Chapter 10: Canada On The World Stage

1. Chapter 10: Canada On The World Stage By: Danica and Asina

2. After War • On 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.

3. Creation of the UN • In 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.

4. 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.

5. USSR • Within 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

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9. Cont. • Doubt between the NATO and the USSR lasted until the early 1990s. • Historians called this time the Cold War.

10. 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:

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. The Korean War • In 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. Canada and Peacekeeping • The United Nations has many important duties. • One of them ispeacekeeping. • 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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19. 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.

20. The Suez Canal crisis • The 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.

22. 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.

23. 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).

24. Peacekeeping Today • Canada 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.

25. John Humphrey and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights • On 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.

26. 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.

27. Canada and Other International Organizations • Canada 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.

28. 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.

29. The Commonwealth of Nations • The 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.

30. 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.

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32. 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

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34. 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.

35. La Francophonie • La 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.

36. Problems • The 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.

37. Positives • Diseases 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.

38. 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.

39. 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.

40. 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.

41. Canada and the United States • Canada 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.

42. 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.

43. 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.

44. End • Thank you for listening and watching, we hope you’ve learned more about this chapter. Bye!