Following the second world war, Canada began to develop its reputation as a peace-keeper for the international community. As a middle power, policy makers believed it was crucial for Canada to be involved on the international stage. Many Canadians feel that “peacekeeping has a place of pride in the Canadian national identity,” (Canadian peacekeeping: a proud tradition, p.16). When Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent came to power, Canadian foreign policy shifted from isolationism to internationalism. While the Suez crisis and the Korean War are examples of Canada’s primary involvement in peacekeeping, Lester B. Pearson’s decision in 1964 to deploy Canadian troops to the United Nations peace-keeping mission in Cyprus. Canada’s involvement in Cyprus has shaped Canada’s foreign policy standards in a positive way because …
Following the collapse of the Ottoman empire, the ownership of Cyprus was put into question. While many support the policy, enosis, Cyprus should be unified with Greece, habitants of the island were split, with 80 per cent of the population identifying themselves as Greek Cypriot and 18 per cent identifying as Turkish Cypriots. However, those who identified as Turkish did not support enosis. Following the First World War, it became apparent to Greek Cypriots that unification would not occur, as Greece rejected Britain’s offer of the island for support in the war. While unification with Greece was never achieved tensions between …show more content…
This will allow for Canada’s foreign policy basis (?) to be revealed as well as the significance of the UN Cyprus peacekeeping mission for Canada and its foreign policy, especially in terms of involvement in foreign combat and