Canada Takes a Stand for IndependenceChanak CrisisThe Halibut TreatyThe Imperial ConferenceThe Balfour ReportThe Statute of Westminster

Review WWI

The Chanak Crisis 1922• Chanak was a Turkish

port controlled by Britain

- Condition of one of the treaties from the Paris Peace Conference

• 1922 British occupation troops threatened by Turkish Nationalists

- threat to the British Empire

The Chanak Crisis Significance

• Britain asked Prime Minister King for help

****First time we refused unconditional support for the British Empire in war

The Halibut Treaty 1923• Canada and the US

negotiated a treaty to protect the Halibut stocks in BC and Alaska

• Treaty established the international Pacific Halibut Commission

- Way to co-manage the Pacific

The Halibut Treaty Significance• Canada negotiated

the treaty without involving British officials

- British protested!

• Seen as a victory in independent diplomacy for Mackenzie King

- Key argument at the Imperial Conference

The Imperial Conference of 1926• Conference in which

the dominions of the British Empire requested formal recognition of their autonomy

• Where Canada made its greatest progress towards legal independence

The Balfour Report 1926•Reported the conclusions of the Imperial

Conference

•Acknowledged that Canada was an autonomous community within the British Empire, and not subordinate to Britain

•The Canadian Governor General was only a representative of the British Monarch

Prime Minister Mackenzie King

Leader of the Liberal Party

Governor General Lord Byng

Representative of the British Monarch in Canada

Arthur Meighen

Leader of the Conservative Party

The King Byng Crisis of 1926• In 1926 the Governor General refused the Prime

Minister’s request to dissolve Parliament and call an election

•Significance- Mackenzie King publically challenged

Britain over the role of the Governor General and Britain's influence on Canada’s internal politics

The King-Byng Crisis Story Time•1925 ElectionLiberals win fewer seats than

Conservatives- King forms minority coalition government with

Progressive party, so King stays in power!

Conservatives Angry!- Call for a vote of disapproval over King’s Liberal

Government- Progressives avoid scandal and back out of

coalition

The King-Byng Crisis 1926•King asked Byng to now dissolve

parliament call an election- Knows he will win!

Byng Refuses - King Resigns- Meighen asked to form a new government

The King-Byng Crisis 1926•Meighen Government fails!- Subject to a vote of non-confidence

•Byng forced to dissolve Parliament- Election set for September 1926

Return of the King!•1926 Election•King and his

Liberals win a majority

•All of that Drama for the same ending

The Statute of Westminster 1931•Legalized the Balfour Report

•Formally turned the British Empire into the British Commonwealth

- Canada autonomous within the Commonwealth

The Dominion of Canada now independent from British colonial powers

- We controlled our own foreign policy

Restrictions on Canada’s Independence1. The British North

American Act remained

Why?- Canadian Federal and

Provincial governments could not agree on Amending Formula

2. Judicial Committee of the Privy Council remained the final court of appeal for Canadians