The Gray Lecture and Canadian Citizenship in History

Abstract

This is, I think, very good stuff indeed--if minister doesn't use it, I would like to put in a bid for it. (1) Foundations of Canadian Policy in World Affairs, 13 January 1947 public lecture by Canada's new secretary of state for international affairs, Louis St. Laurent, has been called by respected analysts the first defining doctrine in postwar Canadian foreign the classic statement of postwar Canadian internationalism, and speech that laid down bases of Canadian foreign policy not just for immediate future but, as it turned out, for next fifty years. (2) Popular consensus holds that what is referred to in textbooks today as Gray Lecture established as an important player in world affairs and an active contributor to western alliance during Cold War. And perhaps it did, but that was not its primary intention. Still new to his portfolio in early 1947, Louis St. Laurent was most concerned with national polity. His speech in Toronto concluded a week-long campaign designed to promote new Canadian Citizenship Act-an act that made qualified residents citizens of Canada as opposed to just nationals or British subjects--and to increase interest and involvement of Canadian youth in political affairs. In an international context, St. Laurent aimed to unify Canadian people in support of an activist approach to foreign policy, but more importantly, a specifically non-partisan one. The secretary of state for external affairs issued a public call to move past previous differences over national attitude to world affairs that had been exacerbated during Second World War. Formally announcing Canada's opposition to Soviet menace, in retrospect most noted of St. Laurent's many points, was--at time--of secondary importance. January 1947 arrived during a difficult period for international community. The United Nations (UN) was proving itself ineffective, UN Atomic Energy Commission was failing miserably, and tensions among world's greatest powers were increasing. At home, just 31 percent of those who responded to a Canadian Institute of Public Opinion (CIPO) poll expressed confidence that UN would be able to prevent a world war over next 25 years, while 44 percent believed that it would not. The problem ran deeper than just a public lack of faith. Two months earlier, when Canada's representative to UN, Paul Martin, had boldly called on organization to increase efforts to meet an international food emergency, back at home people of had failed to stand behind him. In midst of increasing national prosperity, nearly two-thirds of Canadians surveyed argued selfishly that their country was already doing all that it could to help others. (3) Canadians were disappointed and disillusioned, and they felt powerless to overcome challenges that faced them. When CIPO asked what they thought they could do to help keep peace, 48 percent answered nothing at all. International affairs were well beyond their control, they claimed. The more optimistic argued that Golden Rule--Do unto others as you would have them do unto you--should form basis of national and international behavior, while a select few spoke of need for greater tolerance and more optimistic thinking about future; otherwise, most respondents were simply not interested. (4) In this context, government declared first week of January 1947 National Citizenship Week. The Canadian Citizenship Act, which had been passed on 27 June 1946 and took effect first day of 1947, was intended to spark pride across country. The government hoped that act would eliminate some of ethnic and racial tensions that had been aggravated by conscription crisis and immigration decisions of Second World War. As Paul Martin explained to House of Commons, [If there is] one thing from which we in have suffered, to detriment of this magnificent country, it is from a feeling of divisiveness--lack of that fervent and urgent unity that can make a people work together as a great community with conviction that welfare of all is goal of their effort. …