-
Quebec's Padlock Law
-Protected Canada from Communist propaganda
-Inspired by an amendment of the Criminal Code initiated during the Winnipeg General Strike (1919)
-CBC's A People's History: Fear and Comfort episode explained and talked about the baby boom and events of the Cold War. -
Spies in Canada: Gouzenko Affair
-Igor Gouzenko, born in the Soviet Union in 1919, worked for the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa 1943.
-Learning that he and his family were going to be sent back to live under Soviet life and politics he did not agree with, Gouzenko chose to offer the Canadian government secret documets.
-Exposed the work of Soviet spies, helping officials to convict 18 of the 39 spies to criminal activity. -
Berlin Blockade (The Iron Curtain)
Allies organise airlift-The first international crisis of the Cold War.
-The boundary seperating countires under Soviet influence (communism) from other European countries.
-The USA, Canada, France, and Britain began to find the Soviet's intentions suspicious.
-Soviet Union attempts to force the allies to give up their established rights by physically blocking all supply lines to West Berlin. Fails:
-Blockade physically fails, but succeeds in causing international tension. -
International Alliances: NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was formed as a defence pact to protect members from further Soviet threat.
-All members pledged to defend each other, and that an attack against one country is an attack against them all.
-12 founding members: Belgium, Britatin, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the USA. Many more members have joined.
-Rival military alliance: The Warsaw Pact worked to build a defensive arms race of nuclear weapons. -
The Korean War
-Communist North Korea and China attack South Korea.
-All UN members called to help condemn the attack of North Korea.
-Only 16 of the member nations aided the war effort where over 400 Canadians were killed with 1000 wounded.
-Truce in 1953.
-UN ensured South Korea their independence. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War is a result of the prolonged intentions of Communist countries to transform Vietnam's government, and America's defences to prevent it. France attempted to reclaim the land, and Vietnam turned to China for support. The US backed up France, and the war ended in 1975. Draft evasion is the decision to go against conscription. Draft dodgers were those that practiced draft evasion. During the Vietnam War, draft dodgers from America came to Canada. -
UN Peacekeeping (Suez Crisis and Lester Pearson)
After Israel was recognised by the UN post-WWII, Arabs who had previous historical claims on the area refused to accept it and sought out to destroy it. Cold war super powers found allies in the Middle East to provide aid and sell artillery to. After the Suez Canal was taken over by the Arabs, Britain, France, and Israel attacked Egypt bringing international conflict between NATO and NORAD. Lester Pearson created the UN peacekeeping force to attempt to keep peace to troubled parts of the world. -
Sputnik/Canadian Space Program
The Soviet Union launches the first Sputnik satellite. The rocket that put Sputnik in orbit around Earth was also built to be used to deliver a nuclear warhead to any spot in North America. This caused even higher tensions between the Soviets and Americans, and caused both sides to build intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs. -
Avro Arrow
The Avro Arrow was an advanced fighter jet made and built by Canadians. Its production was cancelled costing 14,000 people their jobs. John Diefenbaker ordered ready-made American Bomarc missiles for Canada's defence in its place. -
Continental Alliances
-NORAD, the North American Air Defence agreement was signed in 1958 and provided the mutual defence between Canada and the USA.
-Canada allows America to build defence installations in the NWT to create the Distant Early Warning system known as the DEW line. This system picked up approaching enemy aircraft/missiles from 4800 km away. -
The Cuban Missile Crisis
building missilesThe Soviet's space-bound rocket used to deliver nuclear warheads to any spot in North America created high tensions that had both Americans and Soviets capable of destroying all life on Earth many times over. Trillions of dollars were spent on military spending and seen as a very high priority. After several years, the Soviet economy could not compete with the technological advances of America. -
Diefenbaker, Bomarc Missiles and Nuclear Warheads in Canada
John Diefenbaker, a great, persuasive speaker promised prosperity in Canada when he was elected Prime Minister. He declared the support of nuclear warheads and bomarc missiles in Canada for defence purposes, and many western farmers supported him. Opposingly, voters in Quebec and Newfoundland and big cities did not agree with him because the economy was slowing down and unemployment was increasing. -
Canada-Soviet Hockey Series
Canada's belief that their teams composed of NHL players could not be defeated by the Soviet's. A series was finally organised in 1972. Both teams shocked each other leaving a 3-3 tie before the tie breaking game. Canada won the last game of the series and brought a tremendous boost in national pride from the victory. -
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
The Fall of the Berlin WallAn eastern Germany official names Gunter Schabowski announced to the people that the wall separating East and West Berlin was opened, and that travel through the border was possible. As a shock to the whole nation, many crossed over and reunited with their families and old friends to celebrate. -
The Fall of the Soviet Union
As the world watched in amazement, the Soviet Union disintegrated into fifteen separate countries. The main causes were that the economy was failing due to excessive spending on the military, the Communist government was not promising enough, and the citizens began to move toward a Capitalism belief and as a result attempted to remove Gorbachev from goverment.
