The Legacy of Military Training in the Canadian Arctic

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The Legacy of Military Training in the Canadian Arctic

Today the likelihood of Canada being attacked by either land, sea or air seems remote. Our territory and sovereignty are not only protected by our own resources but those of our allies as well. Yet the increasing globalization of our world continues to create pressures that will eventually boil over. With this in mind Clio’s Current has previously discussed the Canadian Arctic. We have focused on the importance (or lack thereof) to assertions of territorial sovereignty made by past and present Canadian governments, but we have yet to examine in any depth the possibility of Canada’s north coming under attack. Although such an idea may seem farfetched, it’s important to reflect on a time when the Canadian Arctic was vulnerable and concerns for many were high in our country

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Cloudy Visions: Weapons and Defence in Canada

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The infamous mushroom cloud synonymous with a nuclear explosion evokes a different response depending on audience. Most will immediately harken back to the Second World War when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. Others may think of Cold War nuclear tests by Britain and the former Soviet Union (Russia). Depending on perspective, you might awe at the display of power or cringe at the thought of chaos and annihilation. Today we are far removed from the volatile circumstances that resulted in the first use of atomic weaponry, despite what former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev might think. Yet the evolution and proliferation of weapons technology continues at a rapid pace, and destruction of both property and peoples is ongoing. In attempting to somehow measure or quantify human life, many scholars point to death toll statistics in times of both war and peace. These studies aim not to reduce the fragility of human existence to numbers, but rather to help explore the conditions that led to an awful reality. One of those conditions is weapons creation, and on that topic Canada is certainly not as innocent as many think.

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Canada’s Secret History with Germ Warfare

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In recent weeks international media coverage of the Ebola outbreak has dipped. This does not suggest that the severity of the outbreak has been overlooked, but highlights rather the partial ability of the media to influence public perception of events with an international concern. Even still, by now most are aware that Canadian scientists worked diligently and effectively to invent and produce one of the world’s most promising vaccines against Ebola. Most are not aware, however, that Health Canada recognized the need for an Ebola vaccine nearly a decade ago and assigned scientists with the Public Health Agency of Canada to isolate one.

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Lessons from the Air: Jet Interceptors and Canadian Security

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As tensions between Russia and Ukraine continue in the Crimea region, news dropped recently that Canadian fighter jets intercepted two Russian Tupolev Tu-95 long-range bombers. The intercept took place about 75 kilometres off Canada’s Arctic coastline, according to command headquarters at North American Aerospace Defence (NORAD). Major Beth Smith, spokeswoman for NORAD, confirmed that the Russian bombers flew a course in “the western reaches” of Canada’s Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the Beaufort Sea. Canada’s sovereign airspace is defined at 22 kilometres from each coast, but the ADIZ extends well beyond to a range of 320 kilometres.

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Cold War Economics: The Interesting Case of Canada and Cuba

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This past year Clio’s Current examined Canada’s role in the Cold War which lasted roughly from 1945 to 1991. Throughout that time the United States combated the spread of communist ideology, and as a close North American partner Canada certainly did its part. Our examination of Canada in the Cold War thus focused on the evolution and development of bilateral relations between Canada and the US. Seldom in our five-part series did we stray far from that narrative, and so to not suggest that Canada’s Cold War was predicated solely by its relationship to the US, in today’s post we examine Canada’s economic policy towards Latin America with a particular focus on Cuba.

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Ukrainian Independence in Historical Perspective

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The ongoing situation in Eastern Europe and the Crimea has found a great deal of attention in media and public circles alike. Much of the focus has been on the volatility of military action and the potential for increased hostility in the immediate region, while media coverage of the situation internationally has explored in significant detail the impact of economic sanctions on Russian action. It is unfortunate that the civilian story often seems tertiary to events most told, so in today’s post we focus on the history of Ukrainian nationalism with an eye to understanding government response in Canada to episodes in the push for Ukrainian independence.

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Canada's Cold War Part V

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Canada’s Cold War is often incorrectly dichotomized in historical scholarship. Examinations into the era often produce work strictly focused on the "front lines" (Europe) or "home front" (North America). Over the past few months we have probed Canada’s Cold War experience using a variety of analyses and perspectives, and have attempted to reconstruct a nuanced narrative to introduce our readers to some of the key events and personalities that shaped socio-cultural, political, technological, and economic change in Canada and abroad between the 1940s and 1970s. Today, in our fifth and perhaps final installment of Cold War history, we seek to determine if Canada was able to act autonomously during the era.

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Canada's Cold War Part IV

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Over the course of the past few months we have examined Canada’s role in the Cold War. Our examination thus far has situated Canadian interests generally within a North American context, where the United States has featured predominantly as Canada’s primary Cold War ally. Today we shift our focus away from North America and the Canada-United States bilateral relationship to examine a unique episode of the Cold War when Canada acted autonomously from its closest postwar allies.

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Canada's Cold War - Part III

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This post is part three of our examination into Cold War Canada. In our first post we situated Canada’s post-1945 national interests within the context of a North American bilateral security relationship with the United States, and in our second post we broadened that framework to examine social and cultural implications that resulted from the so-called “Gouzenko Affair” of 1945-46 and the subsequent “Red Scare” that took hold in Canada as well as the United States. Today we return to the topic of national security to further examine the unique defence relationship which emerged in northern North America during the early Cold War period.

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Is Nuclear War Conceivable? A Cautionary Retrospective on the Escalating ‘Crisis in Ukraine’

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Since the so-called ‘Crisis in Ukraine’ made international headlines, speculations abound over the possibility of escalated war. Considering that U.S. President Barack Obama has led international leaders in the continued condemnation of Russian action toward Ukraine, it’s not surprising that concerns over a potential war have been partially wrapped in Cold War rhetoric. Both the United States and Russia have maintained their nuclear arsenals and international intervention in the Crimea remains a real and perhaps immanent possibility, but is there any real legitimacy to the comparisons drawn between the contemporary situation and the Cold War which characterized the second-half of the twentieth century? Setting ideological considerations aside, this post provides a brief overview of the post-1945 technological strategic balance to answer this question.

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Canada’s Cold War – Part II

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This is the second post in a series which examines Canada’s Cold War. In our first post, we provided a framework to situate Canada’s postwar interests within a North American security context. Canada’s foreign and domestic policy in this era was to a large degree predicated by its role in the Commonwealth, but the geo-strategic vulnerabilities of northern North America forced a reorientation of Canada’s national allegiances. The United States replaced Britain as Canada’s primary security partner, and the Cold War’s impact on Canada must be understood accordingly.

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Canada's Cold War - Part I

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Today we launch the first of a series of posts examining Canada's Cold War. It is a political history and our aim is to explore the ups and downs of the relationship between Canada and America. Canada's Cold War was anything but boring – as you will find out in the coming weeks – but we not always the most stalwart ally to our American neighbours.

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Canada's Role in Global Nuclear Activity

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A six-nation group made up of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – U.S., Britain, France, Russia, and China – and Germany, has struck an accord with Iran that will see it open its nuclear program to international inspection. The deal in principle had been in place since November, but remained unsigned prior to this week. Massimo Aparo of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will head the inspections, which will include talks with Iranian nuclear officials as part of a verification process to determine the scope and capability of Iran’s nuclear activity

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