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History
of the CIIA
The
origins of the Canadian Institute of
International Affairs (CIIA) go back
further than its founding in 1928.
Descriptions of its formation usually
begin with the 1919 Paris Peace
Conference. (E.D. Greathed, "The
Antecedents and Origins of the Canadian
Institute of International Affairs," in
Harvey L. Dyck and Peter Krosby, eds,
Empire and Nations: Essays in Honour of
Frederic H. Soward (Toronto, 1969);
T.B. Millar, "Commonwealth Institutes
of International Affairs,"
International Journal vol.33
(winter1977-8); Carter Manning, "The
CIIA 1928-1939: An attempt to
'Enlighten' Canada's Foreign Policy,"
Unpublished BA (Hons) thesis, Harvard
College, 1971 (copy in the CIIA
library).) British and American
participants there expressed their
concern at the widespread public apathy
and ignorance of international affairs.
The Royal Institute of International
Affairs (RIIA) was founded in London in
1920 in response to this concern and
amongst the original members of the
RIIA were ten Canadians. By 1926 there
were in Canada about twenty-five
members of the RIIA (many of whom were
also members of the League of Nations
Society which had been formed in Canada
in 1921). The Americans meanwhile
returned to New York to discover that
the Council on Foreign Relations had
been formed the previous year and they
joined it rather than forming an
American international
institute.
In 1925
a delegation of six Canadians, under
the chairmanship of John Nelson (a
Vancouver journalist for Maclean's and
ardent Rotarian who later was a
supervisor of public relations for Sun
Life Assurance Company of Montreal),
attended a conference in Honolulu at
which the Institute of Pacific
Relations (IPR) was founded. The
experience of the Canadians at this
conference impressed upon them the need
for the creation of a Canadian
organization which would do preparatory
research to ensure effective Canadian
participation in future IPR
conferences. Owing to the efforts of
Mr. Nelson, the basis of such an
organization was soon laid by bringing
together in Vancouver, Montreal, and
Toronto informal groups of persons
interested in the work of the IPR. Some
of the Canadian members of the RIIA
were included in these
groups.
In the
autumn of 1926, Canadian members of the
RIIA and Canadians interested in the
work of the IPR met in Toronto. At this
meeting it was decided to set up a
Canadian organization affiliated with
the Royal Institute and with the IPR.
In 1927, the RIIA agreed to accept
affiliation with a Canadian Institute
of International Affairs, and following
a 1927 IPR conference, branches were
formed in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto
Vancouver and Winnipeg. The Winnipeg
Branch was formed from three local
groups which had come together as the
Canadian League in 1925. The Winnipeg
branch, the largest of the original
1928 branches, was one of the most
active branches during the 'thirties'.
John W. Dafoe who was editor of the
Winnipeg Free Press became
vice-president and later president of
the CIIA.
Representatives
elected by the newly formed branches
met as a national council in Ottawa on
January 30, 1928 and, by adopting a
constitution, formally organized the
Canadian Institute of International
Affairs, in affiliation both with the
RIIA and with the IPR. The founding
members of the Institute came from all
five branches: Ottawa - Sir Robert
Borden and C.A. Bowman; Montreal - Sir
Arthur Currie, John Nelson, and
Frederick N. Southam; Toronto - Sir
Joseph Flavelle, Newton W. Rowell,
Charles S. MacInnes and N.A.M.
MacKenzie; Winnipeg - John W. Dafoe and
John MacKay; Vancouver - Reginald W.
Brock and Stanley Brent. Following the
example of the Royal Institute, the
Canadian Institute adopted its two
fundamental by-laws: "Firstly, that the
Institute should not offer any opinion
on the conduct of public policy and
secondly, that its membership should be
confined to British subjects." (No such
restriction on membership now
exists.)
In 1927
there had been 32 members of the RIIA
resident in Canada. By June 30, 1928,
the membership of the five original
branches of the CIIA was 144. In 1929 a
branch was formed in Regina, in 1931 in
Edmonton and Halifax, in 1932 in
Saskatoon and Calgary, in 1933 in
Hamilton and Kingston, in 1934 in
Fredericton and Windsor, in 1936 in
Victoria and Saint John, in 1937 in
London. Since then, there have been
branches in Quebec City (1943),
Sherbrooke-Lennoxville (1944), Base
Borden (1947), Kitchener-Waterloo
(1947), St. John's (1949), New York
(1963), Wolfville Region (1964),
Sackville (1966), Saguenay (1966), West
Kootenay (1966), Niagara Region (1974),
and, most recently, Thunder Bay (1981).
Women's branches were formed in Ottawa,
Toronto, London, Winnipeg, Saskatoon
and Vancouver, and eventually
amalgamated with the men's branches in
those communities. In the seventies
French-speaking branches were formed in
Montreal, Sept.- Iles, Quebec and
Moncton
From
1928 to 1932 the branches were the
centre of Institute activity. In 1930
John Nelson wrote: "Unlike similar
organizations in Great Britain and the
United States, the Canadian Institute
has taken the form of widely separated
units rather than of one central
organization" (CIIA Minutes vol. I).
The autonomy of the branches helped
strengthen the branches by allowing
variety in the membership within a
national organization. Business-men
dominated the Winnipeg Branch and they
were very active in Montreal as well.
The tendency of these branches was to
view international relations in
economic terms. The Ottawa branch was
composed of government officials, and
academics were numerous in the Toronto,
Vancouver and Montreal branches. As the
composition of the branches varied, so
did their activities and areas of
interest.
In 1928
the annual membership fee was $10. Half
went to the branch, and the other half
went to support the research and
publications of the RIIA. International
Affairs , published by the RIIA, was
sent as part of the membership to all
Canadian Institute members. The CIIA
contributed to the IPR both financially
and in the preparation of papers for
the international IPR
conferences.
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Growth
In 1932,
a generous grant from the Massey
Foundation made possible the
appointment of Escott Reid as the
Institute's first full-time National
Secretary, a position he held until
1938. Reid began to build an effective
central organization to encourage and
co-ordinate branch research activities.
Ties were strengthened with the IPR and
the Commonwealth Institute through a
series of joint conferences. In 1933,
the Institute helped to organize the
IPR conference in Banff, and hosted the
first British Commonwealth Relations
Conference in Toronto. Reid suggested
the holding of annual study conferences
(ASC), to be national meetings where
ideas could be exchanged. The first ASC
was held in May 1934 in Montreal. The
conferences were largely round table
discussions, and members of branch
study groups were invited to
participate. Reid also encouraged
expansion of the CIIA membership and
greater public participation in the
work of the Institute. In 1935 the
Winnipeg branch began sponsoring radio
broadcasts on international affairs.
From 1936 to 1951 the Rockefeller
Foundation provided funds to support
the Institute's research, speakers,
study groups and
conferences.
Up to
the outbreak of World War II, the
divergent points of view in the
Canadian public regarding Canada's
policy in the event of a conflict were
reflected within the membership of the
CIIA and provoked some lively public
and private debates. The Institute's
varied membership ensured, however,
that it would remain a forum for the
expression of all views and not become
a platform either for government policy
or for one alternative to established
policy.
Nor was
Canada's foreign policy during the war
the only topic for vigorous debate. In
September 1938, Edgar J. Tarr, a
Winnipeg businessman who was the
President of Monarch Life Insurance
Company and who had served as both
President of the CIIA and IPR, led the
CIIA delegation to the second British
Commonwealth Relations Conference which
was held at Lapstone, Australia. On the
eve of the war there were lively
differences between and within
delegations on the issue of whether or
not to present a united front to an
aggressor. (F.H.Soward, "Inside a
Canadian Triangle: the university, the
CIIA and the Department of External
Affairs - a personal record,"
International Journal XXXIII (winter
1977-8), p.70.) At a British
Commonwealth Relations Conference held
in London just before the war ended in
1945, the question of Commonwealth
coherence in the post-war period was
debated. (James Eayrs, "VI Peacemaking
and Deterrence", In Defence of Canada
(Toronto, 1972), 210ff) The CIIA
delegation at that conference was again
under Tarr's leadership. In the
meantime, a CIIA-sponsored conference
at Montebello in 1943 had provided a
significant opportunity for members and
government officials to discuss
Canada's role in the post-war world. A
session on future relations between
Canada and the United States was later
held in Niagara Falls in
1951.
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The
Post-War Era
During
the war years and afterward, a close
relationship based largely on personal
contact developed between the Institute
and the Department of External Affairs.
(Alex I. Inglis, "The Institute and the
Department", International Journal
XXXIII (winter 1977-8), p 88-103) A
steady stream of Institute National
Secretaries, among them Escott Reid,
Benjamin Rogers, and John Holmes, left
the Institute to pursue careers in the
department. In 1946, the first issue of
the International Journal appeared. The
Journal was intended from the outset to
provide a platform for informed
Canadian views on international
affairs. Its existence in itself
encouraged Canadian commentators and
academics to analyze international
questions from a Canadian as well as a
regional or international perspective;
its creation reflected their desire to
do so.
From
1940-1955, the Carnegie Corporation
supported the establishment of the
Institute's library and public
information services. Generous funds
were further provided in 1950 by Edgar
Tarr in his will for the building up of
the library, named then, the Edgar Tarr
Memorial Library. In 1951, Edgar
McInnis came to the Institute as its
full-time Executive Director. Under his
guidance. The CIIA's research and
public education programmes expanded,
often in cooperation with other
organizations and with the Department
of External Affairs.
John
Holmes, who had been national secretary
from 1941 to 1943, returned to the
Institute in 1960 as president (later
director-general). In recognition of
his contribution to the Institute, the
library was renamed the John Holmes
Library in the
mid-seventies.
During
recent decades, the Canadian Institute
of International Affairs has
co-operated closely with the Department
of External Affairs (now the Department
of Foreign Affairs and International
Trade) in promoting free and open
interchanges between officials and
members of the public on international
issues. The CIIA conducted a series of
seminars which provided some of the
basic thinking for the Trudeau
government's review of foreign policy
in 1968. (Millar, "Commonwealth
Institutes of International Affairs"
p.25.) In 1974, it undertook a sounding
of public opinion prior to the world
population conference in Bucharest. In
1982, it surveyed the views of its
members prior to the United Nations
Special Session on Disarmament in New
York. During this period, the
Department of Foreign Affairs and
International Trade (DFAIT) and other
government departments continued to
provide speakers for Institute
meetings, and members of both federal
and provincial ministries participated
in the Institute's conferences. The
CIIA also built an increasing number of
partnerships with other private and
voluntary institutions, the business
community, the universities and the
media. The range of its contacts and
partners in effect helped it to hold to
the principle that it should be a place
for the free expression of all opinion,
and not the advocate of a single point
of view.
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The
Institute
Today
For over
sixty-five years, the Institute has
maintained the objectives of its
founders by providing a forum for the
unfettered study and discussion of
Canada's position and policies in the
world community. Its private,
non-partisan nature has been endorsed
by national leaders of all persuasions.
As the only voluntary organization in
Canada concerned with the broad range
of international issues, it has close
relations with similar organizations
throughout the world and arranges
co-operative activities with
them.
Today,
there are 18 Institute branches, with a
membership of 1,500. The Institute
carries on an extensive programme of
public education through its speakers'
bureau, conferences, publications, and
the activities of branches across the
country. It collaborates with the
business community through its briefing
tours to world capitals and other
special programmes. In addition, it
maintains the John Holmes Library, a
unique Canadian resource for students
and scholars, and publishes a variety
of reference books and periodicals
headed by the International Journal,
Behind the Headlines and Institute
Perspectives.
Never
has the Institute's
purpose--"
to
promote a broader and deeper
understanding of international
affairs and of Canada's role in a
changing world by providing
interested Canadians with a
non-partisan, nation-wide forum for
informed discussion, debate and
analysis
" --been
of greater relevance to all Canadians.
Our trade, politics and national life
are profoundly influenced by events
which take place and forces which
emanate from outside our borders. We
cannot begin to meet the economic and
other challenges that Canada faces
without a thorough understanding of the
intrusive and changing world around us.
The CIIA's activities and programmes
are aimed precisely at helping
interested Canadians acquire the
knowledge and understanding needed for
individual, corporate and national
success in the world of
today.
ed. November 1995
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