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Quebec's Padlock Law
The Padlock Law is officially called "Act to protect the Province Against Communistic Propaganda" and was an act implemented in Quebec to stop the spread of communist propeganda. It allowed a judge to lock any housing or print used to propegate communism for one year. In 1957 the supreme court called the law unconstitutional. -
Gouzenko Affair
Gouzenko was a soviet spy who discovered many secrets of the american military and government. His biggest accomplishment was discovering the secrets of the atomic bomb. In 1945, the soviet union wanted to deport his family back to Russia so he offered the Canadian government secrets of the soviets in return for protection. He became a national hero who wore a white hood when in public under his real name to protect his identity. -
Berlin Blockade
The Soviet Union built a wall around Berlin so that they could block all supply lines to the city from the allies. However, this failed because allies airlifts food and other supplies over the walls. The wall succeeded in raising tension between the allies and the Soviet Union. -
International Alliance: NATO
NATO (north atlantic treaty organization) was a pact between ally countries to defend against soviet attack. There were 12 founding members including Belgium, Britain, Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal and the USA. They agreed to deter or discourage any Soviet attack. -
The Korean War
Communist North Korea and China decided to attack South Korea in 1950. The United Nations got involved and asked members to "render every assistance" to South Korea. Only 16 members agreed to help, with Canada being the third largest aid. Almost 25000 Canadians travelled to South Korea and over 1000 were wounded and 406 were killed. A truce was called in 1953 but Canadian soldiers stayed until 1955 to keep peace. -
Vietnam War and Draft Dodgers
The Vietnam war was fought between communist North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The war lasted for 20 years. During this war, many americans travelled to live in Canada to avoid conscription into this war. 20,000 to 30,000 draft-eligible American men came to Canada. They were called draft dodgers. -
Diefenbaker
Diefenbaker was a conservative leader who was voted into power in 1958 by his public speaking and promises of a brighter future with thousands of jobs. However, after he cancelled the use of the avro arrow, he ordered ready-made American Bomarc imssiles for Canada. Warheads were not allowed in Canada so this limited the Americans control of when the missiles could be used. This caused many job losses and Diefenbaker was disliked by many in big cities. In 1963 he lost the election to the Liberals -
Sputnik and Canada's Space Program
Sputnik was a soviet satalitte that scared the Allies because the rocket that sent it into outerspace was strong enough to deliver a nuclear weapon anywhere in the USA. So, the USA created ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) that could carry weapons long range. In return, the Soviets also built long-range missiles -
Suez Crisis and Pearson's Nobel Prize
The Suez Canal, Egypt was an important waterway which the allies wanted to take control of, so they attacked Egypt. The soviet union sided with Egypt. Pearson, Canada's secretary of state, came up with a solution. He called for the ending of all shooting in Egypt and to create a UN peacekeeping force to patrol the borders. 800 Canadian soldiers travelled to Egypt and UNEF (United Nations Emergency Force) grew to 6000. UNEF stayed until 1967 and Pearson received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1957. -
NORAD
NORAD (North American Air Defence) was created to defend against missiles from the Soviets. Americans built the DEW (Distant Early Warning) line in Northern Canada which was a radar system to detect any incoming unidentified objects from over 4800 km away. Many Canadians were unhappy because they felt like they were loosing their control over their own safety because the USA was monitoring all radar even though it was in Canada. Other Canadians were happy to be united with the USA. -
Avro Arrow
The Avro Arrow was a supersonic, interceptor, jet aircraft being created by Canadians. However, Diefenbaker (Prime Minister in 1958) cancelled its creation and ordered american missiles to be used in its place. This cost 14000 Canadians their jobs and slowed the economy. Many Canadians were unhappy with this and diefenbaker was voted out of parliament in 1963. -
The Cuban Missile Crisis
Using spy planes, USA discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba that could easily be used to attack anywhere in North America. The USA created a blockade around Cuba so missiles could not be sent there. Canadians suggested that Cuban bases should be examined instead of the blockade, but the blockade remained. Soviets ships turned back before reaching the blockade because of the threat of war. -
Canadian-Soviet Hockey Series
Canada had never been able to beat top European teams, mostly from Russia, in the olympic and world championships but Canadians believed that the Russians would not be able to beat a Canadian team made completely of NHL players. In 1972, a series played by Canadian NHL players and the top Russia team began. Each team had won 3 games but in the final game, Paul Henderson scored in the last minutes to bring Canada the victory. This boosted national Canadian Pride. -
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
Communism began to weaken in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia in 1988 and 1989. Suddenly, on the evening of November 9, 1989 an East german official made an announcement stating "Permanent relocations can be done through all border checkpoints between the GDR (East Germany) into the FRG (West Germany) or West Berlin." This meant all borders were opened and Germans chipped away at the wall. East and West Germany became a single German state again on October 3, 1990. -
The fall of the Soviet Union
This was when the 15 coutries in the Soviet Union split up and became independent states. This was the end of the cold war. Mikhail Gorbachev became general secretary of the soviet union in 1985 and hoped to allow more freedom of speech, restructuring the economy, and allowed more private ownership of land. Many countries began to rebel against Gorbachev to become independent. The communist government was unhappy with this and tried to take back over but failed. The soviet union then divided.
