Canada–United Kingdom relations

The prime ministers of five Commonwealth countries at the 1944 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference; from left to right: William Lyon Mackenzie King (Canada), Jan Smuts (South Africa), Winston Churchill (United Kingdom), Peter Fraser (New Zealand), and John Curtin (Australia)

The longstanding relationship between the United Kingdom and Canada formally began in 1867, when the Canadian Confederation federated the North American British crown colonies of the Province of Canada, Province of New Brunswick, and the Province of Nova Scotia. Canada was formed as a dominion of the British Empire.

The history of relations between Canada and Britain, well into the 20th century, is really the story of Canada's slow evolution towards full sovereignty.

World Wars

British General Bernard Montgomery addresses the 11th Canadian Tank Regiment near Lentini, Sicily, in July 1943.

At the outbreak of World War I, the Canadian government and millions of Canadian volunteers enthusiastically joined Britain's side, but the sacrifices of the war and the fact they were made in the name of the British Empire caused domestic tension in Canada and awakened a budding nationalism in Canadians. At the Paris Peace Conference, Canada demanded the right to sign treaties without British permission and to join the League of Nations. By the 1920s, Canada was taking a more independent stance on world affairs.

In 1926, the Balfour Declaration had Britain declare that it would no longer legislate for the dominions, which they were now fully-independent states with the right to conduct their own foreign affairs. That was later formalised by the Statute of Westminster 1931.

Loyalty to Britain still existed, however, and during the darkest days of World War II for Britain, after the fall of France and before the entry of the Soviet Union and the United States as allies, Canada was Britain's main ally in the North Atlantic and a major source of weapons and food.

After the destruction that Germany had inflicted on Europe during the war, Canada's relative economic and military importance was at a peak in the late 1940s, just as Britain's was declining because of military and industrial exhaustion. Both were dwarfed by the new superpowers; however, policymakers in the United States, Britain, and Canada were eager to participate in a lasting military alliance to defend against the Soviet Union, which resulted in the creation of NATO in 1949.

Constitutional independence

Canada and Britain share a head of state, Elizabeth II.

The definitive break in Canada's loyalist foreign policy came during the Suez Crisis of 1956, when the Canadian government flatly rejected calls from the British government for support of the British, French, and Israeli invasion of Egypt. Eventually, Canada helped the three to save face and to extract themselves from a public relations disaster. The Canadian delegation to the United Nations, led by future Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, proposed a peacekeeping force to separate the two warring sides and so he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Meanwhile, Canada's legal separation from Britain continued. Until 1946, Britain and Canada shared a common nationality code. The Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 gave Canadians a separate legal nationality from Britain. Canadians could no longer appeal court cases to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London after 1949.

The final constitutional ties between United Kingdom and Canada ended with the passing of the Canada Act 1982. An Act of the British Parliament passed at the request of the Canadian federal government to "patriate" Canada's constitution, ending the necessity for the country to request certain types of amendment to the Constitution of Canada to be made by the British Parliament. The Act also formally ended the "request and consent" provisions of the Statute of Westminster 1931 in relation to Canada whereby the British parliament had a general power to pass laws extending to Canada at the latter's request.

Formal economic relations between the two countries declined after Britain's accession to the European Economic Community in 1973. In both countries, regional economic ties loomed larger than the historical trans-Atlantic ones. In 1988, Canada signed a free trade agreement with the United States, which became the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994 with the addition of Mexico. Thus, the two nations are now in separate trade blocs: the European Union and NAFTA, respectively. Nevertheless, Britain remains the fifth largest overall foreign investor in Canada. In turn, Canada is the third largest foreign direct investor in Britain.

Despite Canada's long-term shift towards proportionally more trade with the United States, Canada–British trade has continued to grow in absolute numbers. Britain is by far Canada's most important commercial partner in Europe and, from a global perspective, ranks third, after the United States and China. In 2010, total bilateral trade reached over 27.1 billion Canadian dollars, and for the last five year, Britain has been Canada's second- largest goods export market. Britain is the third source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Canada, after the United States and the Netherlands, and Canadian companies invest heavily in Britain. In 2010, the two-way stock of investment stood at almost C$115 billion.[2]

On 9 February 2011, the boards of the London Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange agreed to a deal in which both holding companies for the stock exchanges would merge, creating a leading exchange group with the largest number of listed companies in the world, and a combined market capitalisation of £3.7 trillion (C$5.8 trillion). The merger was ultimately cancelled on 29 June 2011 when it became obvious that TMX shareholders would not give the needed two-thirds approval.[3]

Canada and Britain –are working together on negotiations towards a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union. The agreement has been ratified by the European Parliament and is provisionally in force since 2017.[2]

In 2013, Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of Canada, resigned to take up a position as Governor of the Bank of England.

The two countries have a long history of close collaboration in military affairs. Canada fought alongside Britain and its Allies in World War I. Canadians of British descent, the majority of the country, gave widespread support by arguing that Canadians had a duty to fight on behalf of their Motherland. Indeed, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, despite being French-Canadian, spoke for the majority of English-Canadians when he proclaimed: "It is our duty to let Great Britain know and to let the friends and foes of Great Britain know that there is in Canada but one mind and one heart and that all Canadians are behind the Mother Country."[5] It fought with Britain and its allies again in World War II.

Until 1972, the highest military decoration awarded to members of the British and Canadian Armed Forces, was the Victoria Cross, and 81 members of the Canadian military (including those from Newfoundland) and 13 Canadians serving in British units had been awarded the Victoria Cross. In 1993, Canada created its own Victoria Cross.

In modern times, both are members of the AUSCANNZUKUS military alliance including the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance with the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Both countries are members of NATO and participate in UN peacekeeping operations. Before 2011, both countries' main areas of defense co-operation were in Afghanistan, where they were involved in its dangerous southern provinces. Both have provided air power to the NATO-led mission over Libya. They are still close allies militarily, but it is no longer certain that Canada will follow Britain's lead in international conflicts.

Canada Day celebrations in Trafalgar Square, London

From the conquest of New France to 1966, Britain remained one of Canada's largest sources of immigrants, usually the largest. Since 1967, when Canadian laws were changed to remove preferences that had been given to Britons and other Europeans, British migration to Canada has continued but at a lower level. When the constituent nations of the UK (England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland) are taken together, people of British ancestry still form Canada's largest ethnic group. In 2005, there were 579,620 UK-born people living in Canada, making up 1.9% of population of Canada.[6][7]

Historically, Canadians have traveled to Britain to advance their careers or studies to higher levels than could be done at home. Britain acted as the metropole to which Canadians gravitated, but that function has largely been reduced as the Canadian economy and institutions have developed. The Office for National Statistics estimates that in 2009, 82,000 Canadian-born people were living in Britain.[8] In 2012, that was the third largest community in the Canadian diaspora, after Canadians in the United States, and Canadians in Hong Kong.

In recent years, there has been growing support for the idea of freedom of movement between Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, with citizens able to live and work in any of the four countries, like the Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement between Australia and New Zealand.[9][10]

The contemporary political relationship between London and Ottawa is underpinned by a robust bilateral dialogue at the head-of-government, ministerial and senior officials levels. As Commonwealth realms, the two countries share a monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, and are both active members within the Commonwealth of Nations. In 2011, British Prime Minister David Cameron gave a joint address to the Canadian Parliament, and in 2013, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressed both Houses of the British Parliament.[11][12]

Canadian High Commission, London

British High Commission, Ottawa

Canada maintains a High Commission in London. The United Kingdom, in turn, maintains a High Commission in Ottawa, along with Consulates-General in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, and Vancouver. In recent years, Canada has sought closer Commonwealth cooperation, with the announcement in 2012 of joint diplomatic missions with the UK and of the intention of extending the scheme to include Australia and New Zealand, both of which share a head of state with Canada. In September 2012, Canada and the United Kingdom signed a Memorandum of Understanding on diplomatic co-operation, which promotes the co-location of embassies, the joint provision of consular services, and common crisis response.[13] The project has been criticised by some Canadian politicians as giving the appearance of a common foreign policy and is seen by many in the United Kingdom as an alternative and counterweight to EU integration.

• Canada's future first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, speaking in 1865, hoped that, if the Canadian colonies created a new federation, then Britain and Canada would have "a healthy and cordial alliance. Instead of looking upon us as a merely dependent colony, Britain will have in us a friendly nation, a subordinate, but still powerful people to stand by her in North America in peace or in war."[14]
• Speaking many years later at the beginning of the 1891 election (fought mostly over Canadian free trade with the United States), Macdonald said on February 3, 1891: "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."[15]

• High Commission of Canada in London
• High Commission of the United Kingdom in Ottawa
• List of High Commissioners from the United Kingdom to Canada
• List of Canadian High Commissioners to the United Kingdom
• Canada–European Union relations
• Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement

• Buckner, Phillip Alfred. The transition to responsible government: British policy in British North America, 1815-1850 (1985).
• Jasanoff, Maya. Liberty’s Exiles: The Loss of America and the Remaking of the British Empire (2011).
• Kaufman, Will, and Heidi Slettedahl Macpherson, eds. Britain and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History (3 vol 2005), 1157pp; encyclopedic coverage.
• Lyon, Peter. Britain and Canada: Survey of a Changing Relationship (1976)
• Martin, Ged. "Attacking the Durham Myth: Seventeen Years On." Journal of Canadian Studies 25.1 (1990): 39-59.
• Martin, Ged. Britain and the Origins of Canadian Confederation, 1837-67 (2001).
• Messamore, Barbara Jane. Canada's Governors General, 1847-1878: Biography and Constitutional Evolution (U of Toronto Press, 2006).
• Smith, Andrew. "Patriotism, self-interest and the ‘Empire effect’: Britishness and British decisions to invest in Canada, 1867–1914." Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 41.1 (2013): 59-80.

Government

• Visit Britain the British Tourist Board's Canadian site
• British High Commission The British High Commission in Ottawa
• Canadian High Commission Canadian High Commission in London