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5th Canadian Division

Canadian Army division

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 16, 2026
Entity authorityQ3477376
Source-derived summary

The 5th Canadian Division was a formation of the Canadian Army which was active during the First World War, the Second World War, and again from 2013 to 2026. It was first created as a formation of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in 1917 and stood down following the war. It was reactivated in 1941 through the renaming from '1st Canadian Armoured Division' to the 5th Canadian (Armoured) Division during the Second World War, and again stood down during demobilization. The 5th Canadian Division was again reactivated in 2013 with the renaming of the former Land Force Atlantic Area. At that time it was responsible for the command and mobilization of most army units in the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador; as well as some units in Kingston, Ontario. The division again formally stood-down on 27 June 2026. Through all its iterations, the division was recognized by a distinctive maroon patch worn on the sleeve of its soldiers.

First World War

The 5th Canadian Division of the Canadian Corps was formed during World War I under Major-General Garnet Burk Hughes. The 5th began assembling in Britain in February, 1917, but was broken up in February 1918 before it was fully formed. The Division adopted a coloured formation patch identical in design to that worn by the four combatant divisions of the Canadian Corps.

Editorial summary

“5th Canadian Division” enters the record as canadian Army division. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Canadian, Division and Army can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2013, 2026, 1917, 1941—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1917-02. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Canadian, Division and Army.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“5th Canadian Division” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Canadian, Division and Army provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3477376. 2 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 4 carry qualifiers and 2 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2013, 2026, 1917 and 1941.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “5th Canadian Division”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow 5th Canadian Division primary sources, 5th Canadian Division archive and Canadian research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “5th Canadian Division”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from 5th Canadian Division” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.