Canada–Caribbean relations

In the political crisis that hit Jamaica in 1882, one of the proposed solutions was joining Canada. Michael Solomon led the pro-Confederation faction, but when he introduced a motion to that effect in the Legislative Council everyone but he voted against it.[2]

Prominent Barbadian R. P. Elliott wrote to the Canadian government on behalf of a number of the islands' elite asking to join Canada.[2]

In the years after the First World War the British started to look at ways to consolidate the British Empire. For example, several British possessions in Oceania were transferred under the protection of Australia and New Zealand, and the British government of Lloyd George strongly considered transferring the responsibility for all British colonies in the Caribbean, as well as Newfoundland and the Falkland Islands, to the Canadian government, but most Canadians were not interested due to strong sentiments that Canada should retain the policy of not becoming a colonising force in the world.[3]

This had some light support among Canada's business community, some of whom had just established businesses expanding into the West Indies region. Among them was Canadian businessman Thomas Bassett Macaulay, the son of the founder of Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada. T. B. Macaulay became very fond of working with the governments in the West Indies. He went on to become President of the group known as The Canadian-West Indian League[4] which he co-found and was in existence until 1934. Additionally in the West Indies he acted as a representative for the Leeward Islands at the Canada-West Indies Trade Conference.

Canadian businessman Harry Crowe impressed upon Canadian Prime Minister Robert Borden to direct Sir Joseph Pope to issue a report titled Confidential Memorandum Upon the Subject of the Annexation of the West India Islands to the Dominion of Canada in which five major advantages were outlined for Canada to contemplate union with the West Indies territories.[2]

• It would give to Canada an increase of territory amounting to 113,000 square miles (290,000 km²), and of population 2,300,000 thus adding considerably to the importance and influence of the Dominion.
• The tropical products available in the new territory would make the Dominion more self-contained and would give us practically all the advantages of a diversity of climate and products which are afforded to that great Republic by the southern portion of the United States.
• The importance of sea power would become so obvious under new conditions as to leave little room for argument to the contrary.
• Confederation would afford a broader market to our manufacturers and producers which must result in a very large development of trade, as we produce precisely what they require, and vice versa.
• It would balance the accessions which will accrue to the other self-governing dominions at the termination of the war in the only way in which it is possible for Canada to obtain an equivalent, and thus to some extent compensate the Dominion for the sacrifices she has made in the defence of the Empire.

After the defeat of the Jamaican measure, the government of The Bahamas presented a similar initiative in 1911. T.B. Macaulay encouraged members of the Legislative Council in the Bahamas to likewise consider pursuing political union with Canada, this political union proposal was ultimately rejected on the Canadian side.[2]

During World War II trade between the Caribbean islands and Britain was mostly severed due to the sinking of many British merchant ships in the Atlantic. Canadian trade however continued to increase and Canada became the largest trading partner of the islands. Proposals were made at the end of the war for a free trade agreement to be concluded though this idea additionally never materialised.

During the 1950s several politicians involved in the West Indies Federation again broached an idea of political association with Canada. One proposal from the Caribbean heads was for the West Indies Federation to first become a fully functional unit and following five years time the bloc should look at obtaining dominion status with Britain and possibly move to seek political association with Canada at that time. The Canadian government presented the new government of the West Indies Federation with two merchant ships. The twin ships named The Federal Palm and The Federal Maple sailed to all ports between Jamaica in the north and Trinidad and Tobago in the south and were a key aspect of building trade links between the islands. Several meetings continued to take place in the Caribbean region and in Ottawa to formulate the structure and exact form of the future political association with Canada, but a constant occurrence in the Federation of haggling between the heads of governments stymied the movement. After 4 years, the entire West Indies Federation unraveled when Jamaica left, with the head of Jamaica publicly claiming that "one from ten leaves nought", with Jamaica representing the number "1" in the number ten, thus leaving a zero (representing the remaining islands). Trinidad and Tobago's leader quickly followed Jamaica's exit by saying if Jamaica represented the 1, then they were the 0 itself leaving "none", ending the Federation experiment. The remaining islands tried a group of the "Little 8" said it wanted to go its own direction and Barbados next withdrew from any idea of a smaller group. The remaining islands came up with the West Indies Associated States, but ultimately, they too reverted to their sovereign paths. The 1960s overall marked a decade of political independence by a large number of Caribbean nations from Britain.[2]

During the 1970s and 1980s, the idea of political union was again briefly raised, with some discussion of the Turks and Caicos Islands joining Canada. It received some political dialogue in the governments of both nations however Canada became hesitant when it was revealed that the Turks and Caicos were due to hold a General Election. A finding by a Canadian commission recommended that the government of Canada should disengage so as to not influence the free outcome of the Turks and Caicos elections. The commission maintained that if any locale wanted to open dialogue on political association with Canada it had to be totally of the resident populations own free will. The study however recommended that Canadians should consider increasing aid into the islands to support the Turks and Caicos inhabitants and to help increase their standard of living in the islands in the meanwhile.

This died down around 1987 but it was again revived on the Canadian side in 2003 when a television programme aired about Canada's past flirtation with political union proposals. In 2004 Peter Goldring, MP for Edmonton Centre-East proposed holding exploratory dialogues in the Caribbean islands to find out if there is still any interest for Canada to accord a political union. He lobbied in the Canadian House of Commons that should any nation in the Caribbean wish to proceed that this state should be elevated to the level of a Province rather than territory and in so doing the locale would become Canada's 11th Province.

In a 2009 e-mail correspondence with Mr. Goldring, he noted that "I... do not advocate the "annexation" of The Turks and Caicos Islands, as this term is one that is associated with colonialism", nor did he advocate a union with the islands unless there was "a clear and determined great majority of overwhelming will by both countries' citizens for such an association" and instead advocated an economic union, whether that is through a free-trade agreement or a customs union.[5]

Canadian assistance in Aviation services in the region have been carried out through the second half of the 20th century. During the late 1960s Canadian assistance through Transport Canada was sought to establish new venues for training Caribbean-based Air Traffic Controllers.[8]

More recently the Vancouver Airport Services also manages many airports in and around the Caribbean region.