Decision of Canada to Participate in the ICCS

At the beginning Canada was only invited to participate in the Geneva Conference discussing the Korean issue. However, before leaving Ottawa for Geneva on April 23, 1954, the Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs, Mr. Lester B. Pearson, in an interview of the CBC, recorded for broadcast on the weekly programme Man Behind the News, has said "As a Pacific as well as an Atlantic country, we are naturally extremely interested in anything which can be done to pacify and stabilize the situation in Indo-China, and to strengthen the security of South-East Asia. Our Delegation will certainly, therefore, follow the discussions on Indo-China with great care and interest."²⁸

After the collapse of the Korean part of the Conference, Canada still had one observer in Geneva to follow the talks on Indo-China: Assistant Undersecretary for External Affairs John W. Holmes. However, after some time, the Canadian Government decided to call back its only observer in Geneva because Canada was not still invited to participate officially in the Conference. Therefore, the St. Laurent Administration was caught by surprise when rumors about the possible invitation extended by the Conference to Canada to participate in the international commission to supervise the cease-fire in Indo-China reached the news. ²⁹

"Mr. Pearson had an all-morning conference with his two chief aides - Acting Undersecretary R.A. Mackay and Assistant Undersecretary John Holmes. He also had a telephone conversation with Prime Minister St. Laurent who is at his summer home in St. Patrick, a resort on the south bank of the St. Lawrence below Quebec City, and consulted Acting Prime Minister Howe, who is in Ottawa. The attitude here is, as usual, cautious."³⁰

The position of the Canadian Government was that Canada was willing and ready to make its contribution in the keeping of peace in Indo-China. However, the Canadian Government also wanted to clarify its conditions for the participation in the International Commission: the Commission should be made responsible only for the supervision of the cease-fire and the Great Powers, participants of the Conference, should be the guarantors of the cease-fire. On July 21, 1954, the Department of External Affairs issued a statement confirming that "The Government will give immediate and sympathetic consideration to any request from the Geneva Conference to serve on the International supervisory commission for Indo-China. No final decision, however, can be reached pending the receipt of a formal invitation from the conference and of full information as to the functions and terms of reference of the commission and the obligations which membership on it will entail."³¹

At the press conference on July 23, 1954 to release the formal invitation extended to Canada to act with India and Poland on the International Commission, Mr. Pearson stated that the Canadian Government will consider the invitation very carefully. He admitted that the task would be far from easy, but, as a country interested in achieving peace in South-East Asia, Canada would be taking a heavy moral responsibility on itself if it refused to accept the task.

The Government's decision in this matter was made a lot more difficult since it could not consult Parliament, which was in recess. After careful consideration of all provisions in the Geneva Agreement relating to the responsibilities and activities of the international commission, the Cabinet, at its meeting on July 27, 1954, agreed to accept the invitation to participate in the ICCS. The Globe & Mail, on its issue of July 29, 1954 announced that "Canada today agreed to serve on the international commissions which supervise the Indo-China armistice and sent two senior officials to New Delhi to help work out the preliminary arrangements."³²