2 oz. Fine Silver Coin - Canadian Machine Gunner in Training - 75th Anniversary of the Declaration

The economic hardships of the Great Depression had left Canada's military undermanned and unprepared for the onset of war, and its equipment was at risk of being outdated.

Thanks to a national recruitment drive, over 58,000 men and women enlisted by the month's end. Coastal defenses were reinforced, militia regiments were mobilized and the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP)–which would eventually train nearly half of the Commonwealth's air crews on Canadian soil–was implemented. In December, units of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division set sail from Halifax to Britain–the first wave of Canadians who would serve overseas until the war's end in 1945.