Communication
Canada and World Peace
[2'o the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—Economic and social tension in Canada, as elseNs here, has stirred and changed political thinking deeply. Canadian public opinion about the League of Nations, the Paris Pact, the International Labour Office, the Court of International Justice, and so on is neither well-informed nor vocal. The newspaper service in foreign news here and there is fair, and editorial comment frequent, but it cannot be said to have created as yet any very clear or consistent understanding of our international position. Foreign policy, for example, has not yet become a proper subject for full discussion in Parliament. Probably owing to the leadership given by Sir George Foster and Senator Dandurand, it is in the Senate that the most thorough and searching debates on external matters have been held; but there is no adequate Parliament- ary provision for its scrutiny by the House of Commons.
But forces have been at work to counteract this situation. The Institute of International Relations, with branches in all the main centres, and the Institute of Pacific Relations. have for some years been unobtrusively working. Their papers have been published and discussed. Problems of export trade, the Ottawa and World Economic Conferences. the Wheat Agreements, and one or two very blunt reminders of the importance of the outside Niorld from the Prime Minister have done their part. And from quite a different direction the ordinary citizen has, with rude violence, been suddenly awakened. Mr. Beverley Nichols' book Cry havoc is being read, studied, preached about with electrifying effect. Thousands of copies, too, of Colonel George A. Drew's articles on the monstrous traffic in arms, Salesmen of Death, have been distributed. The nation-wide tours of Dr. A. E. 2immern, Sir Norman Angell and others have enlarged on the same and cognate subjects. Canada has become sharply aware of the threat and nature of modern war, and has already begun to express a militant will to keep clear of it, or do what she can to stop it.
It is against this background that the League of Nations -- Society in Canada has within the last.-month planned into the ,spreading battle, for a clear_ and consistent pronounce- ment of peace policy for Canada. This Society was founded in 1920. It has as Patron the Governor General, and as Honorary Presidents leaders of the political parties. The Society has its headquarters at Ottawa, and branches, associated groups and individual members throughout the Dominion.
Toward the close of 1933 what amounts to a new experi- ment in national education in international affairs was planned ; and since the New Year the Press, the radio, the platform, printed material and group organizations of every kind have been combined in a campaign to create an intelli- gent public opinion on the subject of Canada and World Peace. The core of the-project is a printed syllabus already distributed in some thousands and still in steady 'demand. It is prefaced by a short but-pointed appeal to the Canadian people to bestir themselves to study the problem of war and peace as it affects their -country, and, to do their part in substituting for the use of violence and force the principles of law and justice upon- which a world society as well as a national society must rest."
The appeal is signed by the Prime Minister, Mr. R. B. Bennett, Mr. W. L. Mackenzie King, Leader of the Oppo- sition and Mr. J. S. Woodsworth, leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. It is followed by a letter from Mr. Ernest Lapointe and Mr. J. E. Macpherson, President of the Association of Canadian Clubs, explaining the purpose of the project, and announcing a series of eleven nationwide broadcasts on Sunday afternoons during January to March on the main subjects of the programme. The thirdsection of the pamphlet is the syllabus 'of studies itself.
At this stage it is premature to anticipate what the voice of the -Cinadian citizen-student of international matters will say. There seems to be no question Whatever of his concerti over the maintenance of peace, or of his or her determination to examine its full implications. In the radio broadcasts persistent emphasis is laid by all speakers on the tragic futility of old diplomatic ways, and the urgent necessity for a serious and honest trial of a collective method of keeping the peace. The principles of the League receive full support, but the failure of goveinnients to act up to those prinCiples is equally condemned. Canada, as well as Great Britain and others, have lamentably evaded the real issue, which is the establishment of means to keep peace by concerted action according to international agreements.
An " ominous question " was raised by Colonel George A. Drew. " If we should awake some morning to find that a war . . . had involved any part of the British Empire, what would Canada do ? It is doubtful if anyone today can give an intelligent answer, because no decision_ could be made that did not regard public. opinion." The Hon. A. D. McRae, speaking in the Senate on February :1st, gave it as his " con- sidered, definite opinion," that " I cannot conceive of any development which would justify this country in sacrificing the blood of one single Canadian on the future battlefields of Europe."
As protection against European obstinacy in the use of war, the American Republic and the new Monroe Doctrine are seen to be interesting possibilities for a North American country like Canada. On the economic issues, speakers have pointed out the war-creating powers. of tariffs and trade restrictions, of_competition for markets, of the profit-seeking system in vogue everywhere, and particularly in the armament . business. „Canada, with her vast empty: acres, has to face questions. of immigration from other, over-filled lands ; of the defence and distribution of-her huge potential resources ; of the war-fear in Europe which is stealing away her wheat market. And finally, there has been repeated reference to " extravagant nationalism," economic and political, which has hampered the advance to collective action so gravely. It is fully recognized -that those who support and guard this discredited form of patriotism are supporting war. - _ - Canada is looking with new eyes on these old problems. The public -mind has been roughly aroused to a new under- standing of war, and- Canadian men and women and children in the schools are now taking their decision nn- -what-sort of policy they wish their country to pursue.-I am, Sir, &e., A CORRESPONDENT IN CANADA.
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