Chapter 10: Canada On The World Stage

By: Danica and Asina

After WarOn September 3, 1945, Canadians

woke up to a new world.Japan had surrendered. The Second

World War, which had started exactly 6 years before was over.

Canadians came out of the war with a feeling of pride.

They had helped win the war and now helped bring peace.

Creation of the UNIn 1945, the countries who did not like

war started a new organization, the United Nations (UN).

The UN was a place where different governments from around the world could settle their arguments peacefully instead of fighting.

Cont.The UN charter started that all

members would agree to “social progress and better standards of life” and “practise tolerance and live together in peace.”

These were fine ideas, and Canadians supported them.

However, not all went as planned.

USSRWithin a few years, the wartime

relationships of the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), also called the Soviet Union, fell apart.

Each country feared and doubted the other.

Canadians also became suspicious the USSR.

Soon after the war, the RCMP learned that the USSR was spying on Canada.

Cont.Also the USSR built an atomic bomb of

its own in 1945.In Canada and the United States

people begun to fear that a nuclear war could happen.

Some Canadians even built bomb shelters in their backyards and basements.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)• That same year, the United States,

Great Britain, Canada, France, and eight other European countries joined together to form the NATO.

• NATO’s job was to defend Western Europe and North American in case the USSR and their allies don’t attack them.

• Maybe because of the NATO, there was never an attack.

PicturesNato Flag

UN members flags

Cont.Doubt between the NATO and the

USSR lasted until the early 1990s.

Historians called this time the Cold War.

The United Nations In 1945 , Canada and the 50 other

countries created the United Nations (UN).

Today, more than 190 countries belong to the UN.

The UN is a very large and complicated organization with many important jobs to do.

This includes agencies such as:

The World Health Organization(WHO)• The mission of the World Health

Organization is to fight disease.• WHO helps develop vaccines and

medicines.• It watches for outbreaks of disease

like SARS and AIDS.• Over the years, WHO has won major

victories in the battle against diseases.

Cont.For instance, in 1979, WHO announced

that smallpox had been wiped from the Earth.

People had suffered from this terrible diseases for thousands of year.

Cont.The Security

Council. Members of the Security Council are the US, Russia, Great Britain, France, and China.

The Security Council keeps peace by acting as a global police force.

The Security Council also runs all UN peacekeeping missions.

United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF). UNICEF helps children in some of the poorest countries.

The agency provides children with food, clothing, shelter, and education.

The Korean WarIn 1950, war broke out in Asia when North Korea

invaded South Korea.For the first time, the United Nations acted to

restore order.The UN sent a force of soldiers from many

countries to defend South Korea.The Korean War was much smaller than either

World Wars.When then war ended with a truce in 1953, more

than 500 Canadians had been killed in the fighting.

North Korea and South Korea are still divided to this day.

Louis St. Laurent (1882-1973)Louis St. Laurent was born in Quebec.He became a lawyer in 1905.Later, he became a professor at the

Universite Laval in Quebec City.He entered politics in 1942, and became

prime minister 6 years later in 1948.During St. Laurent’s years in office,

Parliament extended old-age pensions and hospital insurance plans.

St. Laurent helped bring Newfoundland to Confederation in 1949.

Cont.St. Laurent helped bring Newfoundland to

Confederation in 1949.The Trans-Canada Highway was built over his

term. In 1957, his government lost to John

Diefenbaker’s Conservatives.A year later, St. Laurent retired from politics.

Canada and Peacekeeping The United Nations has many important duties.One of them is peacekeeping.Soldier and civilians, known as peacekeepers,

are often sent to places after the United Nations has worked out a truce between countries at war.

It is their job to make sure fighting dose not break out again.

The peacekeepers wear blue hats to indentify themselves.

They act like police officers. They use force only if they have no choice.

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Cont.Countries who are members of the UN send their

own soldiers to run its peacekeeping missions.Since the UN was formed, more than one million

soldiers from around the world have acted as peacekeeper.

Of these, more than 80 000 of them are Canadians .

Canada has played a central role in more than 40 peacekeeping missions.

Canada was there when the UN peacekeeping missions began.

It was during a crisis in one of the oldest countries in the world- Egypt.

The Suez Canal crisisThe Suez Canal is an important waterway in

Egypt. It links the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea.Before the canal was built, ships sailing from the

Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean had to travel a long way around the southern tip of Africa.

The Suez Canal was built in the 1860s.For almost 100 years, the canal was open to the

world. In 1956, the Egyptian government took control of

the canal and decided who could use it. In November that year, Britain, France, and Israeli

forces invaded Egypt.

Cont.Their goal was to seize the canal. They want

to make sure that they could keep using it.All over the world, people feared that the

invasion might start the Third World War.When the Suez Canal crisis began, Lester B.

Pearson was Canada’s minister of external affairs.

With the help of other Un members, he convinced both sides to accept a truce.

Then, Pearson had a clever idea. He suggested that a large force of peacekeepers be placed between the two sides.

Cont.This force would be made up of soldiers from

many countries . It would make sure that fighting would never

happen again. The first peacekeeping force included 1000 Canadians.

It was named the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF).

It remained in Egypt for nearly 10 years.For his role in solving the crisis, Lester Person

was rewarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957.Later, he became prime minister of Canada

(see page 139).

Peacekeeping TodayCanada still takes part in peacekeeping

missions around the world. Since 1995, Canadian soldiers have been sent to places such as Haiti, Rwanda, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

However, the mission cost a lot of money. In recent years, the Canadian government has cut back on its help to UN peacekeeping efforts.

Perhaps in the future, Canada will take a leading role.

John Humphrey and the Universal Declaration of Human RightsOn December 10, 1948, the members of the

United Nations set out some of its most important ideas in a document called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Declaration states that every person is born equal and has certain rights.

For instance, everyone has a right to freedom of speech.

Everyone is also free to choose their own religion .All members of the UN are supposed to follow the

Declaration. Many don’t.However, the Declaration is an important step

towards a more just and equal world.

John Peters Humphrey (1905-1995)

John Peters Humphrey, a Canadian, wrote most of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Humphrey was a law professor at McGill University in Montreal.

In 1946, he became the first director of the UN’s human rights division. Humphrey worked hard for human rights until he retried in 1966.

Canada and Other International OrganizationsCanada is a large and rich country, but its

population is small. In 2007, Canada had fewer than 32 million people.

The United States has population of more than 300 million people. China and India have more than one billion people each.

In a world with so many people, Canada’s voice might be ignored. This is why the Canadian government has joined so many international organizations.

In organization like the UN, Canada is given the right to be heard by everyone.

Cont.Canada’s leaders know its important to

promote cooperation and understanding between countries.

They see it’s a way to prevent future wars from occurring. Cooperation gives Canada a greater influence than it would have working alone.

Besides the United Nations and NATO, Canada is also a member of several other international organizations.

The Commonwealth of NationsThe British Commonwealth as Britain and its

colonies were known, saw great changes after the Second World War.

This was because many nations that had been colonies of Great Britain gained their independence. India, Ceylon(Sri Lanka), and Burma (Myanmar) became independent in 1947 and 1948.

• Many others followed them in 1950s and 1960s. Today, there are 53 countries in the British Commonwealth. Each country is independent or self-governed.

•

Cont.Most recognize Queen Elizabeth II as head of the

Commonwealth, however.Like the UN, the Commonwealth as stands for

understanding and cooperating between its members.

Nations of the Commonwealth also share some culture and history.

Every four years, athletes from the Commonwealth nations compete in the Commonwealth Games.

Canada is one of the Commonwealths richest members.

It provides help to less developed members.

Videos and pictures

The North American Aerospace Defence Commonwealth (NORAD) During the Cold War, Canada and the United States stared

NORAD to protect North America from attack. The organization is a good example of cooperation

between Canada and the United States. NORAD’s commander is always American. The second-in-command is always Canada. The commanders report to both the president of the United

Sates and the prime minister of Canada. NORAD’s defence system includes a network of radar

bases in Canada ‘s far north. These bases were called the Distant Early Warning Line

(DEW line) and are now called the North Warning System. They were built to provide early warning of an attack from

the USSR

Pictures

The Organization of American States (OAS) Like many world organizations, the OAS was created

after Second World War. Countries from North America, South America, and

the Caribbean belong to the OAS. It begun in 1948 with 21 members. Canada did not

join until 1990. This was because, until recently, many of the

governments in South America and Caribbean were dictatorship that Canada did not support.

Canada now gives more support to the OAS than any other country except the United States.

Canada takes part in many OAS projects. The projects include efforts to make democracy stronger and to police the illegal drug trade.

La FrancophonieLa Francophonie is a French organization.It’s members are former colonies of France. It started in 1970 and meets every 2 years.One represents the Canadian government,

and two others represent the two provinces with the most French Canadians – Quebec and New Brunswick.

Canada being a member of the organization, they hope to promote closer relationships among the French-speaking nations of the world.

ProblemsThe world today has many

problems such as poverty, disease, pollution and war.

Canada’s leaders have trouble trying to find the solution to these problems, and sometimes the solution causes other problems.

Sometimes a solution that works in one case might not work in another.

PositivesDiseases like Smallpox have been wiped

out, and Polio may soon be gone.No world war has been fought for more

than 60 years.The Cold War ended peacefully.There are fewer nuclear weapons in the

world today than 20 years ago. Canada has lead countries to take great

steps toward getting rid of land mines.There are fare more democracies in the

world today than ever before.

Cont.People today are more aware of

problems in far-off regions of the world. The internet and television have helped with this.

Before WWII, many Canadians would never have heard about a disaster on the other side of the world. Now Canadians send aid to help victims within days of the disaster.

Lester B. Pearson (1897-1972)Pearson was born near Toronto in

1897 and studied at the University of Toronto.

Later, Pearson became a professor of history at the University.

In WWI, he was a fighter pilot in the Royal Flying Corps.

Later on, Pearson decided to become a diplomat and played a key role in the making of the UN.

Cont.He won the Nobel Peace Prize for

helping to end the Suez Canal Crisis.Pearson became the leader of the

Liberal Party when Louis St. Laurent retired in 1958.

Pearson became prime minister in 1963.While being prime minister, Parliament

passed many laws such as the laws related to universal health care and old age pensions.

Canada and the United StatesCanada and the US became allies

and close friends during the first and second world wars.

The two countries have not fought each other for nearly 200 years.

However, the leaders of Canada and the US do not always agree about foreign policy.

Cont.In the 1960s and early 1970s, the

US fought a war in Vietnam, Canada stayed out of the war.

On the other hand, Canada fought alongside the US in the Gulf War in 1991.

This short war was fought after the dictator of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, ordered his armies to conquer the tiny country of Kuwait.

Cont.In 2002, the Canadian

government decided to help the US fight in Afghanistan.

However, Canadians chose not to fight in the Iraq War in 2003.

Even though Canadians and Americans sometimes disagree, their relationship is an example of how two nations can get along.

EndThank you for listening and

watching, we hope you’ve learned more about this chapter. Bye!