Canada and Pan America

Abstract

Herman Kahn said recently that Canada is a regional power without a region. Canada is something of a sport, a nuisance to those who like their political geography neat—rather like Australia or Albania. There are arguments for attaching us to various regions or groups of states. If there is one region, however, to which Canada does not naturally belong it is the so-called Western Hemisphere. Although the Rio Treaty somewhat presumptuously included Canada and Greenland in the area to the defence of which Argentina would rush, we are for purposes of election to the Security Council attached to Western Europe. The Western Hemisphere, as I understand it, begins in the east end of London, includes most of England, all of Ireland, and then goes westward into Siberia. The term has acquired a certain geopolitical significance because it has been a handy way to describe the unnatural but historical relationship between the United States and Latin America.