Canada has various ties to the countries of Latin America. This includes the bilateral ties between Canada and the individual Latin American states, plurilateral ties between Canada and any group of those states, or multilateral relations through groups like the Organization of American States (OAS).
Canada and Latin America share ties of geography as part of the Western Hemisphere and history through the shared experience of European colonization. Culturally, Canada shares with the other societies in the Americas a mixture of European, Amerindian, and immigrant influences. For both Canadians and Latin Americans, the importance of relations with the United States may overshadow relations with each other. However Canada's importance in the region has risen since joining the OAS in 1990.
Historical relations to 1968 In the decades following Canadian Confederation in 1867, Canada had limited political involvement, but after 1898 had significant economic ties in the Caribbean, Mexico and Brazil and Canadians went as businessmen and missionaries to a number of other countries.J.C.M. Ogelsby, Gringos from the Far North, Essays in the History of Canadian-Latin American Relations, 1866-1968. Macmillan 1976. As Canadian foreign policy was largely constrained by Canada's ties to the British Empire, political and economic relations remained tethered and controlled. Even after Canada gained political autonomy in foreign relations with the Statute of Westminster (1931) relations with Latin America remained weak due to domestic economic turmoil.Rochlin, James. "Discovering the Americas: The Evolution of Canadian Foreign Policy Towards Latin America". (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1994), 11-12.
Following increased solidarity between regions in Latin America throughout the 1800s came the birth of the Pan-American Union in 1910. Between 1909 and 1941 Latin American states (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and others) repeatedly appealed for Canadian involvement in union. In accordance with the Monroe Doctrine the United States actively opposed Canadian involvement as Canada's foreign relations were subject to the interests of a European power, Britain. Nevertheless, Canada remained outside of the union for reasons of economic disinterest.Rochlin, James. "Discovering the Americas: The Evolution of Canadian Foreign Policy Towards Latin America". (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1994), 11-12. + McKenna, Peter. "Canada and the OAS". (Ottawa: Carlton University Press, 1995) 66-67.
By the early 1940s, Canada had become a relatively important industrial producer that was in desperate need of integration in additional foreign markets. Devastation in Europe due to World War II made Latin America a logical alternative. Unfortunately for Canadian interests, the period following the Second World War marked an important shift in the world political and economic order that saw the growth and spread of communism.
The onset of the Cold War had important implications for Canadian foreign policy. Significantly, Canadian officials saw Latin America as a region particularly vulnerable to the spread of communism because of vast underdevelopment and socio-economic disparities.Rochlin, James. "Discovering the Americas: The Evolution of Canadian Foreign Policy Towards Latin America". (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1994), 31. More importantly for Canada, however, was the immense propagation of American economic and political dominance and Americanization throughout the world. While Canada, like the United States during the early cold war years, could be viewed as a liberal-democracy devoted to the spread of capitalism and free market ideals, the Canadian form of the ideology was inherently more accepting of socialist facets. Effectively, Canada grew closer to many Latin American states and often acted as a mediator between the United States and Latin America.Rochlin, James. "Discovering the Americas: The Evolution of Canadian Foreign Policy Towards Latin America". (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1994), 47.
Trudeau years 1968–1984
The early years of Pierre Trudeau's time in office as Prime Minister of Canada marked an important shift in Canada's role in international politics. During this time Canada, under Trudeau's realist and pragmatist ideals, began to view relations with previously untapped global regions such as Latin America as vital to Canada's future political and economic interests. Trudeau illuminates these ideas: "We have to take greater account of the ties which bind us to other nations in this hemisphere – in the Caribbean, Latin America – and of their economic needs. We have to explore relations with Latin America, where more than 400 million people will live by the turn of the century and where we have substantial interests" Stevenson, Brian J.R. "Canada, Latin America, and the New Internationalism: A Foreign Policy Analysis, 1968-1990". (Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2000) 114.– Pierre Elliot Trudeau
Between October and November 1968, Canada sent a delegate of various ministers to tour nine Latin American states (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala)Stevenson, Brian J.R. "Canada, Latin America, and the New Internationalism: A Foreign Policy Analysis, 1968-1990". (Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2000) 116. as a stage in Canada's foreign policy review. From the excursion Canada aimed to a) evaluate potential benefits from increased relations, b) explore global policy congruence with individual Latin American states, c) improve overall relations in South America. Ultimately, the mission garnered results on several fronts related to issues of economic cooperation, integration and growth, security and nuclear non-proliferation, as well as general information gathering.Rochlin, James. "Discovering the Americas: The Evolution of Canadian Foreign Policy Towards Latin America". (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1994), 75, 81.
The 1968 mission had two profound institutional effects. First, the mission directly led to the creation of a Latin American task force in 1969. This task force was at the forefront of issues involving Canada's role/potential role in joining the Organization of American States (OAS). Second, the mission was elemental in establishing the founding principles of the Latin American section of Trudeau's complete revision of foreign policy – a series of documents entitled "Foreign Policy for Canadians" released in 1970.Daudelin, Jean. "Canada and the Americas: a Time for Modesty". Behind the Headlines 64.3. (Canadian Institute of International Affairs 2007) 2. This series of documents considered massive changes in global power dynamics (e.g. the reduced threat of communism), the role of non-state actors, and the absolute necessity of preserving Canadian independence.Rochlin, James. "Discovering the Americas: The Evolution of Canadian Foreign Policy Towards Latin America". (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1994), 67.
In the years following these diplomatic advancements came several key initiatives, programs and institutions. In 1971, to deal with issues of Latin American integration, Trudeau founded the Bureau of Western-Hemispheric Affairs. In 1972, Canada officially entered the OAS under observer status and joined the Inter-American Development Bank to increasingly aid developmental initiatives in Latin America. Further, by 1972, Canada had seen an increase of roughly 40% in exports to the region in only 4 years and made tremendous progress with individual states like Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela. In spite of some minor shortcomings in certain Latin American states, Canada was overwhelming pleased with advancements in relations between the two regions by 1973.Rochlin, James. "Discovering the Americas: The Evolution of Canadian Foreign Policy Towards Latin America". (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1994), 83-84, 90.
By the mid-1970s Canada's national policy toward Latin America – and other regions of the globe – had almost completely diverged from that of the United States. This was an especially momentous time in Canadian foreign politics because, until this point, Canada had been under the vast political and economic influence of her neighbour to the South. This incredible divergence was essentially manifested in Mitchell Sharp's "Options for the Future" (otherwise known as the 'Third Option Paper'), which reaffirmed the tenets of "Foreign Policy for Canadians", but considered U.S.–Canada relations in greater detail. Sharp's paper advocated the growth of Canadian economic, political and cultural 'distinctiveness', but did not encourage alienation from America. Ultimately, Sharp's ideas had a profound and lasting effect on Canadian policy and were central to the outward growth of Canada in the international sphere for many years.Stevenson, Brian J.R. "Canada, Latin America, and the New Internationalism: A Foreign Policy Analysis, 1968-1990". (Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2000) 95.
By and large, the 1970s represented a period of growth in Canada–Latin America relations that produced episodes of incredible significance and garnered tremendous potential for future relations. Importantly, the emerging distinctiveness of Canada on the global stage (in an increasingly multi-polar international system) was particularly visible in relations with Latin America. In radical deviation from the policies and ideological attitudes of the United States, Canada pursued policies of tolerance and acceptance with respect to Latin American states. Canadian tolerance was evident throughout the 1970s – with the acceptance of thousands of leftist Chilean refugees between 1970 and 1980, opposition to various American political interventions in South America, or Trudeau's tour of Mexico, Venezuela, and Cuba in 1976.Rochlin, James. "Discovering the Americas: The Evolution of Canadian Foreign Policy Towards Latin America". (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1994), 106.
New notions of trans-hemispheric integration/relations began to take prominence as Canada found itself involved in Latin American affairs in a meaningful way. By the late 1970s Canada called for the progressive advancement of the OAS that was deemed by Canadian observers as ineffective and deficient. By 1979, Canada sought global channels and forums, namely the United Nations, to vocalize discontent, concerns, and thoughts on inter-American affairs that included trading blocs, nuclear proliferation issues, and human rights abuses (in the case of Argentina).McKenna, Peter. "Canada and the OAS". (Ottawa: Carlton University Press, 1995) 92-94.
The period between 1980 and 1984 would mark the final term of Trudeau. By this point, Canadian interests and objectives in the hemisphere were completely unsynchronized with the views and objectives of the United States (especially under the conservative reigns of Ronald Reagan, 1981–1989). During this time, Canada favoured leftist policies both at home and abroad and continued to nurture ideological diversity, while the United States, under Reagan, emphasized the importance of laissez-faire capitalism, (in a resurgence of anti-communist discourse), reduction of the welfare state, and discrete military intervention to accommodate American interests in Latin America and the world. Reagan's rationale was unequivocally based in the decline of American hegemony and aimed to bring prominence back to America by staunch opposition to left-wing movements in Latin America such as the Nicaraguan Sandinistas.Stevenson, Brian J.R. "Canada, Latin America, and the New Internationalism: A Foreign Policy Analysis, 1968-1990". (Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2000) 96, 97