Canada–United States relations

Canada – United States relations

Canada	United States

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper (right) and US President Barack Obama (left) meet in Ottawa in February 2009

Relations between Canada and the United States span more than two centuries, sharing British colonial heritage, conflict during the early years of the United States, and the eventual development of one of the most successful international relationships in the modern world. Each is the other's chief economic partner, and indeed the two economies have increasingly merged since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) of 1994. In addition, there has always been large scale immigration between the two nations, and since 1900 large-scale tourism as well.

The most serious breach in the relationship was the War of 1812, which saw an American invasion of then British North America and counter invasions from British-Canadian forces. The border was demilitarized after the war and, apart from minor raids, has remained peaceful. Military collaboration began during the World Wars and continued throughout the Cold War, though with Canadian doubts about certain American policies. A high volume of trade and migration between the United States and Canada has generated closer ties, despite continued Canadian fears of being overwhelmed by its neighbor, which is ten times larger in terms of population and economy. James Tagg reports that Canadian university students have a profound fear that "Canadian culture, and likely Canadian sovereignty, will be overwhelmed."

Canada and the United States are currently the world's largest trading partners, share the world's longest unmilitarized border, and have significant interoperability within the defense sphere. Recent difficulties have included repeated trade disputes (despite a continental trade agreement), environmental concerns, Canadian concern for the future of oil exports, and issues of illegal immigration and the threat of terrorism. The foreign policies of the neighbors have been closely aligned for the Cold War and after, though Canada has disagreed with American policies regarding the Vietnam War, the status of Cuba, the Iraq War, Missile Defense, and the War on Terrorism. A minor diplomatic debate is whether the Northwest Passage is in international waters or under Canadian jurisdiction.

Canada remains Americans' favorite foreign nation and the U.S. is high on the Canadian international agenda. An undercurrent of anti-American sentiment is fueled by Canadian fears of American cultural hegemony and the weakening of a distinctive Canadian culture.

Country comparison

	Canada	United States
Population	34,023,000	308,195,000
Area	9,984,670 km2 (3,854,085 sq mi)	9,629,091 km2 (3,717,813sq mi)
Population Density	3.4/km2 (8.3/sq mi)	31/km2 (80/sq mi)
Capital	Ottawa, Ontario	Washington, D.C.
Largest City	Toronto – 2,503,281 (5,555,912 Metro)	New York City – 8,363,710 (19,006,798 Metro)
Government	Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy	Federal presidential constitutional republic
Official languages	English and French	None at federal level
Main religions	63.6% Christianity, 30.5% non-Religious or unstated, 2% Islam, 1.1% Judaism, 1% Buddhism, 1% Hinduism	78.4% Christianity, 16.1% non-Religious, 1.7% Judaism, 1.2% Other, 0.7% Buddhism, 0.6% Islam, 0.4% Hinduism
Ethnic groups	75% White/European, 5.5% Aboriginal, 4.6% South Asian, 4.3% Chinese, 3.3% Other Asian, 3.2% Black/African, 2.5% Middle Eastern, 0.3% Latin American	74% White American, 14.8% Hispanic and Latino Americans (of any race), 13.4% African American, 6.5% Some other race, 4.4% Asian American, 2.0% Two or more races, 0.68% American Indian or Alaska Native, 0.14% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
GDP (nominal)	2008 IMF estimates: US$1.499 trillion ($45,085 per capita)	2008 IMF estimates: US$14.441 trillion ($47,440 per capita)
Military expenditures	$18.28 billion (FY 2009-10)	$663.7 billion (FY 2010)

History

Mingling of peoples

From the 1750s to the 21st century, there has been extensive mingling of the Canadian and American populations, with large movements in both directions.

New England Yankees settled large parts of Nova Scotia before 1775, and were neutral during the American Revolution. At the end of the Revolution, about 75,000 Loyalists moved out of the new United States to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the lands of Quebec west and south of Montreal. From 1790 to 1812 many farmers moved from New York and New England into Ontario. In the early 20th century, the opening of the Prairie Provinces attracted many farmers from the American Midwest. Two distinctive groups were "Pennsylvania Dutch" Mennonites, and Mormons who went from Utah to form communities in Alberta after the Mormon Church rejected plural marriage in the 1890s. The 1960s saw the arrival of about 50,000 draft-dodgers who opposed the Vietnam War.

In the late 19th and early 20th century about 900,000 French Canadians moved to the U.S., with 395,000 residents there in 1900. Two-thirds went to mill towns in New England, where they formed distinctive ethnic communities. By the late 20th century they had dispersed more widely, and abandoned the French language, but most kept the Catholic religion. About twice as many English Canadians came to the U.S., but they did not form distinctive ethnic settlements.

Canada was a way-station through which immigrants from other lands stopped for a while while ultimately heading to the U.S. In 1851-1951, 7.1 million people arrived in Canada (mostly from Europe), and 6.6 million left Canada, mostly to the U.S.

American Revolution

An editorial cartoon on Canada – United States relations, 1886

At the outset of the American Revolution, the American revolutionaries hoped the French Canadians in Quebec and the Colonists in Nova Scotia would join their rebellion and they were pre-approved for joining the United States in the Articles of Confederation. When Canada was invaded during the American Revolutionary War, thousands joined the American cause and formed regiments that fought during the war; however most remained neutral and some joined the British effort. The British advised the French Canadians that the British Empire already enshrined their rights in the Quebec Act, which the American colonies had viewed as one of the Intolerable Acts. The American invasion was a fiasco and Britain tightened its grip on its northern possessions; in 1777 a major British invasion into New York led to the surrender of the entire British army at Saratoga, and led France to enter the war as an ally of the U.S. The French Canadians largely ignored France's appeals for solidarity. After the war Canada became a refuge for about 75,000 Loyalists who either wanted to leave the U.S., or were compelled by Patriot reprisals to do so. Among the original Loyalists, who were of many ethnic backgrounds, there were 3500 free blacks. Most went to Nova Scotia and in 1792, 1200 migrated to Sierra Leone. About 2000 black slaves were brought in by Loyalist owners; they remained slaves in Canada until the Empire abolished slavery in 1833. Before 1860, about 30,000-40,000 escaped slaves used the Underground Railroad to escape to British North America.

War of 1812

The Treaty of Paris (1783), which ended the war, called for the British to vacate all their forts south of the Great Lakes border. The British refused to do so, citing failure of the United States to provide financial restitution for Loyalists who had lost property in the war. The Jay Treaty in 1795 with Great Britain resolved that lingering issue and the British departed the forts. Thomas Jefferson saw the nearby British imperial presence as a threat to republicanism in the United States, and so he opposed the Jay Treaty, and it became one of the major political issues in the United States at the time.

Tensions mounted again after 1805, erupting into the War of 1812, when the Americans declared war on Britain. The Americans were angered by British harassment of U.S. ships on the high seas and seizure ("Impressment") of 6,000 sailors from American ships, severe restrictions against neutral American trade with France, and British support for hostile Indian tribes in Ohio and territories the U.S. had gained in 1783. American "honor" was an implicit issue. The Americans were outgunned by more than 10 to 1 by the Royal Navy, and so a land invasion of Canada was proposed as the only feasible means of attacking the British Empire. Americans on the western frontier also hoped an invasion would bring an end to British support of Native American resistance to the westward expansion of the United States, typified by Tecumseh's coalition of tribes. The U.S. strategy in 1812 was to temporarily seize Canada as a means of forcing concessions from the British. There was some hope that settlers in western Canada—most of them recent immigrants from the U.S. --would welcome the chance to overthrow their British rulers. However, the American invasions were incompetent and were defeated primarily by British regulars with support from Indians and Upper Canada (Ontario) militia. Major British invasions of New York in 1814 and Louisiana in 1814-15 were poorly handled and the British retreated, leaving both sides about where they were in 1812. With the collapse of Napoleon, the British ended naval policies that angered Americans; with the defeat of the Indian tribes that threat to American expansion was ended. The upshot was neither side had anything to fight over, and the war ended by a treaty that took effect in February 1815.

In later years, Canadians, who remain loyal to the Empire well into the 20th century, viewed the War of 1812 as a successful resistance against invasion and as a victory that defined them as a people. A common theme in Canadian political rhetoric ever since has been the protection of Canadian culture from American influence and possible integration into the American political, cultural and economic realm.

Dominion of Canada

A Canadian Mountie and a U.S. State Trooper in 1941

Canada became a self-governing dominion in 1867 in internal affairs while Britain controlled diplomacy and defense policy. Prior to Confederation, there was an Oregon boundary dispute in which the Americans claimed the 54th degree latitude. That issue was resolved by splitting the disputed territory; the northern half became British Columbia, and the southern half the states of Washington and Oregon. Strained relations with America continued, however, due to a series of small-scale armed incursions named the Fenian raids by Irish-American Civil War veterans across the border from 1866 to 1871 in an attempt to trade Canada for Irish independence. The American government, angry at Canadian tolerance of Confederate raiders during the American Civil War, moved very slowly to disarm the Fenians. The British government, in charge of diplomatic relations, protested cautiously, as Anglo-American relations were tense. Much of the tension was relieved as the Fenians faded away and in 1872 by the settlement of the Alabama Claims, when Britain paid the U.S. $15.5 million for war losses caused by warships built in Britain and sold to the Confederacy.

Disputes over ocean boundaries on Georges Bank and over fishing, whaling, and sealing rights in the Pacific were settled by international arbitration, setting an important precedent.

Alaska boundary

Much more controversial was the Alaska boundary dispute, settled in favor of the United States in 1903. At issue was the exact boundary between Alaska and Canada, specifically whether Canada would have a port near the present American town of Haines that would give access to the new Yukon goldfields. The dispute was settled by arbitration, and the British delegate voted with the Americans—to the astonishment and anti-British disgust of Canadians who suddenly realized that Britain considered its relations with the United States paramount compared to those with Canada.

1907 saw a minor controversy over USS Nashville sailing into the Great Lakes via Canada without Canadian permission. Partly in response, in 1909 the two sides signed the International Boundary Waters Treaty and the International Joint Commission was established to manage the Great Lakes.

Economic ties and migration had deepened by this era, but were not equal. In 1901 there were 128,000 American-born residents in Canada (3.5% of the Canadian population) and 1.18 million Canadian-born residents in the United States (1.6% of the U.S. population).

Canadian autonomy

Canada demanded and received permission from London to send its own delegation to the Versailles Peace Talks in 1919, with the proviso that it sign the treaty under the British Empire. Canada subsequently took responsibility for its own foreign and military affairs in the 1920s. Its first ambassador to the United States, Vincent Massey, was named in 1927. Canada became an active member of the British Commonwealth, the League of Nations, and the World Court, none of which included the U.S.

Relations with the United States were cordial until 1930, when Canada vehemently protested the new Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act by which the U.S. raised tariffs (taxes) on products imported from Canada. Canada retaliated with higher tariffs of its own against American products, and moved toward more trade within the British Commonwealth. U.S.-Canadian trade fell 75% as the Great Depression dragged both countries down.

In the 1930s, the United States Army War College developed hypothetical war plans for a possible war with Canada; they featured an invasion in War Plan Red; it was merely an academic exercise. Similarly, Canada developed Defence Scheme No. 1 to counteract an American invasion. Canadian defence was organized against an American invasion until the onset of World War II.

World War II

The two nations cooperated closely in World War II, as both nations saw new levels of prosperity and a determination to defeat the Axis powers. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King and President Franklin D. Roosevelt were determined not to repeat the mistakes of their predecessors.

King sought to raise Canada's international visibility by hosting the August 1943 Quadrant conference in Quebec on military and political strategy; he was a gracious host but was kept out of the important meetings by Winston Churchill and Roosevelt.

Canada allowed the construction of the Alaska Highway and participated in the building of the atomic bomb. 49,000 Americans joined the RCAF (Canadian) or RAF (British) air forces through the Clayton Knight Committee, which had Roosevelt's permission to recruit in the U.S. in 1940-42.

American attempts to integrate British Columbia into a united West Coast military command aroused Canadian opposition. In the mid 1930s, fearing a Japanese invasion of Canada's vulnerable coast, American officials urged the creation of a united military command for an eastern Pacific Ocean theater of war. Canadian leaders feared American imperialism and the loss of autonomy more than a Japanese invasion. After Canada's entrance into the war in Sept. 1939 the King government agreed to the establishment of the Permanent Joint Board on Defence (PJBD) in 1940. In 1941, Canadians successfully argued within the PJBD for mutual cooperation rather than unified command for the West Coast.

Newfoundland

The United States built large military bases in Newfoundland, at the time a British crown colony. The American involvement ended the depression and brought new prosperity; Newfoundland's business community sought closer ties with the United States as expressed by the Economic Union Party. Ottawa took notice and wanted Newfoundland to join Canada, which it did after hotly contested referenda. There was little demand in the United States for the acquisition of Newfoundland, so the United States did not protest the British decision not to allow an American option on the Newfoundland referendum.

Cold War

Following co-operation in the two World Wars, Canada and the United States lost much of their previous animosity. As Britain's influence as a global imperial power declined, Canada and the United States became extremely close partners. Canada was a close ally of the United States during the Cold War.

Nixon Shock 1971

The United States had become Canada's largest market, and after the war the Canadian economy became dependent on smooth trade flows with the United States so much that in 1971 when the United States enacted the "Nixon Shock" economic policies (including a 10% tariff on all imports) it put the Canadian government into a panic. This led in a large part to the articulation of Prime Minister Trudeau's "Third Option" policy of diversifying Canada's trade and downgrading the importance of Canada – United States relations. In a 1972 speech in Ottawa, Nixon declared the "special relationship" between Canada and the United States dead.

Defense and international conflict

File:NORADCommandCenter.jpg

North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), long headquartered in the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center in Colorado, exemplifies military co-operation between Canada and the U.S.

The Canadian military, like forces of other NATO countries, fought along side the United States in most major conflicts since World War II, including the Korean War, the Gulf War, the Kosovo War, and most recently the war in Afghanistan. The main exceptions to this were the Canadian government's opposition to the Vietnam War and the Iraq War, which caused some brief diplomatic tensions. Despite these issues, military relations have remained close.

American defense arrangements with Canada are more extensive than with any other country. The Permanent Joint Board of Defense, established in 1940, provides policy-level consultation on bilateral defense matters. The United States and Canada share North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) mutual security commitments. In addition, American and Canadian military forces have cooperated since 1958 on continental air defense within the framework of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). There is also an active military exchange program between the two countries under which Canadian Forces personnel have been involved in Iraq. Moreover, interoperability with the American armed forces has been a guiding principle of Canadian military force structuring and doctrine since the end of the Cold War. Canadian navy frigates, for instance, integrate seamlessly into American carrier battle groups.

War in Afghanistan

Main article: Canada's role in the invasion of Afghanistan

Canada's elite JTF2 unit joined American special forces in Afghanistan shortly after the al-Qaida attacks on September 11, 2001. Canadian forces joined the multinational coalition in Operation Anaconda in January 2002. On April 18, 2002, an American pilot accidentally bombed Canadian forces involved in a training exercise, killing four and wounding eight Canadians. A joint American-Canadian inquiry determined the cause of the incident to be pilot error, in which the pilot interpreted ground fire as an attack; the pilot ignored orders that he felt were "second-guessing" his field tactical decision. Canadian forces assumed a six-month command rotation of the International Security Assistance Force in 2003; in 2005, Canadians assumed operational command of the multi-national Brigade in Kandahar, with 2,300 troops, and supervises the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kandahar, where al-Qaida forces are most active. Canada has also deployed naval forces in the Persian Gulf since 1991 in support of the UN Gulf Multinational Interdiction Force.

The Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC maintains a public relations web site named CanadianAlly.com, which is intended "to give American citizens a better sense of the scope of Canada's role in North American and Global Security and the War on Terror".

The New Democratic Party and some recent Liberal leadership candidates have expressed opposition to Canada's expanded role in the Afghan conflict on the ground that it is inconsistent with Canada's historic role (since the Second World War) of peacekeeping operations.

2003 Invasion of Iraq

See also: Canada and the Iraq War and Canada and Iraq War resisters

According to contemporary polls, the majority of Canadians were opposed to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Many Canadians, and the former Liberal government of Paul Martin (as well as many Americans such as Bill Clinton and Barack Obama), made a policy distinction between conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, unlike the Bush Doctrine, which linked these together in a "Global war on terror".

Trade

Main article: Canada – United States trade relations

Canada and the United States have the world's largest trading relationship, with huge quantities of goods and people flowing across the border each year. Since the 1987 Canadian–American Free Trade Agreement, there have been no tariffs on most goods passed between the two countries.

With such a massive trading relationship, trade disputes between the two countries are frequent and inevitable. In the course of the softwood lumber dispute, the U.S. has placed tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber because of what it argues is an unfair Canadian government subsidy, a claim which Canada disputes. The dispute has cycled through several agreements and arbitration cases. Other notable disputes include the Canadian Wheat Board, and Canadian cultural "restrictions" on magazines and television (See CRTC, CBC, and National Film Board of Canada). Canadians have been criticized about such things as the ban on beef since a case of Mad Cow disease was discovered in 2003 in cows from the United States (and a few subsequent cases) and the high American agricultural subsidies. Concerns in Canada also run high over aspects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) such as Chapter 11.

One ongoing and complex trade issue involves the importation of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada to the United States. Due to the Canadian government's price controls as part of their state-run medical system, prices for prescription drugs can be a fraction of the price paid by consumers in the unregulated American market. While laws in the United States have been passed at the national level against such sales, specific state and local governments have passed their own legislation to allow the trade to continue. American drug companies—often supporters of political campaigns—have come out against the practice.

According to a 2007 study commissioned by the Canadian Embassy in the United States, Canadian–American trade supported 7.1 million American jobs.

U.S. State	U.S. Jobs Supported	Rank
Alabama	72,000	24
Alaska	13,000	48
Arizona	89,000	22
Arkansas	45,000	32
California	626,000	1
Colorado	93,000	21
Connecticut	67,000	27
Delaware	16,000	46
District of Columbia	29,000	38
Florida	289,000	4
Georgia	152,000	10
Hawaii	26,000	39
Idaho	23,000	43
Illinois	237,000	5
Indiana	112,000	14
Iowa	55,000	30
Kansas	51,000	31
Kentucky	69,000	26
Louisiana	73,000	23
Maine	24,000	41
Maryland	101,000	20
Massachusetts	134,000	13
Michigan	174,000	8
Minnesota	103,000	19
Mississippi	43,000	34
Missouri	108,000	16
Montana	16,000	45
Nebraska	36,000	36
Nevada	43,000	35
New Hampshire	24,000	42
New Jersey	153,000	9
New Mexico	30,000	37
New York	348,000	3
North Carolina	151,000	11
North Dakota	13,000	49
Ohio	212,000	7
Oklahoma	58,000	29
Oregon	63,000	28
Pennsylvania	219,000	6
Rhode Island	19,000	44
South Carolina	69,000	25
South Dakota	15,000	47
Tennessee	108,000	15
Texas	369,000	2
Utah	44,000	33
Vermont	12,000	50
Virginia	141,000	12
Washington	108,000	17
West Virginia	25,000	40
Wisconsin	103,000	18
Wyoming	9,000	51
Total	5,210,000

Media

• List of Canadian television stations available in the United States
• List of United States stations available in Canada

Environmental issues

Flags of Canada and the United States

The two countries work closely to resolve trans-border environmental issues, an area of increasing importance in the bilateral relationship. A principal instrument of this cooperation is the International Joint Commission (IJC), established as part of the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 to resolve differences and promote international cooperation on boundary waters. The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1972 is another historic example of joint cooperation in controlling trans-border water pollution. However, there have been some disputes. Most recently, the Devil's Lake Outlet, a project instituted by North Dakota, has angered Manitobans who fear that their water may soon become polluted as a result of this project. The two governments also consult semi-annually on trans-border air pollution. Under the Air Quality Agreement of 1991, both countries have made substantial progress in coordinating and implementing their acid rain control programs and signed an annex on ground level ozone in 2000. Despite this trans-border air pollution remains an issue, particularly in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence watershed during the summer. The main source of this trans-border pollution results from coal fired power stations, most of them located in the Midwestern United States.

Currently neither of the countries' governments support the Kyoto Protocol, which set out time scheduled curbing of greenhouse gas emissions. Unlike the United States, Canada has ratified the agreement. Yet after ratification, due to internal political conflict within Canada, the Canadian government does not enforce the Kyoto Protocol, and has received criticism from environmental groups and from other governments for its climate change positions.

Illicit drugs

In 2003 the American government became concerned when members of the Canadian government announced plans to decriminalize marijuana. David Murray, an assistant to U.S. Drug Czar John P. Walters, said in a CBC interview that, "We would have to respond. We would be forced to respond." However the election of the Conservative Party in early 2006 halted the liberalization of marijuana laws for the foreseeable future. The Canadian government currently grows marijuana for medicinal purposes only in former copper mines.

Arar affair

Main article: Maher Arar

On September 26, 2002, U.S. officials, acting upon a tip from Canadian law enforcement, detained Maher Arar on suspicion of terrorist links. Arar is a dual citizen of Canada and Syria and was traveling through New York as part of a trip from Tunisia to Canada.

Despite traveling on a Canadian passport, Arar was deported to Syria, his country of birth. He was imprisoned there for over a year and tortured repeatedly. The decision by U.S. officials to deport him to Syria, his imprisonment and torture there, and the extent of collaboration between U.S. and Canadian officials became a political issue in Canada at the time.

Canadian officials have since said that Arar was not linked in any way to terrorism, and the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has issued a formal apology and a $10.5 million (CAD) settlement to Arar, who nonetheless remains on an American terrorist watchlist.

Diplomacy

Governor General of Canada Michaëlle Jean (right) and US President Barack Obama meet in Ottawa in February 2009.

Territorial disputes

See also: List of areas disputed by Canada and the United States

These include maritime boundary disputes:

• Dixon Entrance
• Beaufort Sea
• Strait of Juan de Fuca
• San Juan Islands
• Machias Seal Island and North Rock

Territorial land disputes:

• Aroostook War (Maine boundary)
• Alaska Boundary Dispute
• Pig War

and disputes over the international status of the:

• Northwest Passage
• Inside Passage

Arctic disputes

A long-simmering dispute between Canada and the U.S. involves the issue of Canadian sovereignty over the Northwest Passage (the sea passages in the Arctic). Canada’s assertion that the Northwest Passage represents internal (territorial) waters has been challenged by other countries, especially the U.S., which argue that these waters constitute an international strait (international waters). Canadians were incensed when Americans drove the reinforced oil tanker Manhattan through the Northwest Passage in 1969, followed by the icebreaker Polar Sea in 1985, both without asking for Canadian permission. In 1970, the Canadian government enacted the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act, which asserts Canadian regulatory control over pollution within a 100-mile zone. In response, the United States in 1970 stated, "We cannot accept the assertion of a Canadian claim that the Arctic waters are internal waters of Canada…. Such acceptance would jeopardize the freedom of navigation essential for United States naval activities worldwide." A compromise of sorts was reached in 1988, by an agreement on "Arctic Cooperation," which pledges that voyages of American icebreakers "will be undertaken with the consent of the Government of Canada." However the agreement did not alter either country's basic legal position. In January 2006 David Wilkins, the American ambassador to Canada, said his government opposes Stephen Harper's proposed plan to deploy military icebreakers in the Arctic to detect interlopers and assert Canadian sovereignty over those waters. In August 2007, former US ambassador to Canada, Paul Cellucci, stated that in 2005 he informed his government that it should re-evaluate its assertion that the Northwest Passage is an international sea body, and that it should belong to Canada. His advice was rejected and in 2007 Bush and Harper took opposite positions.

Common memberships

Template:UKUSA Canada and the United States both hold membership in a number of multinational organizations such as:

• Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
• Food and Agriculture Organization
• G-8
• G-10
• G-20 major economies
• International Chamber of Commerce
• International Development Association
• International Monetary Fund
• International Olympic Committee
• Interpol
• North American Free Trade Agreement
• North American Aerospace Defense Command
• North American Numbering Plan
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization
• Organization of American States
• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
• Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America
• UKUSA Community
• United Nations
• UNESCO
• World Health Organization
• World Trade Organization
• World Bank

The current state of relations

Shortly after being congratulated by U.S. President George W. Bush for his victory in February 2006, Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper rebuked U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins for criticizing the Conservatives' plans to assert Canada's sovereignty over the Arctic Ocean waters with armed forces. Harper's first meeting with the U.S. President occurred at the end of March 2006; and while little was achieved in the way of solid agreements, the trip was described in the media as signaling a trend of closer relations between the two nations.

Prime Minister Harper called and congratulated the then President-elect, Barack Obama, on his victory over John McCain, and he assured the President-elect that the two countries will become the greatest of allies. After he was inaugurated, on January 20, 2009, as President of the United States, it was announced that Mr. Obama's first international trip would be to Canada, which took place on February 19, 2009.

Quotations

• President John F. Kennedy: "Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies. Those whom nature hath so joined together, let no man put asunder."

• Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau once remarked that Canada being America's neighbor, "is like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered the beast, if one can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt."

• Prime Minister John Sparrow Thompson: "These Yankee politicians are the lowest race of thieves in existence." - made during sensitive trade talks with US in 1893.

• Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, speaking at the beginning of the 1891 election (fought mostly over Canadian free trade with the United States), Macdonald said: "As for myself, my course is clear. A British subject I was born—a British subject I will die. With my utmost effort, with my latest breath, will I oppose the ‘veiled treason’ which attempts by sordid means and mercenary proffers to lure our people from their allegiance." - , Feb 3, 1891.

• President Harry S. Truman: "Canada and the United States have reached the point where we can no longer think of each other as foreign countries."

• Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, speaking in the Soviet Union in 1971, said that the overwhelming American presence posed "a danger to our national identity from a cultural, economic and perhaps even military point of view."

• President Richard Nixon, during his visit to Ottawa in 1972, declared that the "special relationship" between Canada and the United States was dead. "It is time for us to recognize," he stated, "that we have very separate identities; that we have significant differences; and that nobody's interests are furthered when these realities are obscured."

• The Prime Minister Harper's office in a released statement congratulating Barack Obama on his inauguration said: "The United States remains Canada’s most important ally, closest friend and largest trading partner and I look forward to working with President Obama and his administration as we build on this special relationship."

• "We of the United States consider ourselves blessed. We have much to give thanks for. But the gift of providence we cherish most is that we were given as our neighbors on this wonderful continent the people and the nation of Canada." President Johnson. Remarks at Expo '67, Montreal, May 25, 1967.

• President Barack Obama speaking in Ottawa, Ontario at his first official international visit February 19, 2009: "I love this country. We could not have a better friend and ally"

Diplomatic missions

Canadian missions in the United States

Canada's chief diplomatic mission to the United States is the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C.. It is further supported by many Consulates located through America. The Canadian Government supports Consulates in several major U.S. cities including: Anchorage, Atlanta^‡, Boston^‡, Buffalo^‡, Chicago^‡, Dallas^‡, Denver^‡, Detroit^‡, Houston, Los Angeles^‡, Miami^‡, Minneapolis^‡, New York City^‡, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Raleigh, San Diego, San Francisco/Silicon Valley^‡ and Seattle^‡

• ‡ denotes mission is Consulate General

There are also trade offices located in Princeton and Palo Alto

American missions in Canada

The United States's chief diplomatic mission to Canada is the United States Embassy in Ottawa. It is further supported by many consulates located through Canada. The American government supports consulates in several major Canadian cities/regions including: Calgary, Halifax, Northwest Territories^‡, Nunavut^‡, Montreal, Quebec City, Southwestern Ontario^‡, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Yukon^‡.

• ‡ denotes mission is a Virtual Presence Post (VPP)

See also

• Canadian and American economies compared
• Definitions of Canadian borders
• Foreign relations of Canada
• Foreign relations of the United States
• Etiquette in Canada and the United States
• Continental One Highway
• Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America

Further reading

• Doran, Charles F., and James Patrick Sewell, "Anti-Americanism in Canada," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 497, Anti-Americanism: Origins and Context (May, 1988), pp. 105–119 in JSTOR
• Stephen Clarkson, Uncle Sam and Us: Globalization, Neoconservatism and the Canadian State (University of Toronto Press, 2002),
• J. L. Granatstein. Yankee Go Home: Canadians and Anti-Americanism (1997)
• J. L. Granatstein and Norman Hillmer, For Better or for Worse: Canada and the United States to the 1990s (1991)
• John W. Holmes. "Impact of Domestic Political Factors on Canadian-American Relations: Canada," International Organization, Vol. 28, No. 4, Canada and the United States: Transnational and Transgovernmental Relations (Autumn, 1974), pp. 611–635 in JSTOR
• Patrick Lennox. At Home and Abroad: The Canada-US Relationship and Canada's Place in the World (University of British Columbia Press; 2010) 192 pages; the post-World War II period.
• Graeme S. Mount and Edelgard Mahant, An Introduction to Canadian-American Relations (1984, updated 1989)
• Graeme S. Mount and Edelgard Mahant, Invisible and Inaudible in Washington: American Policies toward Canada during the Cold War (1999)
• Bruce Muirhead, "From Special Relationship to Third Option: Canada, the U.S., and the Nixon Shock," American Review of Canadian Studies, Vol. 34, 2004 online edition
• Reginald C. Stuart. Dispersed Relations: Americans and Canadians in Upper North America (2007) excerpt and text search
• James Tagg. "'And, We Burned down the White House, Too': American History, Canadian Undergraduates, and Nationalism," The History Teacher, Vol. 37, No. 3 (May, 2004), pp. 309–334 in JSTOR
• C. C. Tansill, Canadian-American Relations, 1875-1911 (1943)
• John Herd Thompson and Stephen J. Randall, Canada and the United States: Ambivalent Allies (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2008), 387pp
• Faces of War at Library and Archives Canada
• Engler, YvesThe Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy, Co-published: RED Publishing, Fernwood Publishing, April 2009, ISBN 978-1-55266-314-1

External links

• Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
• Embassy of the United States of America in Ottawa, Ontario
• Canadian Society of New York - formed in 1897 to foster a spirit of good will between Canada and the United States. For 106 years it held an annual gala to honor distinguished Canadians or Americans who devoted their careers to strengthening the ties between the two countries.
• Canadian Association of New York
• Congressional Research Service reports on Canada-U.S. Relations