bout de papier, Vol. 7, No. 4 (1990), pp. 9–10
The history of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs is in many ways a reflection of the evolution of Canadian foreign policy. It is also the story of some remarkable Canadians who left their mark on that policy.
The CILA was born in the aftermath of World War I, when Canada was just beginning to free itself from British tutelage and to play an independent role in the world. Typically Canadian, it had dual parentage, British on one side and American on the other. On the British side was the Royal Institute of International Affairs (familiarly known as Chatham House), formed in London in 1920 after plans discussed at the Paris Peace Conference for a British-American organization fell through. On the American side, it was not the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, the counterpart of the RIIA, but rather the Institute of Pacific Relations, which evolved out of a 1925 conference on problems common to countries bordering the Pacific. Canadians became members of both organizations, but in 1928, a group of them met at Sir Robert Borden’s home in Ottawa and decided to combine to set up a new association.
The CIA was established as an independent, non-partisan body for advancing public knowledge and understanding of international affairs, “particularly insofar as they relate to Canada and the British Empire.” Like the RIA, the charter of the CIA stipulated that “the Institute as such should not express an opinion or any aspect of international affairs.” This did not, however, prevent the voicing of a wide diversity of opinions by members. Indeed, the Institute was, in the 30’s, the cockpit of a spirited debate between differing visions of Canada’s international role — between old imperialists and new internationalists, between continentalists and nationalists, between isolationists and interventionists.
At first, the leaning was toward pacifism, isolationism and continentalism. Nevertheless, one of the Institute’s most vocal and effective members was a committed internationalist — John Dafoe, one of the Institute’s founders and later President, who was editor of the influential Winnipeg Free Press. Once World War II broke out and the die was cast for intervention, the views of those like Datoe, who favoured a distinct international role for Canada, became predominant, not only in the CIA but also more widely. By the 50’s, the internationalist approach was well established as a third way between the old imperialist ties to Britain and the new continentalist ties to the United States, and it led to what many refer to as the “golden age” of Pearsonian diplomacy.
At the same time, the Institute did not neglect domestic policy issues which had an impact on Canada’s external relations or were affected by them. Prominent among these was the Canadian North, which during the 40’s attracted American attention as it grew in strategic and economic significance. Raleigh Parkin, an executive of Sun Life and an active member of the CIA, was instrumental in launching an extensive Arctic study which was entrusted to Trevor Lloyd, a geographer at McGill. A three-year undertaking, the study was never published because of the controversy it aroused. Nevertheless, it had considerable influence on the Government, which established the Advisory Committee on Northern Development, thanks to Hugh Keenleyside, an early member of both the CIA and the Department of External Affairs and who later became Deputy Minister of Mines and Resources.
The CIIA was originally conceived as an elitist organization; applicants had to be proposed and seconded by members. Membership was purposely restricted in order to develop a small group of well-informed people whose knowledge and experience could contribute to the formulation of government policy. Nevertheless the Institute grew rapidly in the early years. It started with 395 members in five branches (in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Vancouver) and by 1938 had 17 branches and a membership in excess of 1,000. In the formative years, the branches were quite autonomous, but in 1932, a National Secretary was appointed, with funds from the Massey Foundation, to organize the Institute on a national basis.
The first National Secretary was Escott Reid, who embarked on a veritable crusade for the cultivation of a broadly-based public opinion to support an enlightened foreign policy. In this he was supported by the then President, Edgar Tarr. Under their guidance, the Institute became more centralized with the introduction of plans for study groups, the inauguration of an annual study conference and the organization of delegations to international conferences. In also launched a new program of public education in international affairs, sponsoring such books as Canada Looks Abroad, by Bert MacKay and Ben Rogers, Canada Today, by F.R. Scott, and Canada in World Affairs, a series of biennial surveys of Canada’s international activities.
It was during Reid’s six-year term of office that the CIA first made a national and international name for itself and was able to both articulate and to influence Canadian foreign policy. He had the knack of attracting the best minds in Canada to put vitality and purpose into the organization. But he also criticized its elitist outlook, and encouraged the branches to broaden their membership and to establish study groups. He advocated an expansion to include women as well as men, and French- as well as English-speaking Canadians. He also proposed increased public education through radio broadcasts, an information service, pamphlets and conference reports, as well as cooperation with other organizations to promote CIA publications.
The influence of the CIA in those years owed much to the positions of official responsibility held by its members. During the war, the bonds between the Institute and the Government were particularly numerous, as many CIA members entered the expanding bureaucracy in the hope of turning their ideas into policy. One of these was John Holmes, who was National Secretary of the Institute at the beginning of the war, joined External Affairs in 1943 and in 1960 rejoined the Institute, first as President and then as Director General.
Holmes’ name became synonymous with the Institute’s post-war development. For 13 years, he guided the Institute through an unprecedented range and level of activities. He organized many conferences and publications and obtained major grants to stimulate research, all of which enhanced the Institute’s profile. He helped establish the Centre Quebecois des relations internationales and thus gave the CIlA a French-language presence in Quebec. He also wrote and spoke extensively on Canadian foreign policy. He perceived Canada as a middle power and an intermediary whose role it was to point the way to conciliation rather than conflict. He was a practical idealist, accepting the realities of a world of independent, sovereign states but also insisting on international cooperation as mankind’s only hope, and the United Nations as an imperfect but necessary vehicle for it. In this way, he articulated one of the themes that has run through the foreign policies of successive Canadian governments, and he came to represent a certain Canadian ethos.
Today the CIA is still a going concern, thanks to the dedication of its members, the support of its corporate donors and annual grants by the Departments of External Affairs and National Defence. Activities of the Institute include publications, library services, study trips, briefing tours and foreign policy conferences. The Institute publishes International Journal, a scholarly quarterly, and Behind the Headlines, a pamphlet series on current affairs. The John Holmes Library in Toronto houses a unique collection of 23,000 volumes, plus numerous periodicals and newsletters, on international relations. Study trips take members around the globe to areas which are in the news. Briefing tours provide the CEO’s of major corporate supporters with access to high level briefings in foreign capitals. And, every two years a major conference is organized, with prominent experts from Canada and abroad, to discuss a particular international theme.
One of the most active of the Institute’s 22 branches is the National Capital Branch, which has a membership of over 300 and which meets once a month to hear qualified speakers and exchange views on topics of current interest. The Branch also engages in special study projects and in recent years has brought out reports on the foreign policy green paper and the Northern dimension of Canada’s foreign policy. As Chairman of this Branch, I should like to issue a warm invitation to anyone who would like to join in these activities, either in this branch in another.
Valuable information on the history of the CIA was obtained from Escott Reid and Ben Rogers, honourary life members of the Institute, and from an honours thesis written by Shelagh Grant, a student at Trent University, as well as from the National Office of the CHIA. Further information can be obtained from the National Office of the ClIA (15 King’s College Circle, Toronto, Ont. MSS 2V9) or from John Halstead (613-521-5221).
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 7, No. 4 (1990), pp. 9–10. Read the rest of this issue →
