Canada becomes independent from Great Britain

The 1920s were a transitional decade in Canada’s relationship with Great Britain. Following World War I, Canada gained much more autonomy over its political and financial destiny. Constitutionally, it grew from a dominion with control only over its internal affairs, subservient to Great Britain on all matters of foreign policy, into an equal country within the British Commonwealth, able to manage its own relationships with other countries. The United States would soon supplant Great Britain as Canada’s major trading partner.

Canada’s relationship with Great Britain changed significantly as a result of World War I. By the end of the war in 1918, Canada had sent some six hundred thousand troops to the front lines of Europe, and a further nine thousand sailors to protect the Atlantic crossing. It had provided increasing financial support to the Allied war effort, especially as Britain’s own treasury became more and more depleted. This contribution, combined with a new sense of its own power and influence, led Canada to demand the right to sign the Treaty of Versailles, which would officially end the war, redraw the map of Europe, and establish the League of Nations.

First Steps to Independence from Britain

Canada had previously been independent only in its internal governance, with its foreign policy left entirely in the hands of the British government. By demanding a seat at the Paris Peace Conference at Versailles, Canada was claiming a separate voice in its foreign policy. The British prime minister, David Lloyd George, was willing to accede to Canada’s request, but he had to persuade France and the United States to do the same. In the end, Canada, represented by Prime Minister Robert Borden, entered the negotiations both with its own voice and as part of the British Empire delegation.

When the League of Nations was created in 1919, again Canada requested and received a seat apart from Great Britain, becoming one of the forty-two original nations to sign its protocols. The United States, which had opposed a separate Canadian seat at first, ultimately declined to join. By and large, Canada’s voice did not differ from Britain’s during the 1920s, though it would at times in the following years. However, the principle of Canadian independence on the world stage had been established.

Over the course of the decade, as the British Empire transitioned into the British Commonwealth of Nations, no Canadian leader was willing to push the matter much further. The Union leader Harold Borden, the Conservative leader Arthur Meighen, and, above all, the Liberal leader Mackenzie King were all staunchly pro-British in their sympathies, and remained so even as a mood of nationalism and even isolationism began to manifest throughout the country. For King, Canada was still “the Britain of the West.”

The Imperial Conferences

Before and during the 1920s, periodic conferences gathered in London that included the leaders of the various British colonies and dominions, such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. An Imperial War Conference had met in 1917 to coordinate imperial military strategy. After World War I, the British Empire was even stronger than before, having absorbed a large number of former German colonies. It was hoped, by the British at least, that a common imperial foreign policy could emerge, but this became increasingly unlikely as some of the dominions became more nationally self-aware.

In the 1921 conference, Canada found itself playing a new role over one particular issue: that of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, which had prompted Japan to enter World War I on the side of the Allies. Lloyd George wanted to renew the defensive treaty, as did Australia and New Zealand, countries that would be directly affected by any Japanese hostility. Canada, however, was aware of the United States’ suspicion of Japan and antipathy toward renewal, and so played the American solidarity card, holding out against Britain. The treaty renewal was put on hold until the next year, when the United States would be involved in worldwide naval negotiations. In the end, a policy of naval disarmament was agreed on in 1922, and the Alliance lapsed, as it had little further meaning.

Canada also made it clear to Lloyd George that he could not automatically count on Canadian support in other foreign policy matters. When the Chanak Crisis arose in Turkey in September of 1922, Mackenzie King, the new Canadian prime minister, made his differences with Lloyd George known. In the end, the incident would help to bring down Lloyd George’s government.

Before the 1923 Imperial Conference, King appointed O. D. Skelton, an isolationist, as his chief civil servant. At the conference, he made it clear to Stanley Baldwin, the new British prime minister, that Canada would be independent from British foreign policy. British foreign minister Lord Curzon preferred not to have to consult with Canada and the other dominions over foreign treaty negotiations, and proceeded to write Canada out of any British agreement. This meant, in effect, that Canada could choose whether or not to abide by British foreign policy decisions.

The 1926 and 1930 conferences faced up to the implications of this independence. No legal or constitutional changes had yet been made, although Canada was now sending its own high commissioners and legations—carefully refraining from using the terms “embassy” and “ambassador”—to such capitals as London, Washington, Paris, and Tokyo. At the 1926 conference, an agreement was reached that the dominions of Great Britain should be formally recognized as, in the words of the Balfour Declaration of 1926, “autonomous communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown.” The 1930 conference saw debate over the terms of what would, the following year, be enacted as the Statute of Westminster. Under this statute, Canada became an independent country within the Commonwealth, owing common allegiance to the British sovereign as its own.

Trade and Immigration

Canadian trade with other countries was based on the Imperial Preference tariff, established in 1897, whereby preference was given to the exports of countries within the British Empire. In practice, this meant that, until World War I, Canada had a ready market in Britain for its wheat, lumber, and minerals, although elsewhere it faced growing competition from other grain-exporting countries. This arrangement came under increasing strain during the war, when Canada needed capital to expand its manufacturing and export capabilities. Much of this capital and some of the material had to come from the United States, as Britain’s financial resources and manufacturing were already committed to its own war effort. As a result, Canada had to increase trade with the United States, so much so that, in 1918, Canadian imports from the United States accounted for 82 percent of all imports.

Throughout the 1920s, many American companies set up subsidiary companies within Canada to get around the Imperial Preference tariffs. In addition, during American Prohibition, the more relaxed Canadian laws meant that large quantities of liquor were being smuggled into the United States. By mid-decade, the trade balance had swung decisively in America’s favor. Trade links with Britain and British investment continued, of course, but always as a shrinking percentage of Canada’s overall trade and investment. By 1930, American investment in Canada stood at four billion dollars, twice as much as British investment.

What did not change, however, was Canada’s status as the most popular destination for British emigrants (apart from the Irish). Between 1920 and 1924, 36 percent of British immigration was to Canada, a total of 383,868 people; between 1925 and 1929, that number stood at 261,477, around 35 percent of all British emigrants. In a total population of some twelve million, these were not insignificant numbers. The effect of this influx of Brits was to keep Canada emotionally tied to the mother country, even though, of course, immigrants were also arriving from Central and Eastern Europe. Commonalities of language, culture, and history were constantly being renewed.

London and Washington

One of the challenges that Canada faced during the 1920s was its struggle to find the correct balance between its relationships with Britain and with the United States. American popular culture swept into Canada during this decade, even though Canadian artists and writers did their best to counter it with their own cultural output. Francophone Canada had always been suspicious of British influence, but while King and his Liberal Party remained in power, that suspicion was held in check.

Britain was slower than the United States to recognize Canada’s shift toward autonomy. Canada and the United States negotiated directly with each other in the so-called Halibut Treaty of 1923, which addressed West Coast fishing rights, and was the first Canadian treaty negotiated independently of Britain. The United States appointed a minister to Ottawa in 1927; Britain sent their high commissioner a full year later.

King had originally been elected prime minister in 1921. In the 1925 elections, he was narrowly defeated by Arthur Meighen and the Conservatives and attempted to form a minority government with the Progressives. When this failed, King asked Lord Byng, the governor-general, to dissolve Parliament and call for new elections. Byng refused and asked Meighen to form a government instead. When Meighen failed and requested that Byng dissolve Parliament, Byng agreed. King subsequently campaigned on undue British interference, condemning Byng for refusing his original request, and won in the 1926 elections.

The relationship between Canada and Great Britain remained amicable, however. The next year, which was Canada’s Diamond Jubilee, the sixtieth anniversary of Canadian statehood, the popular Prince of Wales, later to become King Edward VIII, attended the festivities as the representative of the Crown. Prime Minister Baldwin was also present, the first British prime minister to visit the dominion. The event was feted as highly as George VI’s later visit prior to the outbreak of World War II.

Impact

The 1920s saw the result of Canada’s commitment to Great Britain and the British Empire in World War I. Its developing political autonomy and sense of statehood demonstrated its growth as a modern industrial nation, one finally on an equal footing with Britain. However, despite the pull of the United States in terms of financial strength, trade ties, and growing cultural influence, Canada still embraced Britain’s history and imperial tradition as an essential part of its national identity.

Bibliography

Bothwell, Robert. The Penguin History of Canada. Toronto: Penguin, 2006. Contains information on the various Imperial Conferences of the decade.

Brown, Judith M., and William Roger Louis, eds. The Oxford History of the British Empire: The Twentieth Century. Vol. 10. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Puts Canada’s progress into the wider context of events in the British Empire.

Morton, Desmond. A Short History of Canada. 6th ed. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2006. A standard account of the period, set in the overall context of Canadian history.

See, Scott W. The History of Canada. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001. A succinct history with detailed notes on the 1920s.