col. Nicholson points out, their presence as francophones would not have been traceable in the records of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

For argument's sake, we will assume that this random sample of French-Canadian CEF soldiers, chosen on the simple basis of their family names, is in fact representative of French-Canadian participation in the CEF (two of these gave their lives (Edward 1467 and Norman Joseph 2265550) and seven were wounded (Ernest Pilon 416373, Fernand Pilon 856168, 916958, Joseph Pilon 4035169, Louis Rodolph Pilon 145136, Philip Pilon 74110, Phillip Pilon 649320, 1102297, William Pilon 789220)).  We can note that upon attestation, 38% of our sample initially joined francophone units.  The remainder, i.e. 62% of our sample, were initially integrated into non-francophone units.  The latter would thus have been counted among the Canadians of British stock that Prime Minister Borden refered to as serving overseas in the ranks of the CEF during the Great War.  If indeed our data are representative of the general situation with francophone recruits and that the 16,268 French-Canadians overseas in the CEF (based on the numbers of soldiers in francophone battalions) as of March, 1918 given by Prime Minister Borden is actually only 38% of the French-Canadians in CEF uniforms, then the total numbers of French-Canadians fighting for Canada should be adjusted upwards to 42,810, a difference of 26,542 French-Canadians who, since they belonged to non-francophone units, would thus not have been counted as francophones, but rather as being of British descent.  Further, if these 26,542 French-Canadians in non-francophone units are deducted from the Borden number of 147,505 British descent CEF soldiers, the number of British descent CEF soldiers becomes 120,963.

If these assumptions and manipulations are reasonable, then the proportion of French-Canadians in the CEF goes from nearly 10% to a bit more than 26%, a ratio much closer to the proportion of French-Canadians in the Canadian population of the time.  Similarly, the British descent proportion passes from 90% to a bit less than than 74%.  These figures are much closer to the historical population proportions documented in the various census records from the early XXth century (to see these trends, follow this link).

Thus, these new figures, if they can be shown to be reasonable extrapolations, call into question the actual levels of participation of French-Canadians in the war effort.  This does not put into question the attitudes and opinions of politicians and religious leaders of the time, especially in Québec, but it does suggest that in spite of loud protests, ultimately, French-Canadians took their place as citizens of this country.  It is no surprise then that there may be a greater need for distinguishing between what people said and, in the end, what they actually did.