“Interests but No Foreign Policy”: Canada and the Commonwealth Caribbean, 1941–1966

Notes

• The views in this paper are the authors' alone and do not represent the views of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade or the Government of Canada.
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• Martin Lawrence, “Idealists once, we are now just mere American consorts,” Globe and Mail, 30 April 2007, p. A15.
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• Cited in Norman Hillmer, “The Foreign Policy That Never Was, 1900–1945,” in Serge Bernier and John MacFarlane (eds.), Canada, 1900–1950: A Country Comes of Age (Ottawa: Organization for the History of Canada, 2003), pp. 143–153.
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• Denis Stairs, “Realists at Work Canadian Policy Makers and the Politics of Transition from Hot War to Cold War,” in Greg Donaghy, Canada and the Early Cold War, 1943–1957 (Ottawa: Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, 1996), p. 94.
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• See, for instance, Ryan Touhey, “Dealing with the Peacock: India in Canadian Foreign Policy 1941–1976,” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Waterloo, 2006; David Webster, “Canadian-Indonesian Relations 1945—63: International Relations and Public Diplomacy,” Ph.D. dissertation, University of British Columbia, 2005; Robin Gendron's dissertation has recently been published as Towards a Francophone Community: Canada's Relations with France and French Africa, 1945—1968 (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queens University Press, 2006).
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• See Brian Tennyson, Canadian-Caribbean Relations: Aspects of a Relationship (Sydney, NS: Centre for International Studies, 1990), iii. See also Heath MacQuarrie, “Canada and the Caribbean,” in Peyton Lyon and Tareq Ismael (eds.), Canada and the Third World (Toronto: Macmillan, 1976); Robert Chodos, The Caribbean Connection (Toronto: James Lorimer, 1977); and George Eaton, “The Commonwealth Caribbean,” in Brian Macdonald (ed.), Canada, the Caribbean and Central America (Toronto: Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies, 1986), for a similar perspective.
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• Jennifer Horsten-Craig, “Canadian-Caribbean Relations: A Canadian Perspective,” in Jerry Haar and Anthony Bryan (eds.), Canadian-Caribbean Relations in Transition: Trade, Sustainable Development and security (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999), 4.
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• Cited in Alan Gotlieb, The Washington Diaries, 1981–1989 (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2006), p. 179.
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• Greg Donaghy, “The Politics of Indecision: Canada and the Anglo-American Caribbean Commission, 1941–47,” International journal of Canadian Studies 13 (Spring 1996): 115–17.
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• On the origins of the AACC, see D.J. Morgan, The Official History of Colonial Development (London: MacMillan Press, 1980), vol. 1, p. 158. See also Howard Johnson, “The Anglo-American Caribbean Commission and the Extension of American Influence in the British Caribbean, 1942–45,” Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics 22, no. 2 (1984): 180–203.
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• Library and Archives of Canada, Department of External Affairs PEA) File 1997–40, M. C. Hankinson to N. A. Robertson, acting under-secretary of state for external & airs, 24 May 1941.
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• DEA File 1997–40, Escott Reid, “Proposed Joint United Kingdom-United States Economic Committee of Inquiry on Caribbean Dependencies,” 3 July 1941. Although there is little evidence to suggest that Britain really wished Canada to take over the imperial burden in the West Indies, this notion lingered on in some quarters well into the Second World War. In December 1942, for instance, Harold Macmillan, the parliamentary under-secretary for the colonies, suggested to Hume Wrong that Canada assume responsibility for the West Indies. Wrong flatly rejected the proposal. On this whole episode, see Murray, “Garrisoning the Caribbean,” pp. 294–295. British efforts to use the “white” Dominions to maintain their great power status after the war have recently been explored in Francine McKenzie, “In the National Interest: Dominions' Support for Britain and the Commonwealth after the Second World War,” The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 34, no. 4 (December 2006): 553–576.
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• National Archives of the United States, Washington, D.C., RG 43, Box 1, Lot File No. 530466, Charles Taussig to Sumner Welles, 20 May 1942.
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• DEA File 1997–40, Dana Wilgress to Norman Robertson, 28 October 1942.
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• DEA File 1997–40, N. A. Robertson to Patrick Duff, 10 May 1943, NAC.
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• DEA File 1997–40, H. L. Keenleyside, “Memorandum for N. A. Robertson,” 16 May 1943. See also DEA File 1997–40, A.L.W. MacCallum to N. A. Robertson, 1 June 1943.
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• DEA File 1997–40, H. L. Keenleyside, H. F. Angus, F. H. Soward, “Memorandum for Mr. Robertson,” 22 June 1943.
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• DEA File 1997–40, John Holmes, “Memorandum for Mr. Wrong,” 25 June 1943.
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• DEA File 1997–40, Malcolm MacDonald to Norman Robertson, 30 December 1943.
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• DEA File 1997–40, N. A. Robertson, “Memorandum for the Prime Minister,” 12 January 1944.
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• DEA File 1997–40, Malcolm MacDonald to Norman Robertson, 16 February 1944.
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• Library and Archives of Canada, MG 26, J 4, vol. 346, file 3744, Robertson, “Memorandum for the Prime Minister,” 18 February 1944.
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• John F. Hilliker, Canada's Department of External Affairs, vol. 1: The Early Years, 1909–1946 (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1990), 218.
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• John F. Hilliker (ed.), Documents on Canadian External Relations (DCER), vol. 11: 1944–45 (Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services Canada, 1990), 715.
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• See Hillier, DCER, 11:1383.
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• See S. R. Ashton and David Killingray (eds.), The West Indies, British Documents at the End of Empire, series B, vol. 6 (London: The Stationery Office, 1999), 62.
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• Greg Donaghy (ed.), DCER, vol. 22: 1956 57, Part I (Ottawa: Canadian Government Publishing, 2001), 1416. Canada's overseas development assistance was largely tied up with aid to India and Pakistan through the Colombo Plan, designed in 1950. Indeed, the subcontinent received about 85 percent of all Canadian ODA funds during the two decades following 1950. See, for example, Keith Spicer, Samaritan State (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1966).
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• Donaghy, DCER, 22:1418–25.
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• Donaghy, DCER, 22:1418–25.
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• Donaghy, DCER, 22:1382–84.
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• Library and Archives Canada, RG 2, vol. 6252, Cabinet Conclusions, 11 April 1957.
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• RG 2, vol. 6252, Cabinet Conclusions, 27 January 1958.
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• Michael Stevenson (ed.), DCER, vol. 24 1956–57, Part I (Ottawa: Canadian Government Publishing, 2003), 1039–40.
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• Stevenson, DCER, 24:1054–55.
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• A. E. Ritchie, Memorandum for the Minister, 9 September 1960, RG 25, vol. 5397, file 10824-A-40, LAC.
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• DEA-R, vol. 7321, file: 10824-A-40, Commonwealth Division to File, 30 October 1959; DEA-R, vol. 7321, file: 10824-A-40, H. B. Robinson, “Memorandum for the Acting USSEA,” 30 October 1959.
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• This exclusionary immigration policy did not change until 1967, when a new Immigration Act introduced a system based primarily on points, as opposed to nationality, to determine a potential immigrant's “suitability.”.
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• Ashton and Killingray, The West India, 237.
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• DEA-R, vol. 7321, file: 10824-A-40, Commissioner for Canada, Port-of-Spain to SSEA, Despatch No. 126, 18 March 1959.
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• DEA-R, vol. 5397, file: 10824-A-40, H. O. Moran, “Memorandum for the Minister,” and attached draft memorandum to Cabinet, 4 October 1962. See also DEA-R, vol. 5397, file: 10824-A-40, Director General, External Aid Office [EAO] to Office of the High Commissioner for Canada, Numbered Letter 11, 11 February 1963.
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• DEA-R, vol. 7321, file: 10824-A-40, Commissioner of Canada, Port-of-Spain to SSEA, Despatch No. 165, 17 April 1959.
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• Ashton and Killingray, The West Indies, 373.
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• DEA-R, vol. 5647, file: 14020-WI-I, A.F.W. Plumptre to the USSEA, 13 October 1960.
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• DEA-R, vol. 5643, file: 14020-WI-1, Commonwealth Division to Economic Division, 31 October 1960.
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• DEA-R, vol. 5647, file: 14020-WI-1, Commissioner of Canada, Port-of-Spain, Despatch No. 569, 24 November 1960.
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• DEA-R, vol. 5593, file: 12882-WI, Letter No. 50, 28 January 1961.
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• DEA-R, vol. 5397, file: 19824-A-40, Commonwealth Division to USSEA, 27 February 1961.
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• DEA-R, vol. 5397, file: 19824-A-40, N. A. Robertson, “Memorandum for the SSEA,” 10 March 1961.
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• The original Colombo Plan had very quickly included the U.S. as a donor in the fight against the spread of international Communism, and had gone outside the bounds of the Asian Commonwealth to include such states as Indonesia.
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• DEA-R, vol. 5595, file: 12882-WI-40, A. E. Ritchie to Herbert Moran and attached draft memorandum to Cabinet, 5 July 1961. The Canadian position was one thing, but the British, and especially the Colonial Office, opposed the idea. See Ashton and Killingray, The West Indies, 336.
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• RG 2, vol. 6257, Cabinet Conclusions, 7 September 1961.
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• OECD Archives, Florence, Italy, OECD-1167, Development Assistance Committee, DAC/AR/M(62)7, “Working Party on the Annual Aid Review,” 4 October 1962. The DAC was a committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and was designed to coordinate and review Western aid to the developing world.
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• DEA-R, vol. 5647, file 14020-WI-I, Herbert Moran, “Memorandum for the Minister,” and attached draft memorandum for cabinet, 4 October 1962. See also vol. 5647, file 14020-WI-I, Director General, External Aid Office to High Commissioner, 11 February 1963.
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• Canadian Annual Review for 1962 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1963), 110.
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• OECD-1166, OECD/DAC 61(2), “The Flow of Financial Resources to Countries in the Course of Economic Development in 1961,” 14 October 1961. See also Canadian Annual Review for 1963 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1964), 343.
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• DEA-R, vol. 5397, file: 10824-A-40, Ritchie, Memorandum for the Minister, 30 April 1963. The revival of the old two-way trade route between Nova Scotia and the Caribbean was designed to appeal to the province's voters.
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• DEA-R, vol. 5595, file: 12882-B44–40, Robertson to Minister, 6 May 1963. For the reasons why the FWI failed, see F. A. Barrett, “The Rise and Demise of the Federation of the West Indies,” in Roberta Marx Delson (ed.), Readings in Caribbean History and Economics (London: Gordon and Breach, 1981), 292–299. See also OECD-1167, Development Assistance Committee, DAC/AR(67)2/04, “Annual Aid Review 1967,” 31 May 1967. Finally, see various sections of Ashton and Killingray, The West Indies.
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• DEA-R, vol. 5595, file: 1415–40, “Record of a Meeting Between the Prime Minister of Canada and the President of the United States, Hyannisport, MA, 10–11 May 1963.” For the context of the meeting, see Greg Donaghy, Tolerant Allies: Canada and the United States, 1963—68 (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2002), 16–21.
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• RG 2, vol. 6258, Paul Martin, “Memorandum to Cabinet,” Cabinet Doc. 360/63, 7 November 1963. See also RG 2, vol. 6258, Cabinet Conclusions, 14 November 1963.
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• DEA-R, vol. 9047, file: 20–4-CCCC, Paul Martin, “Memorandum for the Prime Minister,” 6 May 1964.
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• A. E. Ritchie, Memorandum of Commonwealth Division, 4 January 1965, RG 25, file: 20–4-CCCC, LAC.
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• DEA-R, vol. 9047, file: 20–4-CCCC, Gordon Robertson, “Memorandum for Paul Martin,” 26 May 1965. See also DEA-R, vol. 9047, file: 20–4-CCCC, Ritchie to Arnold Smith, 31 May 1965.
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• DEA-R, vol. 9047, file: 20–4-CCCC, Pearson's marginalia on Paul Martin, “Memorandum for the Prime Minister,” 6 January 1966. See also West Indies-Canada Economic Relations, Selected Papers Prepared in Connection with the Canada-Commonwealth Caribbean Conference, July 1966.
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• Tennyson, Canadian-Caribbean Relations, 60.
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• DEA-R, vol. 9047, file: 20–4-CCCC, Minutes of an Interdepartmental Meeting, 29 January 1966.
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• DEA-R, vol. 9047, file: 20–4-CCCC, Martin, “Memorandum for the Prime Minister,” 27 April 1966. There was a mini flurry of activity in parts of Canada over the impending meeting. See, for example, “The West Indies and the Atlantic Provinces of Canada,” papers from a Conference Organized by the Canadian National Commission for UNESCO and the Institute of Public Affairs, Dalhousie University, 18–20 May 1966.
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• DEA-R, vol. 9047, file: 20–4-CCCC, Minutes of Ad Hoc Cabinet Committee on Canada-West Indies Conference, 1 June 1966.
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• Cabinet Conclusions, 5 July 1966, RG 2, vol. 6259, LAC.
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• DEA-R, vol. 9047, file: 20–4-CCCC, Marcel Cadieux, “Memorandum for the Minister,” 18 July 1966.
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• Alan Gotlieb, “Memorandum for the Minister,” 20 June 1980, RG 25, vol. 9123, 20–4-CCCC-1, LAC.
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• See Ralph Paragg, “Canadian Aid in the Commonwealth Caribbean: Neo-Colonialism or Development?” in Brian Tennyson (ed.), Canada and the Commonwealth Caribbean (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1988), 325. In total, Canada pledged aid totaling $75 million over five years between 1966 and 1971. The actual allocation was for more than $100 million. See also Glyn Berry, “The West Indies in Canadian External Relations: Present Trends and Future Prospects,” in Tennyson, Canadian-Caribbean Relation, 349. However, from the Canadian side, a document was produced. See “The Implications for Canada of a Canada-Commonwealth Caribbean Free Trade Arrangement,” A Contract Study foe the Canadian Government by the Private Planning Association of Canada, Montreal, June 1969.
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• Robert Chados, Canada and the Caribbean Connection, pp. 70 71.
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• Alan Gotlieb, “Memorandum for the Minister,” 20 June 1980, RG 25, vol. 9123, 20–4-CCCC-I, LAC.
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