Relations after the Second World War
During the Second World War the Canadian government and the United States government worked closely together, including the building of the Alaska Highway by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Following the war the United States transferred the portion of the highway traversing Canada to the Canadian government, which has maintained it ever since, rebuilding several portions to improve its route, which was originally laid out for military purposes. The paving of the entire highway was completed in the 1980s. The road was not needed for the purpose for which it was built – supplying war materiel to Alaska – most of since most was delivered by sea and air.
The end of the Second World War meant the end of the British Empire, and as British influence over world affairs waned that of the United States grew. Canada and the United States became ever closer as allies and trading partners, though numerous disputes regarding trade continued in the decades following the war, some into the twenty-first century. American and Canadian cultural and social values have blended in some areas since the war, and grown distant in others. Differences of opinion regarding health care, for example, arose in the late twentieth century, particularly the differences in the cost borne by the consumer.
Canada opposed American involvement in the Vietnam War during the 1960s, and the invasion of Iraq in 2003, but it remained a supporter in anti-terror operations. A brief burst of American enthusiasm for its northern neighbor occurred in 1980 when it was revealed that the Canadian embassy in Tehran had sheltered and helped six American diplomats escape from Iran during the 1979-80 hostage crisis. American gratitude towards the Canadians was shown throughout the United States with billboards exclaiming thanks, and Canadian flags were flown nationwide. Later treatments of the story by filmmakers limited the Canadian efforts somewhat.
Joint military training exercises between the United States and Canada have continued since World War II, with Canada an active member of NATO. Canadian warships work with US Navy task groups, and American and Canadian anti-submarine warfare operations include mutual efforts. They also work together in anti-smuggling operations, and anti-piracy efforts. Despite these considerable improvements in Canadian and American relations since the end of the Second World War, there are still several areas of dispute between the two nations which diplomats have worked on resolving. One of these is the Northwest Passage, which Canada claims as an internal waterway, and the United States claims is an international passage.
The Northwest Passage is a waterway through the Arctic Archipelago connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. With the decline of the polar ice, portions of the passage are now more readily navigable through the use of ice breakers. Ships which are too large to use the Panama Canal can traverse the Passage, shaving thousands of miles from voyages, with the resulting savings in fuel costs. European and Asian nations, as well as the United States contend that the passage is an international waterway open to free navigation. The Canadian government claims it as territorial waters. It is just one more in a long history of disputes between the United States and Canada.
Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“Liberty or Death: Wars that Forged a Nation”, by Carl Benn and Daniel Marston, 2006
“Seward’s Folly: A New Look at the Alaska Purchase”, by Lee A. Farrow, 2016
“How a pig nearly changed U.S. history”, by Chuck Woodbury, RV Travel.
“Alaska Boundary Dispute”, by D. M. L. Farr, entry, The Canadian Encyclopedia, February 6, 2006
“A People and a Nation”, by Mary Beth Norton, 2014
“Raiding the Ice Box”, by Peter Carlson, The Washington Post, December 30, 2005
“Plain Sailing on the Northwest Passage”, by Kathryn Westcott, BBC News, September 19, 2007