Foreign Relations of Canada - History

History

The British North American colonies which today constitute modern Canada had little control over their foreign affairs until the achievement of responsible government in the late 1840s. Up to that time, wars, negotiations and treaties were carried out by the British government to settle disputes concerning the colonies over fishing and boundaries and to promote trade. Notable examples from the colonial period include the Nootka Convention, the War of 1812, the Rush-Bagot Treaty, the Treaty of 1818, the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, and the Oregon Treaty. While before the granting of responsible government, diplomacy emphasized peaceful British-American relations as opposed to domestic (Canadian) interests. The Canadian-American Reciprocity Treaty of 1854 signaled an important change in relations between Britain and its North American colonies. In this treaty, the Canadas were allowed to impose tariff duties more favourable to a foreign country than to Britain, a precedent that was extended by new tariffs in 1859, 1879, and 1887 despite angry demands on the part of British industrialists that these tariffs be disallowed by London.

Soon after Confederation, the first prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald appointed Sir John Rose as his lobbyist in London. When Alexander Mackenzie became prime minister, he sent George Brown to represent Canada in Washington during British-American trade talks. After the Conservative Party came back to power in 1878, the government sent Alexander Galt to London, as well as to France and Spain. Although the British government was concerned about this nascent Canadian diplomacy, it finally consented to giving Galt the formal title of High Commissioner in 1880. A trade commissioner was appointed to Australia in 1894. As High Commissioner, Charles Tupper helped negotiate an agreement with France in 1893 but it was countersigned by the British ambassador as the Queen's official representative to France. Meanwhile, in 1882 the province of Quebec made its first of many forays into the international community by sending a representative, Hector Fabre to Paris in 1882.

Canada's responses to international events elsewhere were limited at this time. During 1878 tensions between Britain and Russia, for example, Canada constructed a few limited defences but did little else. By the time of the British campaign in Sudan of 1884–85, however, Canada was expected to contribute troops. Since Ottawa was reluctant to become involved, the Governor General privately raised 386 voyageurs at Britain's expense to help British forces on the Nile River. By 1885, many Canadians offered to volunteer as part of a potential Canadian force, however the government declined to act. This stood in sharp contrast to Australia (New South Wales), which raised and paid for its own troops.

The first Canadian commercial representative abroad was John Short Larke. Larke became Canada's first trade commissioner following a successful trade delegation to Australia led by Canada's first Minister of Trade and Commerce, Mackenzie Bowell.

In 1909, Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier reluctantly established a Department of External Affairs and the positions of Secretary and Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs, largely at the urging of the Governor General Earl Grey and James Bryce, the British ambassador in Washington, who estimated that three-quarters of his embassy's time was devoted to Canadian-American matters. The Alaska boundary dispute was resolved by a commission in 1903, at which the British delegate sided with the Americans, stunning Canadians into a realization that the Empire's interests were paramount to Canada's. The Canadian judges refused to sign the award (issued 20 October 1903) as a protest and violent anti-British feeling erupted in Canada.

Due to Canada's important contributions to the British war effort in 1914–18, Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden insisted that Canada be treated as separate signatory to the Treaty of Versailles and it subsequently joined the League of Nations.

The government operated a Canadian War Mission in Washington, D.C., between 1918 and 1921, but it was not until William Lyon Mackenzie King became Prime Minister in 1921 that Canada seriously pursued an independent foreign policy. In 1923, Canada independently signed the Halibut Treaty with the United States at Mackenzie King's insistence – the first time Canada signed a treaty without the British also signing it. In 1925, the government appointed a permanent diplomat to Geneva to deal with the League of Nations and International Labour Organization. Following the Balfour Declaration 1926, King appointed Vincent Massey as the first Canadian minister plenipotentiary in Washington (1926), raised the office in Paris to legation status under Philippe Roy (1928), and opened a legation in Tokyo with Herbert Marler as envoy (1929).

Canada achieved legislative independence with the enactment of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, although British diplomatic missions continued to represent Canada in most countries throughout the 1930s. After the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Canada rapidly expanded its diplomatic missions abroad. The period from 1945 to 1957 is considered the golden age of Canadian diplomacy under Lester B. Pearson, when Canada had its greatest impact on world diplomacy.

In 1982, responsibility for trade was added with the creation of the Department of External Affairs and International Trade. In 1995, the name was changed to Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

Canada has often carried out its foreign policy through coalitions and international organizations, and through the work of numerous federal institutions. Under the aegis of Canadian foreign policy, various departments and agencies conduct their own international relations and outreach activities. For example, the Canadian Forces and the Department of National Defence conduct defence diplomacy in support of national interests, including through the deployment of Canadian Defence Attachés, participation in bilateral and multilateral military forums (e.g., the System of Cooperation Among the American Air Forces), ship and aircraft visits, military training and cooperation, and other such outreach and relationship-building efforts.

There are two major elements of Canadian foreign relations, Canada-US relations and multilateralism.