Canada's Autonomy: The Chanak Affair Of 1922

A century ago, Canada was under control by the British Empire. The battles we fought the treaties we signed and the disputes we solved all helped us gain independence from our mother country “Britain”. Canadians fought a long battle protecting others, and from these battles we gained our peaceful reputation and our independence from Britain. Canada became a nation on July, 1st 1867. Although we were an independent country, our affairs and treaties were all still signed by Britain. In the next years Canada would establish its own government, and lead its own affairs. Many important events led to Canada’s independence, one of the earliest signals that Canada wanted to establish autonomy was the Chanak affair of 1921. In addition the battle of

The affair took place in Chanak, Turkey. The dispute involved Turks and the British. During the course of the affair, British troops were outnumbered; they were in need of more troops, so they requested Canada’s help. Unlike previously where Canada was automatically at war when Britain declared war, Prime minister King who was in power at that time, insisted that he would have to consult the parliament for a vote, before sending Canadian troops on this mission. He wanted to make decisions on behalf of his country; he believed that “Britain could not assume that Canada would automatically answer her call”. Although this dispute was solved before things got out of hand, it was apparent that Canada wanted to have a say in its affairs. This Chanak affair signaled that Canada wanted independence from

The crisis took place on the Suez-Canal in Egypt during the cold war years of the 1950’s. Gamal Abdel-Nasser was in charge of Egypt in 1954. He wanted to improve conditions in Egypt, and so he decided that he would build the Aswan Dam. In order to fund the construction of the dam he seized the Suez- canal, and charged each passage that sailed across it. The British, French, and the Israelis, who strongly opposed the idea, used this as a reason to attack Egypt. Canada refused to participate in the Suez canal crisis, “this action was a symbolic gesture that showed both England and the World that Canada was now a fully autonomous nation in total control of its foreign policy” (http://mrmillerss11.blogspot.ca/2010/02/feb-24-canadas-autonomy-timeline.html) . To stop any violence that would soon abrupt Lester. B.Pearson came up with the idea of “peacekeeping”. He stated “We are now emerging into an age when different civilizations will have to learn to live side by side in peaceful interchange, learning from each other, studying each other’s history and ideals, art and culture, mutually enriching each other’s lives.» His idea of peacekeeping appealed to many people, and therefore gained him an international reputation, a few years later he earned the Nobel Peace prize. In CBCs news report it is said that Pearson; “had also fulfilled his dream to give Canada an independent place on the world