Redefining Canadian: A history of Canada and the origins of the United Nations Organization, 1941--1945

When World War II began, Canada was a British dominion. It was governed by a prime minister who was afraid of international commitments and an under-secretary with isolationist tendencies. While technically independent, the country had no real foreign policy to speak of.; Over the next five years, Canada became a self-proclaimed middle power and an active, enthusiastic participant in the creation of one of the most recognized symbols of internationalism in the world: the United Nations Organization. The Canadian people, who to this point had been, at best, ambivalent when it came to world affairs, reinvented themselves as concerned and responsible international citizens.; These accomplishments were real, but it is easy to exaggerate Canada's overall impact on the development of the new world order. The writing of the history of Canadian external relations has been dominated by its most idealistic civil servants, individuals who have provided self-serving and at-times misleading recollections of the policy process. National histories, which have drawn heavily from these accounts, have consequently over-estimated Canada's importance to the planning of the United Nations Organization during World War II.; There is no question that Canada changed dramatically during the war, but the government's new interest and activity in global affairs should not be confused with international influence. As a middle-sized state, Canada was generally on the periphery during what were primarily great power negotiations to form the United Nations. In well over its head, and coming to grips with an expanded role in the world community for which it had not asked, its successes internationally were relatively minor.; None of this, however, diminishes the importance of the process of founding the United Nations Organization to Canadian history. Rather, instead of assessing the significance of this period in terms of how Canada changed the world, it is time to consider more carefully how planning a new world order changed Canada.