Foreign relations of Canada


The foreign relations of Canada are Canada's relations with other governments and peoples. Britain was the chief foreign contact before World War II. Since then Canada's most important relationship, being the largest trading relationship in the world, is with the United States. However, Canadian governments have traditionally maintained active relations with other nations, mostly through multilateral organizations such as the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, La Francophonie, the Organization of American States, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
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History

Colonial era

The British North American colonies which today constitute modern Canada had no 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. Before the granting of responsible government, British diplomats handled foreign affairs and had the goal of achieving British goals, especially peace with the United States; domestic Canadian interests were secondary. The Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty of 1854 signalled 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.

Dominion of Canada: 1867

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 of Canada 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, 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.
The Alaska boundary dispute, simmering since the US purchased Alaska from Russia of 1867, became critical when gold was discovered in the Canadian Yukon during the late 1890s. Alaska controlled all the possible ports of entry. Canada argued its boundary included the port of Skagway, held by the U.S.. The dispute went to arbitration in 1903, but the British delegate sided with the Americans, angering Canadians who felt the British had betrayed Canadian interests to curry favour with the U.S.
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.
Laurier signed a reciprocity treaty with the U.S. that would lower tariffs in both directions. Conservatives under Robert Borden denounced it, saying it would integrate Canada's economy into that of the U.S. and loosen ties with Britain. The Conservative party won the 1911 Canadian federal election.

World Wars

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 a separate signatory to the Treaty of Versailles. In 1920 Canada became a full member of the League of Nations, and acted independently of London. It was elected to the League Council in 1927. It did not play a leading role, and generally opposed sanctions or military action by the League. The League was virtually defunct by 1939.
The government operated a Canadian War Mission in Washington, 1918 to 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 of 1926, King appointed Vincent Massey as the first Canadian minister plenipotentiary in Washington, raised the office in Paris to legation status under Philippe Roy, and opened a legation in Tokyo with Herbert Marler as envoy.
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.
In the 1930s, the Mackenzie King government strongly supported the appeasement policy of the Chamberlain government in London towards Nazi Germany.
After the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Canada rapidly expanded its diplomatic missions abroad. While Canada hosted two major Allied conferences in Quebec in 1943 and 1944, neither Prime Minister Mackenzie King nor senior generals and admirals were invited to take part in any of the discussions.

1945 to 1957

The Canadian Institute of International Affairs has long been the intellectual center of foreign policy thinking. Its current name is "Canadian International Council". Under businessman Edgar Tarr, 1931 to 1950, the CIIA went beyond the original neutral and apolitical research role. Instead it championed Canadian national autonomy and sought to enlarge the nation's international role, while challenging British imperialism. Numerous diplomats attended its conferences and supported its new mission. Canada's foreign policy moved away from classical imperialism and toward the modern approach by the United States. CIIA leaders and Canadian officials worked to encouraged nationalist forces in India, China, and Southeast Asia that sought to reject colonial rule and Western dominance.
According to Hector Mackenzie, the myth of a glorious postwar era in Canada's international relations is common in memoirs and biographies of Canadian diplomats, journalism and popular commentary. It sometimes appears in scholarly studies. This story is used as evidence of Canada's exceptionalism, its special world mission and its supposed deeply felt internationalism. It is easy to take this myth as a standard against which recent history is judged. Mackenzie argues the myth is deeply mistaken especially regarding Canadian motives and achievements in world affairs during 1939 to 1957. Diplomats reminiscing about the postwar era stress the outsized role of Lester B. Pearson; they fondly call the 1940s and 1950s a "golden era" of Canadian foreign policy. It is matched against the isolationism of the 1930s, which James Eayrs called a low, dishonest decade." However, the Golden Era tag has been challenged as a romantic exaggeration. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, working closely with his Foreign Minister Louis St. Laurent, handled foreign relations 1945–48 in cautious fashion. Canada lent and donated over $2 billion to Britain to help it rebuild. It was elected to the UN Security Council. It helped design NATO. However, Mackenzie King rejected free trade with the United States, and decided not to play a role in the Berlin airlift. Canada had been actively involved in the League of Nations, primarily because it could act separately from Britain. It played a modest role in the postwar formation of the United Nations, as well as the International Monetary Fund. It played a somewhat larger role in 1947 in designing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Ties with Great Britain gradually weakened, especially in 1956 when Canada refused to support the British and French invasion of Egypt in order to seize the Suez Canal. Liberal Lester B. Pearson as External Affairs Minister won the Nobel Peace Prize for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force in 1956 to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis.
From 1939 to 1968, foreign policy was based on close relationships with the United States, especially in trade and defence policy, with Canada an active member of NATO as well as a bilateral partner with the United States in forming a northern defence against Soviet bombers. In 1950–53, Canada sent troops to the Korean War in defence of South Korea.
For Lester Pearson, cultural differences, Francophone versus Anglophone, could perhaps be narrowed by involvement in world affairs. Canadians could gain a broader, more cosmopolitan, more liberal outlook. A sense of national identity, built on the middle size nation thesis, was possible. Perhaps international commitment would produce a sense of purpose and thereby unite Canadians.
There were voices on both left and right that Warned against being too close to the United States. Few Canadians listened before 1957. Instead, there was wide consensus on Canadian foreign and defence policies 1948 to 1957. Bothwell, Drummond and English state:
However the consensus did not the last. By 1957 the Suez crisis alienated Canada from both Britain and France; politicians distrusted American leadership, businessmen questioned American financial investments; and intellectuals ridiculed the values of American television and Hollywood offerings that all Canadians watched. "Public support for Canada's foreign policy big came unstuck. Foreign-policy, from being a winning issue for the Liberals, was fast becoming a losing one."

Since 1957

Peacekeeping

The success of the Suez peacekeeping mission led Canadians to embrace peacekeeping as a suitable role for a middle-sized country, looking for a role, and having high regards for the United Nations. This led to sending a peacekeeping force to Cyprus in 1964, when two NATO members, Greece and Turkey were at swords' point over ethnic violence in the historic British colony. The Canadians left in 1993 after 28 were killed and many wounded in the operation. Peacekeeping help was needed in the Belgian Congo in 1960–64, after Belgium pulled out. There were numerous other small interventions. Canada took a central role in the International Control Commission, which tried to broker peace in Vietnam in the 1960s. In 1993 violent misbehavior by Canadian peacekeeping forces in Somalia shocked the nation.

Relations with US and others

Progressive Conservative John Diefenbaker tried to improve relations with Britain even as it was trying to enter the European Common Market, which would greatly weaken its historic ties with Canada. US President Dwight Eisenhower took pains to foster good relations with Diefenbaker. That led to approval of plans to join the United States in what became known as NORAD, an integrated air defence system, in mid-1957. Relations with President John Kennedy were much less cordial. Diefenbaker opposed apartheid in the South Africa and helped force it out of the Commonwealth of Nations. His indecision on whether to accept Bomarc nuclear missiles from the United States led to his government's downfall.
The Vietnam War was very unpopular in Canada, which provided only minimal diplomatic support and no military participation. Liberal Lester B. Pearson as Prime Minister avoided any involvement in Vietnam. Foreign affairs was not high on his agenda, as he concentrated on complex internal political problems.
Under Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau foreign policy was much less important than internal unity. There were multiple new approaches, some of which involved standing apart from the United States. Trudeau recognized communist China shortly before the United States did, improved relationships with the Soviet Union, and cut back on contributions to NATO. While not cutting back on trade with the United States, he did emphasize improved trade with Europe and Asia. By his third year in office, however, Trudeau launched a new initiatives, emphasizing Canada's role as a middle power with the ability to engage in active peacekeeping operations under the auspices of the United Nations. Foreign aid was expanded, especially to the non-white Commonwealth. Canada joined most of NATO in imposing sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Afghanistan in 1979–80. President Ronald Reagan took office in Washington in 1981, and relationships cooled. However, when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, Canada joined most of NATO and sending troops to the Persian Gulf war.
, Emmanuel Macron, Shinzo Abe, Angela Merkel and other leaders at the 45th G7 summit in Biarritz, France
Although Canada remained part of NATO, a strong military presence was considered unnecessary by 1964, and funding was diverted into peacekeeping missions. Only 20,000 soldiers were left. Andrew Richter calls this, "Forty years of neglect, indifference, and apathy."
Québec started operating its own foreign policy in the 1960s, so that in key countries Canada had two separate missions with diverging priorities.
Justin Trudeau's government decided not to sign the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, a binding agreement for negotiations for the total elimination of nuclear weapons, supported by more than 120 nations. In August 2018, Canada called for the immediate release of Saudi dissident Raif Badawi. In response to Canada's criticism, Saudi Arabia expelled Canada's ambassador, and froze trade with Canada.
India's intelligence agencies, Research and Analysis Wing and the Indian Intelligence Bureau, have been accused of trying to "covertly influence" Canadian politicians into supporting the Indian interests. According to the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs expert, "To my mind, this is one of the first public examples of evidence of clandestine foreign influence targeted at Canadian politicians."

Administration

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, 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.
Greg Donaghy, of Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs, argues:
Canada's international relations are the responsibility of the Department of Global Affairs, which is run by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, a position currently held by François-Philippe Champagne. Traditionally the Prime Minister has played a prominent role in foreign affairs decisions. Foreign aid, formerly delivered through the Canadian International Development Agency, has been administered by DFATD since March 2013.

Foreign aid

's foreign aid was administered by the Canadian International Development Agency, which provided aid and assistance to other countries around the world through various methods. In March 2013 CIDA ceased to exist when it was folded into DFAIT, creating DFATD. The strategy of the Canadian government's foreign aid policy reflects an emphasis to meet the Millennium Development Goals, while also providing assistance in response to foreign humanitarian crises. However a growing focus on development, defence, and diplomacy in recent decades has produced a concentration of foreign aid funding to countries determined to be security risks to Canadian policy. For example, in 2004–2005 the largest recipients of Canada's official developmental assistance were Afghanistan and Iraq, two nations in conflict with the United States of America and its allies at the time. The structural emphasis on security and industry development has contributed to a fixed foreign policy that generally fails to consider global health and international social and economic inequalities. According to the OECD, 2019 official development assistance from Canada increased 0.5% to USD 4.7 billion.
In addition, although Canada's foreign aid policies has been moulded with the intentions to be in accordance to the Millennium Development Goals, its focus on human security has slowly shifted away as new policy developments arose. The foreign aid provided by the country became less "people-centered" and less health-related. Canada's contributions have been quite inconsistent with regards to human security, which indicates that the reputation that the country has built throughout the years, in fact, exceeds the country's actual record. Canada's contributions internationally have been detrimental and crucial but it needs redirecting back to its original goals.

Federalism and foreign relations

The provinces have a high level of freedom to operate internationally, dating from Quebec's first representative to France in 1886, Hector Fabre. Alberta has had representatives abroad, starting with Alberta House in London, since 1948, and British Columbia around 25 years before that. By 1984, Quebec had offices in ten countries including eight in the United States and three in other Canadian provinces while Ontario had thirteen delegations in seven countries. Most provincial governments have a ministry of international relations, both Quebec and New Brunswick are members of La Francophonie, Alberta has quasi-diplomatic offices in Washington. Provincial premiers were always part of the famous Team Canada trade missions of the 1990s. In 2007, Quebec premier Jean Charest proposed a free trade agreement with the European Union.
Provinces have always participated in some foreign relations, and appointed agents general in the United Kingdom and France for many years, but they cannot legislate treaties. The French-speaking provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick are members of la Francophonie, and Ontario has announced it wishes to join. Quebec has pursued its own foreign relations, especially with France. Alberta opened an office in Washington, D.C., in March 2005 to lobby the American government, mostly to reopen the borders to import of Canadian beef. With the exception of Quebec, none of these efforts undermine the ability of the federal government to conduct foreign affairs.

Bilateral relations

Africa

Americas

Asia

Europe

Oceania

Other bilateral and plurilateral relations

One important difference between Canadian and American foreign policy has been in relations with communist governments. Canada established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China long before the Americans did. It also has maintained trade and diplomatic relations with communist Cuba, despite pressures from the United States.

Arms Control

Canadian Government guidance for export controls on weapons systems is published by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. Automatic Firearms Country Control List, comprises a list of approved export nations which include as of 2014;.

Selected dates of diplomatic representation abroad

Canada is and has been a strong supporter of multilateralism. The country is one of the world's leading peacekeepers, sending soldiers under the U.N. authority around the world. Canadian former Minister of Foreign Affairs and subsequent Prime Minister, Lester B. Pearson, is credited for his contributions to modern international peacekeeping, for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957. Canada is committed to disarmament, and is especially noted for its leadership in the 1997 Convention in Ottawa on the prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines.
In the last century Canada has made efforts to reach out to the rest of the world and promoting itself as a "middle power" able to work with large and small nations alike. This was demonstrated during the Suez Crisis when Lester B. Pearson mollified the tension by proposing peacekeeping efforts and the inception of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force. In that spirit, Canada developed and has tried to maintain a leading role in UN peacekeeping efforts.
Canada has long been reluctant to participate in military operations that are not sanctioned by the United Nations, such as the Vietnam War or the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, but does join in sanctioned operations such as the first Gulf War, Afghanistan and Libya. It participated with its NATO and OAS allies in the Kosovo Conflict and in Haiti respectively.
Despite Canada's track record as a liberal democracy that has embraced the values of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Canada has not been involved in any major plan for Reform of the United Nations Security Council; although the Canadian government does support UN reform, in order to strengthen UN efficiency and effectiveness.
Canada hosted the third Summit of the Americas in Quebec City.
Canada is working on setting up military bases around the world, while reducing aid and diplomatic efforts. In the late 90s, Canada actively promoted the notion of human security as an alternative to business-as-usual approaches to foreign aid. However, by invoking the "three Ds" as the fundamental basis for Canadian foreign policy, and then implementing this in a manner that conforms more to military security and trade interests, Canada has successfully distanced itself from the humanitarian objectives of foreign aid, with the human security goal far from being achieved.  Under the Harper government, emphasis on promoting Canada's military presence internationally has included an effort to rebrand Canada historically as a "warrior nation", in large measure to counter the image of only supporting peacekeeping and multilateralism.

Canada–Asia relations

In 1985 the Parliament of Canada passed an Act to create the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, a think-tank focusing on Canada-Asia relations, in order to enhance Canada-Asia relations. Canada also seeks to expand its ties to Pacific Rim economies through membership in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. In addition, Canada is an active participant in discussions stemming from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Canada joined the Organization of American States in 1990 and has been an active member, hosting the OAS General Assembly in Windsor, Ontario, in June 2000.

Canada–Caribbean relations

Many Caribbean Community countries turn to Canada as a valued partner. Canadians, particularly Canadian banks and utility companies play an important economic role in the development of former British West Indies colonies. Efforts to improve trade have included the idea of concluding a free trade agreement to replace the 1986 bilateral CARIBCAN agreement. At various times, several Caribbean countries have also considered joining Canadian Confederation as new provinces or territories, although no Caribbean nation has implemented such a proposal.

Canada–Commonwealth of Nations

Canada maintains close links to the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms, with which Canada has strong historic ties and shares a monarch. It also remains a member of the Commonwealth.

Canada–European Union relations

Canada–Latin American relations

In recent years Canadian leaders have taken increasing interest in Latin America. Canada has had diplomatic relations with Venezuela since January 1953 and the relations are based on mutual commercial interests, especially in technology, oil and gas industry, telecommunications and others. Canada has an ongoing trade dispute with Brazil.

International organizations

Canada is a member of the following organizations:

Organizations with headquarters in Canada

Canada and the United States have negotiated the boundary between the countries over many years, with the last significant agreement having taken place in 1984 when the International Court of Justice ruled on the maritime boundary in the Gulf of Maine. Likewise, Canada and France had previously contested the maritime boundary surrounding the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, but accepted a 1992 International Court of Arbitration ruling.
Remaining disputes include managed maritime boundary disputes with the US.

Arctic disputes

A long-simmering dispute between Canada and the U.S. involves the issue of Canadian sovereignty over the Northwest Passage. Canada's assertion that the Northwest Passage represents internal waters has been challenged by other countries, especially the U.S., which argue that these waters constitute an international strait. Canadians were incensed when Americans drove the reinforced oil tanker Manhattan through the Northwest Passage in 1969, followed by the icebreaker Polar Sea in 1985, both without asking for Canadian permission. In 1970, the Canadian government enacted the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act, which asserts Canadian regulatory control over pollution within a zone. In response, the Americans in 1970 stated, "We cannot accept the assertion of a Canadian claim that the Arctic waters are internal waters of Canada.... Such acceptance would jeopardize the freedom of navigation essential for United States naval activities worldwide." A compromise was reached in 1988, by an agreement on "Arctic Cooperation," which pledges that voyages of American icebreakers "will be undertaken with the consent of the Government of Canada." However the agreement did not alter either country's basic legal position. Essentially, the Americans agreed to ask for the consent of the Government of Canada without conceding that they were obliged to. In January 2006, David Wilkins, the American ambassador to Canada, said his government opposes Stephen Harper's proposed plan to deploy military icebreakers in the Arctic to detect interlopers and assert Canadian sovereignty over those waters.
Also, there is a dispute with Denmark over the sovereignty of the uninhabited Hans Island and surrounding waters in the Kennedy Channel between Ellesmere Island and Greenland.
Along with other nations in the Arctic Council, Canada, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Russia, the maritime boundaries in the far north will be decided after countries have completed their submissions, due in 2012. Russia has made an extensive claim based on the Russian position that everything that is an extension of the Lomonosov Ridge should be assigned to Russia. Their submission had been rejected when first submitted by the United Nations in 2001. The regions represent some of the most extreme environments on Earth yet there is a hope for hypothetically commercially viable oil and gas deposits.
In June 2019, the U.S. State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said the US "view Canada’s claim that the waters of the Northwest Passage are internal waters of Canada as inconsistent with international law."