Canada and the World

Cuba, The UN, Human Rights, The Korean War, Canada and the Commonwealth, The Vietnam War

Chapter 11.4

Cuban Missile Crisis Crisis began on October 22nd, 1962 Pres. Kennedy learned that the Soviet Union

was building missile sites in Cuba Kennedy demanded that the Soviet ships turn

around The Soviets refused to turn around The world thought that nuclear war was

imminent Kennedy asked Diefenbaker to put the

Canadian military on high alert Diefenbaker thought that this would only

heighten the tensions with the Soviet Union

Canada and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (John

Humphrey, a McGill University professor was one of the main authors of the Declaration)

General Assembly the main deliberative body of the UN – all 192

nation-states have representatives in this body The Security Council

mandated to maintain peace and security 5 permanent members – USA, Rusia, Britain,

France, China ▪ each have veto power over Security Council decisions

Flag of the United Nations

Universal Declaration of Human Rights John Humphrey, a McGill University

professor was one of the main authors of the Declaration

Heritage Minute on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

States that all people of the world ought to have basic civil, economic, social and political rights

The Commonwealth Since the Statue of Westminster in

1931, the Commonwealth (a group of independent nations) had replaced the Empire

In the 1950s and 60s many former colonies became independent and joined the Commonwealth e.g. India became independent from Britain

in 1947 under the leadership of Ghandi and then joined the Commonwealth

The Commonwealth Games

Canada and the U.S.A.

Canada was becoming very close economically with the U.S.

Canada was militarily close with the U.S. (NORAD, NATO, etc.)

Canada fought along side the U.S. in the 1950’s Korean War (p278) but was not close with the U.S. on the issue of the Vietnam War (1960’s-70’s)

The Korean War

On June 25th, 1950 communist N. Korea invaded and defeated non-communist S. Korea

The UN Security Council agreed to send UN forces to push the N. Koreans out of S. Korea

Canada participated in the war, alongw ith the U.S. and other Western nations, by contributing 27,000 military personnel

An armistice was reached on July 27th, 1953

The Vietnam War

Canada did not support the Vietnam War (U.S. and South Vietnamese against the North Vietnamese PM Pearson criticized the American war we allowed “draft dodgers” to immigrate to

Canada Much like the Korean War, the North

Vietnamese (Viet Cong) were Communist and were supported by China and Russia The U.S. wanted to support the people and

politics in South Vietnam

Tunnels in the Vietnam War

The Vietnam War Over 58,000 American soldiers have

their names on the Vietnam War memorial in Washington D.C.

The North Vietnamese army won the war Americans were forced to flee Saigon

(capital of the South, now known as Ho Chi Minh City)

Many Canadians (over 30,000) fought voluntarily in the Vietnam war (not with the Canadian government)

Vietnam War Memorial, Washington