Traditional and Emerging Global
Relationships
The Commonwealth
- Canada's
association with the
Commonwealth ensures a connection with our British heritage.
- The Commonwealth began as a political
organization consisting of colonies of the British Empire.
- During the second half of the 20th
century most of Britain's remaining colonies moved toward independence.
- In 1950 the Colombo Plan helped
establish international cooperation among former colonies to address
poverty in South and Southeast Asia.
- The Commonwealth
helps facilitate economic, social, and political ties to other countries
within the organization that have similar parliamentary democracies.
Click here for an interactive feature on
the
Commonwealth (interactive maps)
La Francophonie
-
La Francophonie unites diverse
countries and people that share the French language.
- It provides its membership with
educational, agricultural, health and other scientific and social
opportunities that promote peace, democracy, and the French culture.
Multicultural Ties
- Traditional and non-traditional ties
have helped shape Canada's role on the world stage.
- The
demographics/population
have changed as a result of the shift
in the pattern of immigration (Traditional source countries
such as Great Britain, U.S.A., Ireland etc., to non-traditional source
countries such as India, China,
Ghana, Philippines, Egypt, Jamaica,
Brazil, etc.)
- Major changes have
taken place in Canada's
immigration policies over the last four decades that have resulted in an
extremely diverse population.
- The
Charter of Rights and Freedoms
1982
has cultivated a more inclusive nation.
- Canada was one of the first countries
to adopt an official policy of multiculturalism in 1971.
- The Canadian
Multiculturalism
Act was passed in 1988, though the changes that led the
nation
in this direction were implemented from the
1960's onward.
The Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation
- In the last half of the 20th century,
the countries of the Pacific Rim displaced some European nations as Canada's
second most important trading region.
- Canada undertook a number of joint
resource-based ventures with major industrial nations in Asia.
- Membership in this organization
underlines the increasing global interdependence of the Canadian economy.
- APEC has made a commitment to
establish a free-trade zone with the developed countries of the Pacific Rim by
2010 and all members by 2020.
The Organization of
American States (OAS)
-
The OAS was originally
established as a link between the United States and the countries of Latin
America and the Caribbean.
-
Canada joined in 1990
because of the nation's expanding role in the Americas.
-
The goal of the OAS is to
promote peace and security in the western hemisphere and to advance the
economic and social development in less advantaged member nations.
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