Canada’s World: the Impact of the Great War on Canada’s International Relations, 1919-39

Description

Although scholars understandably stress the development of autonomy for the Dominions in the British Empire after the First World War, with Canada not always in the vanguard whatever its commentators may suggest, that trend was neither as obvious, or influential on subsequent policy, as other factors. These included the stress on a “New World” outlook in North America, the political and diplomatic consequences of the conscription crisis and its repercussions not only for national unity but also for the leadership of the Liberal Party (notably the triumph of Mackenzie King), as well as the economic boom and bust - particularly for commodities, notably wheat, with its enormous impact on the Canadian economy and the popular outlook. These elements combined to define or limit what Canada and its government were prepared to do, before events overseas (and sentiments at home) effectively determined its course of action at the start of the Second World War.

About the Speaker

Hector Mackenzie is a graduate of the University of Toronto and Oxford University, from which he received his doctorate. He taught at the University of Toronto and the University of Western Ontario before he joined the Department of External Affairs as an historian. He has been the Senior Departmental Historian of what is now Global Affairs Canada since 1991. In addition to editing two volumes in the series, Documents on Canadian External Relations, he has published numerous book chapters and articles on Canada’s international relations in the twentieth century, with a particular emphasis on the period from 1935 to 1957. He is an Adjunct Research Professor in the Department of History of Carleton University, a past president of the Association for Canadian Studies, and a member of the editorial board of the foreign service magazine bout de papier.