Canada in the Cold War
Encyclopedia
Canada
played a middle power
, and occasionally an important, role in the Cold War
. Throughout the US/Soviet rivalry, Canada was normally on the side of the United States
. However its opposition to the Vietnam War
and Canada's relationship with China
and Cuba
, along with the Prime Ministership of Pierre Trudeau
often had Canada at odds with its southern neighbors.
from the latter's inception in 1917
, supplying troops to fight a counter-revolution. On the domestic front, the Canadian state
at all levels fought vehemently against what it characterized as the "red menace
." Specifically, Canadian and business leaders opposed the advance of the labour movement
on the grounds that it was a Bolshevik
conspiracy during the interwar period
. The peak moments of this effort were the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919
and the anticommunist campaigns of the depression
, including the On-to-Ottawa Trek
. The formal onset of the Cold War, usually pegged with the 1945 defection of a Soviet cipher clerk working in Ottawa
, Igor Gouzenko
, was therefore a continuation and extension of, rather than a departure from, Canadian anticommunist policies.
Canada was a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Canada was, in fact, one of its most ardent supporters and pushed (largely unsuccessfully) to have it become an economic and cultural organization in addition to a military alliance.
government, however lagged in its response, and initially refused to give Gouzenko an audience, leaving the initiative to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
. Member of Parliament
Fred Rose
and fellow Communist
Sam Carr
were imprisoned for their espionage activities as a result of Gouzenko's information. The RCMP, meanwhile, had found a peacetime niche for its political division, the RCMP Security Service
. (Prior to the war, the RCMP conducted political surveillance on labour and the left through its Criminal Investigation Department
).
PROFUNC
was a Government of Canada
top secret
plan to identify and detain communist
sympathizers during the height of the Cold War
.
The United States wished the Canadian government would go further, asking for a purging of trade union
s, but Canada saw this as American hysteria, and left the purge of trade unions to the AFL-CIO
. The American officials were especially concerned about the sailors on Great Lakes freight vessels, and, in 1951, Canada added them to those already screened by its secret anti-communist screening program. The Communist Party of Canada
had not been outlawed since Section 98
was repealed in 1935, unlike in the United States.
Nonetheless, Canada was not immune to the anti-Communist hysteria that had afflicted the United States. On April 4, 1957, Canadian Ambassador to Egypt, E. Herbert Norman
, leaped to his death from a Cairo
building after the United States Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security
re-opened his case and publicly questioned his loyalty to Canada and to the United States, despite his having been cleared several years earlier, first by the RCMP in 1950, then again by the Canadian minister of external affairs, Lester B. Pearson, in 1952. Pearson, backed by outrage across the country, sent a note to the US Government, threatening to offer no more security information on Canadian citizens until it was guaranteed that this information would not slip beyond the Executive branch of the government.
The possibility of a security breach was raised again, this time in the House of Commons, with Munsinger Affair
in the 1960s.
Despite its comparatively moderate stance towards Communism, the Canadian state continued intensive surveillance of Communists and sharing of intelligence with the US. It played a middle power
role in international affairs, and pursued diplomatic relations with Communist countries that the US had severed ties with, such as Cuba
and China
after their respective revolutions. Canada argued that rather than being soft on Communism, it was pursuing a strategy of "constructive engagement
" whereby it sought to influence Communism through the course of its international relationships.
In Korea, during the Korean War
, the moderately sized contingent of volunteer soldiers from Canada made noteworthy contributions to the United Nations
forces and served with distinction. Of particular note is the effort of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
contribution to the Battle of Kapyong
.
Canada's major Cold War contribution to international politics was made in the innovation and implementation of 'Peacekeeping
'. Although a United Nations military force had been proposed and advocated for the preservation of peace vis a vis the U.N.'s mandate by Canada's representatives Prime Minister Mackenzie King
and his Secretary of State for External Affairs Louis St. Laurent
at the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco in June 1945, it was not adopted at that time.
During the Suez Crisis
of 1956, the idea promoted by Canada in 1945 of a United Nations military force returned to the fore. The conflict involving Britain
, France
, Israel
and Egypt
quickly developed into a potential flashpoint between the emerging 'superpower
s' of the United States
and the Soviet Union
as the Soviets made intimations that they would militarily support Egypt's cause. The Soviets went as far as to say they would be willing to use "all types of modern weapons of destruction" on London and Paris - an overt threat of nuclear attack. Canadian diplomat Lester B. Pearson
re-introduced then Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent
's UN military force concept in the form of an 'Emergency Force' that would intercede and divide the combatants, and form a buffer zone or 'human shield' between the opposing forces. Pearson's United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF)
- the first peacekeeping force, was deployed to separate the combatants and a cease-fire and resolution was drawn up to end the hostilities.
against a possible enemy attack, Canada and the United States began to work very closely together in the 1950s. The North American Aerospace Defense Command
(NORAD) created a joint air-defense system. In northern Canada, the Distant Early Warning Line
(Dew Line) was established to give warning of Soviet bomber
s heading over the north pole
. Great debate broke out while John Diefenbaker
was Prime Minister
as to whether Canada should accept U.S. nuclear weapons on its territory. Diefenbaker had already agreed to buy the BOMARC missile system from the Americans, which would be not as effective without nuclear warheads, but balked at permitting the weapons into Canada.
In the 1963 Canadian election
, Diefenbaker was replaced by the famed diplomat Lester B. Pearson
, who accepted the warheads. Further tensions developed when Pearson criticized the American role in the Vietnam War
in a speech he gave at Temple University
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
. See also Canada and the Vietnam War
.
Canada also maintained diplomatic and economic ties with Cuba following the Cuban Revolution
.
Canada also refused to join the Organization of American States
, disliking the support and tolerance of the Cold War OAS for dictators. Under Pearson’s successor Pierre Trudeau
, US-Canadian policies grew further apart. Trudeau removed nuclear weapons from Canadian soil, formally recognized the People's Republic of China
, established a personal friendship with Castro
, and decreased the number of Canadian troops stationed at NATO bases in Europe.
and Ronald Reagan
had a far closer relationship, but the 1980s also saw widespread protests against American testing of cruise missile
s in Canada's north.
When the Cold War ended, Canada, like the rest of the west, was delighted. The Canadian Forces were withdrawn from their NATO commitments in Germany, military spending was cut, and the air raid sirens were removed in Ottawa. The Diefenbunkers, Canada's military-operated fallout shelters designed to ensure continuity of government
, were decommissioned. Canada continues to participate in Cold War institutions such as NORAD and NATO, but they have been given new missions and priorities.
In addition, Canada may have played a small role in helping to bring about glasnost
and perestroika
. In the mid-1970s, Alexander Yakovlev
was appointed as ambassador to Canada remaining at that post for a decade. During this time, he and Canadian Prime Minister
Pierre Trudeau
became close friends. Trudeau's second son, Alexandre Trudeau
, was given the Russian nickname "Sacha" after Yakovlev's.
In the early 1980s, Yakovlev accompanied Mikhail Gorbachev
, who at the time was the Soviet official in charge of agriculture
on his tour of Canada. The purpose of the visit was to tour Canadian farms and agricultural institutions in the hopes of taking lessons that could be applied in the Soviet Union
, however, the two began, tentatively at first, to discuss the need for liberalisation in the Soviet Union. Yakovlev then returned to Moscow
, and would eventually be called the "godfather of glasnost
"http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051018.wyakov1018/BNStory/International/ , the intellectual force behind Gorbachev's reform program.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
played a middle power
Middle power
Middle power is a term used in the field of international relations to describe states that are not superpowers or great powers, but still have large or moderate influence and international recognition. There is no single specific definition of which countries are middle powers.-Definition:There is...
, and occasionally an important, role in the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. Throughout the US/Soviet rivalry, Canada was normally on the side of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. However its opposition to the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
and Canada's relationship with China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, along with the Prime Ministership of Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
often had Canada at odds with its southern neighbors.
Early Cold War
There was never any doubt early on as to which side Canada was on in the Cold War. Canada was in the middle of the United States and the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
from the latter's inception in 1917
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
, supplying troops to fight a counter-revolution. On the domestic front, the Canadian state
Sovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
at all levels fought vehemently against what it characterized as the "red menace
Red menace
Red Menace or red menace may refer to:* Red Scare or Red Menace, a term starting during the Cold War era to describe the Soviet Union or an "international communist conspiracy"...
." Specifically, Canadian and business leaders opposed the advance of the labour movement
Labour movement
The term labour movement or labor movement is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign in their own interest for better treatment from their employers and governments, in particular through the implementation of specific laws governing labour...
on the grounds that it was a Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
conspiracy during the interwar period
Canada in the World Wars and Interwar Years
During the World Wars and Interwar Years Canada experienced economic gain, more freedom for women and new technological advancements.-World War I:...
. The peak moments of this effort were the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919
Winnipeg General Strike of 1919
The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 was one of the most influential strikes in Canadian history, and became the platform for future labour reforms....
and the anticommunist campaigns of the depression
Great Depression in Canada
Canada was hit hard by the Great Depression. Between 1929 and 1939, the gross national product dropped 40% . Unemployment reached 27% at the depth of the Depression in 1933...
, including the On-to-Ottawa Trek
On-to-Ottawa Trek
The On-to-Ottawa Trek was a long journey where thousands of people had unemployed men protesting the dismal conditions in federal relief camps scattered in remote areas across Western Canada. The men lived and worked in these camps at a rate of twenty cents per day before walking out on strike in...
. The formal onset of the Cold War, usually pegged with the 1945 defection of a Soviet cipher clerk working in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Igor Gouzenko
Igor Gouzenko
Igor Sergeyevich Gouzenko was a cipher clerk for the Soviet Embassy to Canada in Ottawa, Ontario. He defected on September 5, 1945, with 109 documents on Soviet espionage activities in the West...
, was therefore a continuation and extension of, rather than a departure from, Canadian anticommunist policies.
Canada was a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Canada was, in fact, one of its most ardent supporters and pushed (largely unsuccessfully) to have it become an economic and cultural organization in addition to a military alliance.
Fears of Communist subversion
Igor Gouzenks revelations of systematic Soviet espionage in the West shocked both the public and world governments. The KingWilliam Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...
government, however lagged in its response, and initially refused to give Gouzenko an audience, leaving the initiative to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
. Member of Parliament
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
Fred Rose
Fred Rose (politician)
Fred Rose was a Communist politician and trade union organizer in Canada. He was born in Lublin in what is now Poland, part of Russia at the time. He emigrated to Canada as a child in 1916. He became involved with the Young Communist League of Canada, and then joined the Communist Party of Canada...
and fellow Communist
Communist Party of Canada
The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...
Sam Carr
Sam Carr
Sam Carr was an organizer for the Communist Party of Canada and, its successor, the Labour-Progressive Party in the 1930s and 1940s. He was born Schmil Kogan in Tomachpol, Ukraine in 1906 and immigrated to Canada in 1924, living in Winnipeg and Regina before settling in Montreal in 1925...
were imprisoned for their espionage activities as a result of Gouzenko's information. The RCMP, meanwhile, had found a peacetime niche for its political division, the RCMP Security Service
RCMP Security Service
The RCMP Security Service is the former branch of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police which had responsibilities of domestic intelligence and security for Canada...
. (Prior to the war, the RCMP conducted political surveillance on labour and the left through its Criminal Investigation Department
Criminal Investigation Department
The Crime Investigation Department is the branch of all Territorial police forces within the British Police and many other Commonwealth police forces, to which plain clothes detectives belong. It is thus distinct from the Uniformed Branch and the Special Branch.The Metropolitan Police Service CID,...
).
PROFUNC
PROFUNC
PROFUNC , which stands for "PROminent FUNCtionaries of the communist party", was a Government of Canada top secret plan to identify and intern Canadian communists and crypto-communists during the height of the Cold War.-History:...
was a Government of Canada
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
top secret
Classified information
Classified information is sensitive information to which access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of persons. A formal security clearance is required to handle classified documents or access classified data. The clearance process requires a satisfactory background investigation...
plan to identify and detain communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
sympathizers during the height of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
.
The United States wished the Canadian government would go further, asking for a purging of trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s, but Canada saw this as American hysteria, and left the purge of trade unions to the AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
. The American officials were especially concerned about the sailors on Great Lakes freight vessels, and, in 1951, Canada added them to those already screened by its secret anti-communist screening program. The Communist Party of Canada
Communist Party of Canada
The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...
had not been outlawed since Section 98
Section 98
Section 98 of the Criminal Code of Canada was a law enacted after the Winnipeg General Strike banning "unlawful associations." It was used in the 1930s against the Communist Party of Canada....
was repealed in 1935, unlike in the United States.
Nonetheless, Canada was not immune to the anti-Communist hysteria that had afflicted the United States. On April 4, 1957, Canadian Ambassador to Egypt, E. Herbert Norman
E. Herbert Norman
Egerton Herbert Norman was a Canadian diplomat and historian.-Early life and education:Born and raised in Karuizawa, Japan to Canadian Methodist missionaries, he studied at Victoria College at the University of Toronto, and Trinity College at Cambridge University...
, leaped to his death from a Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
building after the United States Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security
United States Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security
The Special Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, 1951-77, more commonly known as the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee and sometimes the McCarran Committee, was authorized under S...
re-opened his case and publicly questioned his loyalty to Canada and to the United States, despite his having been cleared several years earlier, first by the RCMP in 1950, then again by the Canadian minister of external affairs, Lester B. Pearson, in 1952. Pearson, backed by outrage across the country, sent a note to the US Government, threatening to offer no more security information on Canadian citizens until it was guaranteed that this information would not slip beyond the Executive branch of the government.
The possibility of a security breach was raised again, this time in the House of Commons, with Munsinger Affair
Munsinger Affair
The Munsinger Affair was Canada's first national political sex scandal. It focused on Gerda Munsinger, an alleged East German prostitute and Soviet spy living in Ottawa who had slept with a number of cabinet ministers in John Diefenbaker's government....
in the 1960s.
Despite its comparatively moderate stance towards Communism, the Canadian state continued intensive surveillance of Communists and sharing of intelligence with the US. It played a middle power
Middle power
Middle power is a term used in the field of international relations to describe states that are not superpowers or great powers, but still have large or moderate influence and international recognition. There is no single specific definition of which countries are middle powers.-Definition:There is...
role in international affairs, and pursued diplomatic relations with Communist countries that the US had severed ties with, such as Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
after their respective revolutions. Canada argued that rather than being soft on Communism, it was pursuing a strategy of "constructive engagement
Constructive engagement
Constructive engagement was the name given to the policy of the Reagan Administration towards the apartheid regime in South Africa in the early 1980s...
" whereby it sought to influence Communism through the course of its international relationships.
Peacekeeping
It was during the Cold War period that Canada began to assert the international clout that went along with the reputation it had built on the international stage in World War I and World War II.In Korea, during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, the moderately sized contingent of volunteer soldiers from Canada made noteworthy contributions to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
forces and served with distinction. Of particular note is the effort of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry is one of the three regular force infantry regiments of the Canadian Army. The regiment is composed of four battalions including a primary reserve battalion, for a total of 2,000 soldiers...
contribution to the Battle of Kapyong
Battle of Kapyong
The Battle of Kapyong , also known as the Battle of Jiaping , was fought during the Korean War between United Nations forces—primarily Australian and Canadian—and the Chinese communist People's Volunteer Army...
.
Canada's major Cold War contribution to international politics was made in the innovation and implementation of 'Peacekeeping
Peacekeeping
Peacekeeping is an activity that aims to create the conditions for lasting peace. It is distinguished from both peacebuilding and peacemaking....
'. Although a United Nations military force had been proposed and advocated for the preservation of peace vis a vis the U.N.'s mandate by Canada's representatives Prime Minister Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...
and his Secretary of State for External Affairs Louis St. Laurent
Louis St. Laurent
Louis Stephen St. Laurent, PC, CC, QC , was the 12th Prime Minister of Canada from 15 November 1948, to 21 June 1957....
at the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco in June 1945, it was not adopted at that time.
During the Suez Crisis
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
of 1956, the idea promoted by Canada in 1945 of a United Nations military force returned to the fore. The conflict involving Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
quickly developed into a potential flashpoint between the emerging 'superpower
Superpower
A superpower is a state with a dominant position in the international system which has the ability to influence events and its own interests and project power on a worldwide scale to protect those interests...
s' of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
as the Soviets made intimations that they would militarily support Egypt's cause. The Soviets went as far as to say they would be willing to use "all types of modern weapons of destruction" on London and Paris - an overt threat of nuclear attack. Canadian diplomat Lester B. Pearson
Lester B. Pearson
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE was a Canadian professor, historian, civil servant, statesman, diplomat, and politician, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis...
re-introduced then Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent
Louis St. Laurent
Louis Stephen St. Laurent, PC, CC, QC , was the 12th Prime Minister of Canada from 15 November 1948, to 21 June 1957....
's UN military force concept in the form of an 'Emergency Force' that would intercede and divide the combatants, and form a buffer zone or 'human shield' between the opposing forces. Pearson's United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF)
United Nations Emergency Force
The first United Nations Emergency Force was established by United Nations General Assembly to secure an end to the 1956 Suez Crisis with resolution 1001 on November 7, 1956. The force was developed in large measure as a result of efforts by UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld and a proposal...
- the first peacekeeping force, was deployed to separate the combatants and a cease-fire and resolution was drawn up to end the hostilities.
Canada-U.S. tensions
To defend North AmericaNorth America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
against a possible enemy attack, Canada and the United States began to work very closely together in the 1950s. The North American Aerospace Defense Command
North American Aerospace Defense Command
North American Aerospace Defense Command is a joint organization of Canada and the United States that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and defense for the two countries. Headquarters NORAD is located at Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs, Colorado...
(NORAD) created a joint air-defense system. In northern Canada, the Distant Early Warning Line
Distant Early Warning Line
The Distant Early Warning Line, also known as the DEW Line or Early Warning Line, was a system of radar stations in the far northern Arctic region of Canada, with additional stations along the North Coast and Aleutian Islands of Alaska, in addition to the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland...
(Dew Line) was established to give warning of Soviet bomber
Bomber
A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...
s heading over the north pole
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
. Great debate broke out while John Diefenbaker
John Diefenbaker
John George Diefenbaker, PC, CH, QC was the 13th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 21, 1957, to April 22, 1963...
was Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
as to whether Canada should accept U.S. nuclear weapons on its territory. Diefenbaker had already agreed to buy the BOMARC missile system from the Americans, which would be not as effective without nuclear warheads, but balked at permitting the weapons into Canada.
In the 1963 Canadian election
Canadian federal election, 1963
The Canadian federal election of 1963 was held on April 8 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 26th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the defeat of the minority Progressive Conservative government of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.-Overview:During the Tories' last year in...
, Diefenbaker was replaced by the famed diplomat Lester B. Pearson
Lester B. Pearson
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE was a Canadian professor, historian, civil servant, statesman, diplomat, and politician, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis...
, who accepted the warheads. Further tensions developed when Pearson criticized the American role in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
in a speech he gave at Temple University
Temple University
Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
. See also Canada and the Vietnam War
Canada and the Vietnam War
Canada did not fight in the Vietnam War and diplomatically it was "officially non-belligerent". The country's troop deployments to Vietnam were limited to a small number of national forces in 1973 to help enforce the Paris Peace Accords...
.
Canada also maintained diplomatic and economic ties with Cuba following the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
.
Canada also refused to join the Organization of American States
Organization of American States
The Organization of American States is a regional international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States...
, disliking the support and tolerance of the Cold War OAS for dictators. Under Pearson’s successor Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
, US-Canadian policies grew further apart. Trudeau removed nuclear weapons from Canadian soil, formally recognized the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, established a personal friendship with Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
, and decreased the number of Canadian troops stationed at NATO bases in Europe.
End of the Cold War
Brian MulroneyBrian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney, was the 18th Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S...
and Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
had a far closer relationship, but the 1980s also saw widespread protests against American testing of cruise missile
Cruise missile
A cruise missile is a guided missile that carries an explosive payload and is propelled, usually by a jet engine, towards a land-based or sea-based target. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhead over long distances with high accuracy...
s in Canada's north.
When the Cold War ended, Canada, like the rest of the west, was delighted. The Canadian Forces were withdrawn from their NATO commitments in Germany, military spending was cut, and the air raid sirens were removed in Ottawa. The Diefenbunkers, Canada's military-operated fallout shelters designed to ensure continuity of government
Continuity of government
Continuity of government is the principle of establishing defined procedures that allow a government to continue its essential operations in case of nuclear war or other catastrophic event....
, were decommissioned. Canada continues to participate in Cold War institutions such as NORAD and NATO, but they have been given new missions and priorities.
In addition, Canada may have played a small role in helping to bring about glasnost
Glasnost
Glasnost was the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s...
and perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
. In the mid-1970s, Alexander Yakovlev
Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev
Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev was a Soviet politician and historian who was a Soviet governmental official in the 1980s and a member of the Politburo and Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union...
was appointed as ambassador to Canada remaining at that post for a decade. During this time, he and Canadian Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
became close friends. Trudeau's second son, Alexandre Trudeau
Alexandre Trudeau
Alexandre "Sacha" Trudeau is a Canadian filmmaker and journalist, and second son of Canada's former Prime Minister, the late Pierre Trudeau, and Margaret Trudeau.-Early life and education:...
, was given the Russian nickname "Sacha" after Yakovlev's.
In the early 1980s, Yakovlev accompanied Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
, who at the time was the Soviet official in charge of agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
on his tour of Canada. The purpose of the visit was to tour Canadian farms and agricultural institutions in the hopes of taking lessons that could be applied in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, however, the two began, tentatively at first, to discuss the need for liberalisation in the Soviet Union. Yakovlev then returned to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, and would eventually be called the "godfather of glasnost
Glasnost
Glasnost was the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s...
"http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051018.wyakov1018/BNStory/International/ , the intellectual force behind Gorbachev's reform program.
Further reading
- Balawyder, Aloysius. In the Clutches of the Kremlin: Canadian-East European Relations, 1945-1962. Columbia U. PrESS, 2000. 192 pp.
- Cavell, Richard, ed. Love, Hate, and Fear in Canada's Cold War U. of Toronto Press, 2004. 216 pp.
- Adam Chapnick. The Middle Power Project: Canada and the Founding of the United Nations University of British Columbia Press, 2005. ISBN 0-7748-1247-8.
- Clark-Jones, Melissa. A Staple State: Canadian Industrial Resources in Cold War. U. of Toronto Press, 1987. 260 pp.
- Clearwater, John (1998), Canadian nuclear weapons: the untold story of Canada's Cold War arsenal, Dundurn Press ISBN 1550022997
- Cuff, R. D. and Granatstein, J. L. Canadian-American Relations in Wartime: From the Great War to the Cold War. Toronto: Hakkert, 1975. 205 pp.
- Dewitt David and John Kirton. Canada as a Principal Power. Toronto: John Wiley 1983
- Donaghy, Greg, ed. Canada and the Early Cold War, 1943-1957. Ottawa: Dept. of Foreign Affairs and Int. Trade, 1998. 255 pp.
- Eayrs, James. In Defence of Canada. III: Peacemaking and Deterrence. U. of Toronto Press, 1972. 448 pp.
- Farrell R. Barry. The Making of Canadian Foreign Policy. Scarborough: Prentice- Hall 1969
- J. L. Granatstein David Stafford. Spy Wars: Espionage and Canada from Gouzenko to Glasnost (1991) (ISBN 1-55013-258-X)
- Holmes John W. The Shaping of Peace: Canada and the Search for World Order, 1943-1957, 2 vols. University of Toronto Press 1979, 1982
- Knight, Amy. How The Cold War Began. (2005) ISBN 0-7710-9577-5
- Maloney, Sean M. Canada and UN Peacekeeping: Cold War by Other Means. St. Catharines, Ont.: Vanwell, 2002. 265 pp.
- Matthews Robert O. and Cranford Pratt, eds. Human Rights in Canadian Foreign Policy. McGill-Queen's University Press 1988
- Nossal Kim Richard. The Politics of Canadian Foreign Policy, 2nd edition. Prentice-Hall 1989
- Reid Escott. Time of Fear and Hope: The Making of the North Atlantic Treaty, 1947-1949. McClelland and Stewart, 1977.
- Sharnik, John. Inside the Cold War: An Oral History (1987) (ISBN 0-87795-866-1)
- Smith, Denis. Diplomacy of Fear: Canada and the Cold War, 1941-1948. U. of Toronto Press, 1988. 259 pp.
- Tucker Michael. Canadian Foreign Policy: Contemporary Issues and Themes. McGraw-Hill Ryerson 1980.
- Whitaker, Reg and Gary Marcuse. Cold War Canada: The Making of a National Insecurity State, 1945-1957. (1994) ISBN 0-8020-5935-X 511pp
- Whitaker, Reg and Hewitt, Steve. Canada and the Cold War. Toronto: Lorimer, (2003). 256 pp.
- CBC Archive - Cold War Culture: The Nuclear Fear of the 1950s and 1960s
External links
- Cold War Canada - Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
- Diefenbunker Canada's cold war museum - Canadian Heritage