Canada – United States relations

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Canada – United States relations

Canada	United States

Canada – United States relations span more than two centuries, marked by a shared British colonial heritage, conflict during the early years of the U.S., and the eventual development of one of the most successful international relationships in the modern world. The most serious breach in the relationship was the War of 1812, which saw American invasion attempts on then British North America. Friendship would be solidified in the 20th century with the shared experience of the world wars and a close alliance during the Cold War.

Canada and the United States are currently the world's largest trading partners, share the world's longest shared border,^[1] and have significant interoperability within the defence sphere. Modern difficulties have included repeated trade disputes (despite a continental trade agreement), environmental concerns, and debates over immigration and the movement of people across the shared border. While the foreign policies of the neighbours have been largely aligned for much of the post-war era, significant disputes have arisen, including over the Vietnam War, the status of Cuba, the Iraq War, and the War on Terrorism.

[edit] History

[edit] As Part Of The British Empire

An editorial cartoon on Canada – United States relations, 1886

At the outset of the American Revolution, the American revolutionaries hoped the French Canadians in Quebec and the Colonists in Nova Scotia would join their rebellion and they were pre-approved for joining the United States in the Articles of Confederation. When Canada was invaded during the American Revolutionary War, only a few joined the invaders. Most French Canadians understood that the British Empire already enshrined their rights in the Quebec Act, which the Americans declared as being one of the Intolerable Acts. French Canadians thus could see that within the British Empire their language, law, customs, interests and religion would be protected, while within the United States these would all be opposed. Canadians clearly decided against joining the revolution. The American effort was a fiasco and Britain tightened its grip on its northern possessions. In peace negotiations, Benjamin Franklin unsuccessfully attempted to convince British diplomats to cede Canada to the United States. The British refused, and used Canada as a refuge for those Loyalists who wanted to leave the U.S. Thomas Jefferson saw the nearby British imperial presence as a threat to republicanism in the United States. Thousands of Americans who were loyal to the Empire gave up their lands in the United States and opted to start anew in Canada. These Loyalists represented only part of the large minority of Americans who opposed the revolution.

Among the original Loyalists, who were of many ethnic backgrounds, there were African Americans. In the following decades, more and more African American slaves continued to look north to British North America (Canada) as a land of freedom where they received welcome and lands. Upper Canada (Ontario) became the first territory to outlaw the slave trade soon after being formed in the 1780s and the entire British Empire outlawed the slave trade (in 1807).

The Treaty of Paris (1783), which ended the war, called for the British to vacate all their forts south of the Great Lakes border. The British refused to do so, citing failure of the United States to provide financial restitution for Loyalists who had lost property in the war. The Jay Treaty in 1795 with Great Britain resolved that lingering issue and the British departed the forts, including Fort Detroit. This, however, also meant that British Loyalists living in the territory had to relocate and abandon their property.

Tensions mounted again after 1805, erupting into the War of 1812, when the Americans declared war on Britain. The Americans were angered by British harassment of U.S. ships on the high seas and seizure ("impressment") of 6,000 American sailors, as well as severe restrictions against neutral American trade with France. The Americans were outgunned by more than 10–1 by the Royal Navy, and so a land invasion of Canada was proposed as the only feasible means of attacking the British Empire. Americans on the western frontier also hoped an invasion would bring an end to British support of American Indian resistance to the westward expansion of the United States, typified by Tecumseh's coalition of tribes. (The British policy recognized the Indians as Nations while the American policy pushed Indians off their lands.) The early strategy was to temporarily seize Canada as a means of forcing concessions from the British. As in 1775, many Americans hoped the Canadians would welcome the chance to overthrow their British rulers. However, once again Canadians proved loyal to the Empire and the American invasion attempts were ultimately unsuccessful. Canadian militias and Indian tribes joined the British army in defeating the American invaders and even in burning the US Capitol.

In later years, Canadians, who remained loyal to the Empire well into the 20th century, viewed the War of 1812 as a successful resistance against an outside aggressor and as a victory that defined them as a people. Most Canadians since that time have been fearful of American imperialism—expressed in the 1800s in terms of "manifest destiny"—for while the British Empire recognized local self-government and gradual decentralization, the American Empire represented assimilation and growing centralization. Later on, a boundary dispute in the Oregon Country (Fifty-Four Forty or Fight!) was the most serious disturbance, but was peacefully resolved.

[edit] As An Independent Nation

A Canadian Mountie and a U.S. State Trooper in 1941

Canada became a self-governing dominion in 1867 while retaining ties to the British crown. Strained relations with the United States continued, however, due to a series of armed incursions named the Fenian raids by Irish-American Civil War veterans across the border from 1866 to 1871 in an attempt to overthrow British interests in North America. While officially the American government did not openly endorse the raids, and did eventually move to disarm the Fenians, the raids created lasting anger in Canada. Many Canadians believed that President Andrew Johnson initially supported the raids, and that the American government turned a blind eye to these armed incursions for far too long.

Disputes over ocean boundaries on Georges Bank and over fishing, whaling, and sealing rights in the Pacific were settled by international arbitration, setting an important precedent. 1907 saw a controversy over USS Nashville sailing into the Great Lakes via Canada without Canadian permission. Partly in response, in 1909 the two sides signed the International Boundary Waters Treaty and the International Joint Commission was established to manage the Great Lakes.

Economic ties and migration had deepened by this era, but were not equal. In 1911 there were 49,000 US-born people in Canada and 1.21 million Canadian-born people in the US.

In the 1930s, the United States studied plans to invade Canada in War Plan Red, albeit as an academic exercise. Similarly, Canada developed Defence Scheme No. 1 to counteract a U.S. invasion. Canadian defence was organized against an American invasion until the onset of World War II.

Following co-operation in the two World Wars, Canada and the United States lost much of their previous animosity. As Britain's influence as a global superpower declined, Canada and the United States became extremely close partners. Canada was a close ally of the United States during the Cold War.

In World War II the U.S. built large military bases in Newfoundland (then a British colony), and the business community there sought closer ties with the U.S. as expressed by the Economic Union Party. Ottawa took notice and wanted Newfoundland to join Canada, which it did after hotly contested referendums. There was little demand in the U.S. for the acquisition of Newfoundland, so the U.S. did not protest the British decision not to allow an American option on the Newfoundland referendum.

The US had become Canada's largest market, and after the war the Canadian economy became dependent on smooth trade flows with the US so much that when the US enacted the "Nixon Shock" economic policies (including a 10% tariff on all imports) it put the Canadian government into a panic. This led in a large part to the articulation of Prime Minister Trudeau's "Third Option" policy of diversifying Canada's trade and downgrading the importance of Canada – US relations. In a 1972 speech in Ottawa, Nixon declared the "special relationship" between Canada and the US dead.^[2][3]

The Canadian military, like forces of many other Western countries, fought along side the U.S. in most major conflicts with UN-involvement since World War II, including the Korean War, the Gulf War, the Kosovo War, and most recently the war in Afghanistan. The main exceptions to this were the Canadian government's opposition to the Vietnam War and the Iraq War, which caused some brief diplomatic tensions. Despite these issues, military relations have remained close.

[edit] Defence and international conflict

North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD), long headquartered in the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Centre in Colorado, exemplifies military co-operation between Canada and the U.S.

U.S. defence arrangements with Canada are more extensive than with any other country. The Permanent Joint Board of Defense, established in 1940, provides policy-level consultation on bilateral defence matters. The United States and Canada share North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) mutual security commitments. In addition, U.S. and Canadian military forces have cooperated since 1958 on continental air defence within the framework of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). There is also an active military exchange program between the two countries under which Canadian Forces personnel have been involved in Iraq. Moreover, interoperability with the American armed forces has been a guiding principle of Canadian military force structuring and doctrine since the end of the Cold War. Canadian navy frigates, for instance, integrate seamlessly into U.S. carrier battle groups.

[edit] War in Afghanistan

Main article: Canada's role in the invasion of Afghanistan

Canada's elite JTF2 unit joined American special forces in Afghanistan shortly after the Al-Qaeda attacks on September 11, 2001. Canadian forces joined the multinational coalition in Operation Anaconda in January 2002. On April 18, 2002, an American pilot attacked Canadian forces involved in a training exercise, killing four and wounding eight Canadians. A joint US-Canadian inquiry determined the cause of the incident to be pilot error, in which the pilot interpreted ground fire as an attack; the pilot ignored orders that he felt were "second-guessing" his field tactical decision.^[4][5] Canadian forces assumed a six-month command rotation of the International Security Assistance Force in 2003; in 2005, Canadians assumed operational command of the multi-national Brigade in Kandahar, with 2,300 troops, and supervises the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kandahar, where Al-Qaeda forces are most active. Canada has also deployed naval forces in the Persian Gulf since 1991 in support of the UN Gulf Multinational Interdiction Force.^[6]

The Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC maintains a public relations web site named CanadianAlly.com, which is intended "to give American citizens a better sense of the scope of Canada's role in North American and Global Security and the War on Terror".

The New Democratic Party and some recent Liberal leadership candidates have expressed opposition to Canada's expanded role in the Afghan conflict on the ground that it is inconsistent with Canada's historic role (since the Second World War) of peacekeeping operations.

[edit] 2003 Invasion of Iraq

See also: Canada and the Iraq War

According to contemporary polls, the vast majority of Canadians were opposed to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The Canadian government, under Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, maintained a position with emphasis on UN authority. Many Canadians, and the former Liberal government of Paul Martin (as well as many Americans such as Bill Clinton^[7]), made a policy distinction between conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, unlike the Bush doctrine, which links these together in a "Global war on terror".

[edit] Trade

Main article: Trade between United States and Canada

Canada and the United States have the world's largest trading relationship, with huge quantities of goods and people flowing across the border each year. Since the 1987 Canadian–American Free Trade Agreement there have been no tariffs on most goods passed between the two countries.

With such a massive trading relationship, trade disputes between the two countries are frequent and inevitable. American officials have placed ongoing tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber despite losing various appeals placed by Canada in the NAFTA and WTO panels. The softwood lumber dispute remains a growing issue between the two countries and is degrading the trade relationship on both sides of the border. Other notable disputes include the Canadian Wheat Board, and Canadian cultural "restrictions" on magazines and television (See CRTC, CBC, and National Film Board of Canada). Canadians have been criticized about such things as the ban on beef since a case of Mad Cow disease was discovered in 2003 in cows from the United States (and a few subsequent cases) and the high American agricultural subsidies. Concerns in Canada also run high over aspects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) such as Chapter 11.

One ongoing and complex trade issue involves the importation of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada to the United States. Due to the Canadian government's price controls as part of their state-run medical system, prices for prescription drugs can be a fraction of the price paid by consumers in the unregulated U.S. market. While laws in the United States have been passed at the national level against such sales, specific state and local governments have passed their own legislation to allow the trade to continue. American drug companies—often supporters of political campaigns—have obviously come out against the practice.

According to a 2003 study commissioned by the Canadian Embassy in the United States, based on 2001 data, Canada–U.S. trade supported 5.2 million U.S. jobs.

U.S. State	U.S. Jobs Supported	Rank
Alabama	72,000	24
Alaska	13,000	48
Arizona	89,000	22
Arkansas	45,000	32
California	626,000	1
Colorado	93,000	21
Connecticut	67,000	27
Delaware	16,000	46
District of Columbia	29,000	38
Florida	289,000	4
Georgia	152,000	10
Hawaii	26,000	39
Idaho	23,000	43
Illinois	237,000	5
Indiana	112,000	14
Iowa	55,000	30
Kansas	51,000	31
Kentucky	69,000	26
Louisiana	73,000	23
Maine	24,000	41
Maryland	101,000	20
Massachusetts	134,000	13
Michigan	174,000	8
Minnesota	103,000	19
Mississippi	43,000	34
Missouri	108,000	16
Montana	16,000	45
Nebraska	36,000	36
Nevada	43,000	35
New Hampshire	24,000	42
New Jersey	153,000	9
New Mexico	30,000	37
New York	348,000	3
North Carolina	151,000	11
North Dakota	13,000	49
Ohio	212,000	7
Oklahoma	58,000	29
Oregon	63,000	28
Pennsylvania	219,000	6
Rhode Island	19,000	44
South Carolina	69,000	25
South Dakota	15,000	47
Tennessee	108,000	15
Texas	369,000	2
Utah	44,000	33
Vermont	12,000	50
Virginia	141,000	12
Washington	108,000	17
West Virginia	25,000	40
Wisconsin	103,000	18
Wyoming	9,000	51
Total	5,210,000

http://www.canadianembassy.org/2005map/2005_map_front.pdf http://www.canadianally.com

[edit] Arctic disputes

A long-simmering dispute between Canada and the U.S. involves the issue of Canadian sovereignty over the Northwest Passage (the sea passages in the Arctic). Canada’s assertion that the Northwest Passage represents internal (territorial) waters has been challenged by other countries, especially the U.S., which argue that these waters constitute an international strait (international waters). 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 100-mile zone. In response, the United States 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 of sorts 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. 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.^[8] In August 2007, former US ambassador to Canada, Paul Cellucci, stated that in 2005 he informed his government that it should re-evaluate its assertion that the Northwest Passage is an international sea body, and should belong to Canada. His advice was rejected and in 2007 Bush and Harper took opposite positions.^[9]

[edit] Environmental issues

Flags of Canada and the U.S.

The two countries work closely to resolve transborder environmental issues, an area of increasing importance in the bilateral relationship. A principal instrument of this cooperation is the International Joint Commission (IJC), established as part of the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 to resolve differences and promote international cooperation on boundary waters. The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1972 is another historic example of joint cooperation in controlling transborder water pollution. However, there have been some disputes. Most recently, the Devil's Lake Outlet, a project instituted by North Dakota, has angered Manitobans who fear that their water may soon become polluted as a result of this project. The two governments also consult semi-annually on transborder air pollution. Under the Air Quality Agreement of 1991, both countries have made substantial progress in coordinating and implementing their acid rain control programs and signed an annex on ground level ozone in 2000. Despite this transborder air pollution remains an issue, particularly in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence watershed during the summer. The main source of this transborder pollution results from coal fired power stations, most of them located in the Midwest US.

Currently neither of the countries governments support the Kyoto Protocol, which set out time scheduled curbing of greenhouse gas emissions. Unlike the United States, Canada has ratified the agreement. Yet after ratification, due to internal political conflict within Canada, the Canadian government does not enforce the Kyoto Protocol, and has received criticism from environmental groups and from other governments for its climate change positions. [1]

[edit] Illicit drugs

In 2003 the American government became concerned when members of the Canadian government announced plans to decriminalise marijuana. David Murray, an assistant to U.S. Drug Czar John P. Walters, said in a CBC interview that, "We would have to respond. We would be forced to respond."^[10]. However the election of the Conservative Party in early 2006 halted the liberalization of marijuana laws for the foreseeable future. The Canadian government currently grows marijuana for medicinal purposes only in former copper mines, and then of highly diluted quality.

[edit] Arar affair

Main article: Maher Arar

On September 26, 2002, U.S. officials, acting upon a tip from Canadian law enforcement, detained Maher Arar on suspicion of terrorist links. Arar is a dual citizen of Canada and Syria and was travelling through New York as part of a trip from Tunisia to Canada.

Despite travelling on a Canadian passport, Arar was deported to Syria, his country of birth. He was imprisoned there for over a year and tortured repeatedly. The decision by U.S. officials to deport him to Syria, his imprisonment and torture there, and the extent of collaboration between U.S. and Canadian officials became a major political issue in Canada at the time.

Canadian officials have since said that Arar was not linked in any way to terrorism, and the Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, has issued a formal apology and a $10.5 million Canadian dollar settlement to Arar, who nonetheless remains on an American terrorist watchlist.

[edit] Territorial disputes

See also: List of areas disputed by Canada and the United States

[edit] Common memberships

UKUSA Community
Australia  Canada  New Zealand  United Kingdom  United States

Canada and the United States both hold membership in a number of multi-national organizations such as:

• Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
• Food and Agriculture Organization
• G-8
• G-10
• International Chamber of Commerce
• International Development Association
• International Monetary Fund
• Interpol
• International Monetary Fund
• International Olympic Committee
• North American Free Trade Agreement
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization
• North American Aerospace Defense Command
• Organization of American States
• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
• UKUSA Community
• United Nations
• United Nations Security Council
• UNESCO
• World Health Organization
• World Trade Organization
• World Bank

[edit] The current state of relations

Shortly after being congratulated by U.S. President George W. Bush for his victory in February of 2006, Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper rebuked U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins for criticizing the Conservatives' plans to assert Canada's sovereignty over the Arctic Ocean waters with armed forces. Harper's first meeting with the U.S. President occurred at the end of March, 2006; and while little was achieved in the way of solid agreements, the trip was described in the media as signalling a trend of closer relations between the two nations.

[edit] Quotes

• U.S. President John F. Kennedy: "Geography has made us neighbours. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies. Those whom nature hath so joined together, let no man put asunder."^[11]

• Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau compared relations to "sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt."^[12]

• Canadian Prime Minister John Sparrow Thompson: "These Yankee politicians are the lowest race of thieves in existence." - made during sensitive trade talks with US

• Canadian Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, speaking at the beginning of the 1891 election (fought mostly over Canadian free trade with the United States), Macdonald said: "As for myself, my course is clear. A British subject I was born—a British subject I will die. With my utmost effort, with my latest breath, will I oppose the ‘veiled treason’ which attempts by sordid means and mercenary proffers to lure our people from their allegiance." - , Feb 3, 1891.^[13]

• U.S. President Richard Nixon, during his visit to Ottawa in 1972, declared that the "special relationship" between Canada and the United States was dead. "It is time for us to recognize," he stated, "that we have very separate identities; that we have significant differences; and that nobody's interests are furthered when these realities are obscured."^[2]

• Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, speaking in the Soviet Union in 1971, said that the overwhelming American presence posed "a danger to our national identity from a cultural, economic and perhaps even military point of view."^[2] Nixon responded in Ottawa in 1972, declaring that the special relationship between Canada and the United States was dead and Canada could not expect to continue to receive special economic favors. Nixon added a surcharge on imports from all countries in 1971, which profoundly threatened Canadian trade and employment; there was even a serious chance the Auto Pact would be cancelled, which would have devastated Ontario. Trudeau had to go to Washington to plead for a reversal, which was granted him.^[2]

[edit] Notes

[edit] See also

• Canadian and American economies compared
• Canadian and American politics compared
• Foreign relations of Canada
• Foreign relations of the United States
• Etiquette in Canada and the United States
• Canadian Bacon

[edit] Further reading

• Graeme S. Mount and Edelgard Mahant, An Introduction to Canadian-American Relations (1984, updated 1989)
• Graeme S. Mount and Edelgard Mahant, Invisible and Inaudible in Washington: American Policies toward Canada during the Cold War (1999)

[edit] External links

• Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
• Embassy of the United States of America in Ottawa, Ontario
• Canadian Society of New York - formed in 1897 to foster a spirit of good will between Canada and the United States. For 106 years it held an annual gala to honour distinguished Canadians or Americans who devoted their careers to strengthening the ties between the two countries.
• Canadian Association of New York

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