Otter Commission

The Otter Commission, or Otter Committee, was established after the First World War to create links of perpetuation from the war-time units of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) back to the institutionally separate units of the Canadian Militia.

The commission was headed by General Sir William Dillon Otter. Other members were Major General Archibald Cameron Macdonell, Brigadier General E.A. Cruikshank (who served as Secretary) and Brigadier General A.G.L. McNaughton.^[1]

The commission held hearings across the country in the autumn of 1919.^[2] The catalysts for the commission were peace and fiscal austerity following the end of the First World War. It dealt with questions of national and military unity in the post-war era; ensuring regionalization in the culture of the armed services; determining the future organization and role of the militia; the economization of military expenditure; the integration of various functions; the reinvestment of existing resources into future capabilities; as well as the modernization of military equipment, doctrine, and training.^[3]

The Otter Committee did not submit a formal report to the government or release any information to the press. Most of the adopted recommendations, authored primarily by Gwatkin and McNaughton, were enacted over a long period of time. By 1936, the threat of another conflict prompted the re-emergence and adoption of the last few Otter Commission recommendations that had not yet been put in place.^[4]

Some academics point to the Otter Commission as part of the reason that the Canadian Army was not fully prepared for mobilization at the start of the Second World War. Due to little political support, the suggestion of veterans that Canadian have a regular army of 30,000 was rejected by the commission. Instead, it recommended a non-permanent force made up of eleven infantry and four cavalry divisions and a smaller permanent force that incorporated the Royal Canadian Dragoons, Lord Strathcona's Horse, Royal Canadian Regiment, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, and Royal 22^e Régiment. However, the number of volunteers for the reserve units fell drastically after 1920 and some non-permanent regiments existed only on paper, as they could not find enough men to fill their ranks. In addition, the Otter Commission called for basic training and ignored the inadequate equipment and lack of mechanization within the Canadian Army after the First World War.^[5]

This establishment of perpetuation, based primarily on geographical connections through the original recruiting areas of the CEF battalions, provided a basis by which the battle honours of the CEF units transferred back to the units of the standing Militia. Without this work, the CEF would have had no continuance with units of the Canadian Army today.

In addition to the regiments of the Canadian Militia gaining the perpetuations of the histories of the CEF units, the Otter Commission has 2 other major changes to the post-war Canadian Militia:

First some units that had been raised for service in the CEF and had fought on the Western Front would become part of the post-war Canadian Militia. In the Permanent Active Militia (the Regular Force), these units were the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and the 22nd Battalion (now renamed as the Royal 22^e Régiment). In the Non-Permanent Active Militia, some of these units would include The Toronto Regiment (now part of the Royal Regiment of Canada), The Manitoba Regiment (disbanded in 1936), The Alberta Regiment (later split into The North Alberta Regiment and The South Alberta Regiment) and The Mississauga Regiment (now The Toronto Scottish Regiment).

The other result was in the reorganization as a result of the Otter Commission, most of the Cavalry and Infantry regiments of the Militia would have their regimental numbers removed, other regiments were renamed entirely (such as the Eastern Townships Mounted Rifles) and a few regiments were disbanded (such as The Dawson Rifles of Canada and the 109th Regiment). Some notable exceptions to this would include the 1st Hussars and the 48th Highlanders of Canada.

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