Canada and the Cold War

Question 1

How did Canada pursue a collective security system? (4)

Answer 1

1. Marshall Plan – while not contributing anymore to the $18 billion in aid to European states, Canada did provide practical help by supplying goods to Europe.
2. Berlin Blockade – Canada participated in the airlift when the Soviets blockaded Allied sectors of Berlin in 1948
3. Brussels Treaty (1948) – defensive alliance between several western nations that united western Europe and North America
4. NATO – King fought hard to ensure members co-operated economically rather than just militarily and included a certain clause to guarantee this but ultimately NATO became merely a military alliance. NATO memberships did give Canada a more significant role in world politics and provided safety in numbers against the USA’s enormous influence

Question 2

What was Canada’s Foreign Policy during the 1950s? (3)

Answer 2

1. The Korean War (1951-54) - Canada sent 27,000 soldiers, (third largest UN contingent.) Pearson tried to be a restraining influence but accused of “moralising.” Geoje island prisoner of war camp incident (1952)
2. Suez Crisis (1956) - Pearson was able to prevent conflict by creating a UN force that would enter Egypt and separate the two sides until peace terms could be reached. 1957 Nobel Peace Prize
3. NORAD (1957) - Diefenbaker signed for an integrated US missile defence system which was put under joint control of both nations (a Canadian was appointed as deputy commander). Later, Bomarc anti-aircraft missiles i but there was outrage when these missiles were planned to be eventually fitted with nuclear warheads. As a result, Diefenbaker suggested that the warheads should only be transported to Canadian soil at a time of crisis which was fiercely opposed by Kennedy

Question 3

What was the role of the Canadian Mounted Police?

Answer 3

1. The government set up a system of security checks on individuals (70,000 in one year) which were carried out by the RCMP who also put down strikes and installed telephone taps after the Gouzenko spy ring (1947) which led to the imprisonment of MP Fred Rose and Sam Carr.
2. Profunc was a top-secret plan for dealing with subversives in the state of a national emergency where individuals could be immediately identified and imprisoned. This enabled the RCMP to extend it surveillance to other groups and individuals including the Unitarian Church, Dr Hitschmanova and the United Church of Canada.
3. Canadian immigration policies tended to favour those whom the government believed would best fit their existing population e.g. people from Britain, the USA, Western Europe and Scandinavia. This is exemplified by the Netherlands Farm Families Movement and the acceptance of 37,000 Hungarian refugees after the uprising. Meanwhile Asian, French and Greek citizens were screened much more carefully.
4. Operation Feather Bed - The RCMP produced a list of 262 alleged secret Communist Party members including doctors, lawyers and academics. However, in the late 1970s, the RCMP were discovered to have used illegal investigative techniques leading to the Royal Commission into the Certain Activities of the RCMP which recommended that the RCMP no longer carry out intelligence duties and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service was formed.

Question 4

Social Reform in Canada (2)

Answer 4

1. Old Age Security Act (1952), 90% of population covered by Medical Services in Alberta (1948), Unemployment Assistance Act (1956) and the Hospital Insurance and Diagnostic Services Act (1957)
2. Pearson was able to establish the Canada Pension Plan, the Canada Assistance Plan, the Guaranteed Income Supplement, the 1966 Medical Act and the introduction of the Canada Student Loan Programme. Also introduced: a federal labour code (40hr week and two weeks holiday), a minimum wage and increased arts funding. He also instigated the “great flag debate” and established multiple Royal Commissions to help create legal equality for women.

Question 5

Foreign Policy Under Trudeau

Answer 5

1. Third Option, which aimed to establish political and economic ties with other nations including Cuba, China and in Latin America and to “put Canada first.”
2. Trudeau’s visit to Cuba in 1976 was heavily criticized by Nixon and his government yet Trudeau decided to maintain an independent foreign policy, financing Cuban tourism in exchange for US free markets. In fact, Trudeau later developed a close personal friendship with Fidel Castro.
3. in 1970 Trudeau decided to formally recognise Communist China, becoming one of the first Western nations to do so despite US objections. This came after Diefenbaker had sold $60 million worth of wheat to China leading wheat exports rising by 200%.
4. 1978, Trudeau revealed his “strategy of suffocation” for the international arms race calling for a halt to the production of fissile material and a ban on testing new strategic missiles. However, Trudeau’s government was also responsible for agreeing to Reagan’s request to test cruise missiles over Canadian territory in April 1981 even though most Canadians opposed the decision due to concerns over a heightened nuclear arms race.

Question 6

Canada and the Vietnam War

Answer 6

Initially Canada did provide some diplomatic and economic support to the French in their struggle against the Viet Minh due to their large French-Canadian population, NATO alliance and historic ties. Moreover, at the Geneva Accords in 1954, Canada relayed important information to the US about Vietnamese Communist activities and made sure to specifically highlight the violations of the Communist forces. Canadian governments were largely supportive of the US (John Diefenbaker and Lester Pearson) due to NATO and trading ties with US ($2 billion in war materiel of branch plants and the Defense Sharing Agreements in 1959)

However, Pearson later said a negotiated settlement was “imperative” in Vietnam prompting a violent response from Johnson. Trudeau then said Canada would not be the “mirror image of the US” and cut Canada’s defense budget and commitment to NATO and publicly condemned Nixon’s bombing in 1972. Public opposition to the war grew due to the influx of draft dodgers (50,000) and anti-war Americans (125,000) which caused protest. Manual for the Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada sold 100,000 copies. Ultimately, Canada remained neutral (despite 30,000 Canadians who did enlist to fight in Vietnam)

Question 7

Historiography

Answer 7

Whitaker R. “it clear that Cold War immigration security imposed double standards”
Whitaker, R: Canada’s involvement in the Cold War was inevitable and unavoidable
Joseph Jockel: NORAD was “a decision for which there was no precedent in Canadian history”
Victor Levant: Canadian Involvement in Vietnam = “quiet complicity” and “fraudulent” attempts to inhibit US imperialism
J.M Bumsted: Vietnam was the most important reason for the deterioration in US-Canadian relations as Canada was so anxious to distance itself
Whitaker: “The Americans were our best friends, whether we liked it or not” … By debating the basis of national unity, the Quiet Revolution undermined the Cold War climate.
Cavell: The prevailing atmosphere of the Cold War in Canada was anti-communist, but it was also anti-American”

Question 8

Separatism and the October Crisis of 1970

Answer 8

The Premier of Quebec, Duplessis, encouraged a strong anti-communist feeling leading to his decision to oppose the 1949 Asbestos strike and his passing of laws which made it illegal for companies in Quebec to hire Communists or anyone associated with Marxist organisations. (English is the native language of 59% of Canadians while French is the first language of 23%)

After Duplessis’ authoritarian rule, Quebec moved away from its strongly Catholic, agricultural past as Lesage introduced educational reform designed to reduce the Church’s influence and nationalised energy services. In 1966, the separatist Parti Quebecois (PQ) was formed while the anti-American separatist group the Front Du Liberation du Quebec (FLQ) increased their activity by bombing the residence of the mayor of Montreal and the Montreal Stock exchange in 1968. This reached a climax in October 1970 where they kidnapped Quebec’s labour minister and the British trade commissioner. Trudeau declared martial law in Montreal to deal with the crisis and arrest nearly 500 people who were detained without legal representation.

By 1974, French had become the official language of Quebec and the PQ won the provincial election in 1976. Levesque passed measures to strengthen the separatist movement such as restricting English language schools, forcing immigrants to learn French and changing English place names to French yet a referendum to make the province independent was rejected in 1980 by nearly 60% of voters.