About Sidney Allinson Expertise My main area of expertise is in the military history of Canada and Britain, from 1800 to the present day. Particular emphasis on small "colonial" conflicts and both World Wars.
Experience I am author of six published books and numerous magazine articles on the topic of Canadian and British military history.
Organizations belong to Royal Canadian Military Institute (Past Director)
The Western Front Association (Branch Chairman)
Royal Air Force Association
Publications Military History Magazine (US)
The Globe & Mail (Canada)
Army Quaterly & Defence Journal (UK)
Education/Credentials Ph.D
Awards and Honors Boulter Award For Excellence In Military Writing
Question what were the major events in the 20th century that contributed to canadas growing independence from great britain
Answer Canada peacefully and gradually evolved as a nation, quite unlike the United States, which became a separate independent country by means of armed revolution. In 1867, six British North American colonies joined together in Confederation as a new country - Canada. Then, British administrative, financial, and military support slowly was reduced, as Canada took more responsibility and control of its own destiny. During the First World War, Canada sent large contingents of troops to fight alongside Britain, and it is generally recognized that Canada's "birth as a nation" came about during that war, and was strengthened further by Canada's participation again in the Second World War.
Here is the official rest of the story:
The Statute of Westminster was the last of the Imperial Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain applicable to all the Dominions. It granted Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand, Australia, the Union of South Africa, and the Irish Free State full independence.
As in most advances in British constitutional practices, the Statute of Westminster did not constitute a clear break with the past. It merely only consecrated practices that were already firmly established. In the case of Canada, one could consider that the road to independence started with the grant, to the several colonies, of a legislature and eventually of Responsible Government (1847-48). Confederation (1867) crowned this period in so far as, for all intent and purposes, the provinces and the Dominion government obtained full control of all internal matters. The next sixty years were to see a gradual take-over by the federal government of the responsibilities in external sovereignty that had remained, to this point, in the hands of the government and Parliament of Great Britain.
Important dates in the road to independence were the withdrawal of the British troops from Canada (1871), the negotiation of the Washington Treaty (1871) where for the first time a Canadian was included in a British negotiating team to sign a treaty on behalf of Canada, the establishment of the Supreme Court of Canada (1875), the creation of a High Commissioner's Office in London to "represent" Canada (1878), the last use of the veto (1873) and reserve powers by Britain (1886) under the Constitution Act, 1867, and the establishment of the Department of External Affairs (1909). It was the First World War that accelerated the process to independence. The major colonies played a role of such magnitude that they no longer could be considered mere colonies of Great Britain.
The international status of Canada evolved rapidly in the post-World War period: in 1919, Canada was one of the signers of the Treaty of Versailles and was elected as an independent member of the League of Nations. In 1926, the Balfour resolution was adopted at the Imperial Conference. Arthur Balfour presented this resolution to the Imperial conference of the self-governing dominions. In it Great Britain recognized that the Dominions were "autonomous communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate to one another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations".
Thus, by 1931, Canada and the other Dominions had become "autonomous communities... equal in status" to Great Britain. Today, Canada is a major partner in the Commonwealth of Nations, with its own Priminister as political leader, though retaining Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as constitutional Head of State.
