|
1929 Crash | Economic Slowdown
| Bennett in Power |
The Ottawa Conference |
Prairie Drought |
Relief |
The Regina Riots | Alberta &
Bible Bill |
Statute of Westminster
| Woodworth & the CCF |
The Union Nationale |
Relief Camps |
Bennett's Conversion |
King's Return |
European Unrest |
Royal Visit
In 1926 an Imperial Conference was held
in England to determine the future of the British Empire
and how it's Dominions would be dealt wit in the future.
One of the main issues was the growing demand from the
Dominions for control over their own affairs and their
foreign relations. The result of the conference was the
Balfour report which recognized the changing nature of
British, Dominion relations and it recognized the right
of every Dominion to advise the Crown concerning it's
own affairs.
Another result was the
termination of the right of the British Government to
disallow any legislation passed by the Dominions. The
evolution of Canada towards more independence was
natural and had been given a boost during the First
World War when it had sacrificed so much and so many
lives on the battlefields of Europe. A feeling of
nationalism had grown from that event and the Balfour
report merely recognized the changes that had to take
place. In
1926 Canada had appointed it's first representative to a
foreign government when Vincent Massey was named as
Canada's Minister to the United States. This was the
first small but important step towards gaining control
of it's own foreign policy.
By 1931 the British
Parliament were ready to give legal recognition to this
process and the decisions arrived at in the Balfour
Report by passing the Statute of Westminster. To replace
the British Empire, the British Commonwealth was brought
into being and was defined as
"the symbol of the free
association of the members of the British Commonwealth
of Nations" The
noted Canadian historian A.R.M. Lower stated
"The indirect refusal to
assist Great Britain over the Chanak incident, 1922, was
the first notice given that Canada would make up her own
mind about foreign affairs. It was followed by the still
more emphatic show of independence involved in the way
in which the Halibut Treaty of 1923 with the United
States was signed.
The
Statute of Westminster came as close as was practical
without revolutionary scissors to legislating the
independence of the 'Dominions' . There is good ground
for holding December 11, 1931 as Canada's Independence
Day, for on that day she became a sovereign state.
Although Canada was not given the right
to change the British North American Act which was the
mainstay of the Canadian system (that would have to wait
until Trudeau brought it home in the 80's), she was
recognized as the only power that could command and
control Canadian internal and foreign affairs from that
point on. By 1949, the Supreme Court of Canada had
become the recognized arena of final appeal rather then
the British Privy Council. Canada had taken the next big
step towards absolute autonomy as a nation had this had
been achieved with benevolent cooperation from all
parties concerned.
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