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- Title
The 'Anglo-Saxon Triangle' Downplayed by Canada's Department of External Affairs, 1946-1956.
- Authors
Silver, Lara C. A.
- Abstract
In July 1951, Canada's Department of External Affairs despatched a secret policy paper to the heads of overseas Canadian posts, instructing Canadian diplomats abroad not to refer to Canada's 'inner triangle' with Britain and the United States or encourage its development into a formal alliance. The explicitly named 'Anglo-Saxon triangle' was acknowledged affectionately as a 'cornerstone of Canadian foreign policy' but was regarded as damaging to the ultimate goal of a North Atlantic community inclusive of continental Europeans. The 'inner triangle' comprising Canada, the United States and Britain had to be concealed, and diplomats were warned not to speak of it publicly as an objective of policy, lest another triangle would form, that of a Franco-German-Italian grouping that would split the prospects of a North Atlantic alliance. The discovery of this secret despatch provides some explanation of why references to the North Atlantic Triangle faded from statements in the post-war years.
- Subjects
UNITED States; CANADIAN diplomats; ATLANTIC community; FINANCIAL statements; FINANCIAL management
- Publication
London Journal of Canadian Studies, 2022, Issue 1, p133
- ISSN
0267-2200
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.14324/111.444.ljcs.2021v36.007