Canada and the Americas

Abstract

Canada's minister of state for the Americas and consular affairs, Diane Ablonczy, opened the December 2011 ministerial dialogue on the Americas with the questions, is Canada doing in the Americas? How can we do better?1 The contributions to this special issue of International Journal propose to frame some answers to these questions.The contributors to this issue assess the record of Canada's involvement in four areas of inter-American cooperation: democracy and human rights, security, trade and development, and the special case of Cuba. In each instance, the authors undertake critical examination of Canada's engagement in the region since joining the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1990 and, more particularly, following Canada's launch of the new strategy of engagement in 2007. They then put forward some ideas that may help strengthen the impact of Canadian foreign policy in region that has undergone considerable changes over the last twenty years. The special issue closes with two comparative articles, one comparing Ottawa's Americas policy with that of the United States, the other analyzing that policy with reference to the general evolution of Canadian external relations.Our introduction is divided into three parts. The first recalls the context of Canada's interactions with the hemisphere since Ottawa discovered the Americas in 1990. The second part presents the seven contributions to this volume, emphasizing how they illuminate Canada's recent engagement in the region. Finally, we examine more closely the current environment of inter- American relations, particularly in terms ofthat environment's effect on Canada's influence on the inter-American agenda and, more generally, Canada's role in the hemisphere.THE AMERICAS IN CONTEXT SINCE THE END OF THE COLD WARUntil the end of the 1980s Canada's relations with the Americas essentially amounted to its partnership with the United States. Although Canadian businessmen and missionaries had travelled to Latin America and the Caribbean many decades before, diplomatic contacts started only during World War Two, and for long time, relations with countries south of the Rio Grande remained sparse.Ottawa's decision to join the OAS in 1990 was signal meant to assure Latin American and Caribbean countries that Canada, no longer satisfied with maintaining only commercial relations in the region, sought fullfledged membership in the hemispheric community. Given the limited size of the Americas constituency in Canada at the time, this decision was not the result of domestic pressure. Nor was it due to economic interests, as trade and investment with the region, except for the Canada-US relationship, were minimal. The decision was motivated primarily by what was happening in the region and the world during the latter half of the 1980s. Canada's trade environment was perceived to be increasingly threatening. Multilateral trade negotiations were becoming much more difficult, as illustrated by the slow progress of the Uruguay round, while world trade was felt to be progressively constrained by trade blocs. At the same time, the regional scene was changing rapidly, with democratic regimes replacing dictatorships all over Latin America and protectionist policies giving way to greater openness toward the world economy.2 It was thus easier to sell stronger involvement in hemispheric affairs to the Canadian public.After joining the OAS, Ottawa structured its strategy toward the Americas around three main objectives: promoting democracy, working toward economic prosperity, and increasing security. Some commentators have argued that this initial engagement was followed by a long siesta until 2007.3 We believe, on the contrary, that for more than decade Canadian diplomats actively pursued well-focused strategy supporting the orientations established by the summits of the Americas and the multilateral organizations charged with implementing decisions made at the summits. …