Canada successfully continued its progress towards greater national
independence, by taking small steps to their independent victories, during the
time in the Paris Peace Conference, the Chanak affair, the Halibut Treaty,
Imperial Conference and Balfour Declaration, and the Statute of Westminister.
The First step Canada took was during the the end of a great war in the Paris
Peace Conference.
As the war was ending, Sir Robert Borden believed that Canada should take its
own place in the peace settlement. That is when, Borden insisted that Canada
would sit at the peace conference in its own right, because Canada had
sacrificed in war and deserve equal treatment. In the end, Canada was given two
seats at the Paris Peace Conference and signed the treaty of Versailles. This
showed that Canada was becoming more mature and separate from Britain. Another
step was taken in Canada that proved Canada was more independent, was during the
Chanak Affair.
Another gentlemen also stepped up to Britain, and told Britain that they would
have to consult the Parliament before they could send Canada to the war with
Turkey during the Chanak Affair. That man was Mackenzie King, Canada's Prime
Minister during the 1922. As part of the peace treaty agreements after would war
one, Britain had agreed to keep some troops in Chanak (a village in turkey), to
keep the Dardanelles, straits that linked the Black sea to the Mediterranean
Sea, a neutral territory. However the small British garrison was threatened by
Turkish force which lead Britain to call upon its empire to help it protect the
straits. Mackenzie King announced that "Canada would no longer automatically
commit to fight at Britons side whenever the British Command it" because, King
did not want to send troops to Chanak without first Consulting Canada's
Parliament (which...