Suez Crisis
During the Suez Crisis the Canadian government was concerned with what might be a growing rift between western allied nations. Lester B. Pearson, who would later become the Prime Minister of Canada, went to the United Nations and suggested creating a United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) in the Suez to "keep the borders at peace while a political settlement is being worked out." Both France and Britain rejected the idea, so Canada turned to the United States. After several days of tense diplomacy, the United Nations accepted the suggestion, and a neutral force not involving the major alliances (NATO and the Warsaw Pact—though Canadian troops participated since Canada spearheaded the idea of a neutral force) was sent with the consent of Nasser, stabilizing conditions in the area. The Suez Crisis also contributed to the adoption of a new Canadian national flag without references to that country's past as a colony of France and Britain. De Gaulle's visit to French-speaking Quebec in 1967 was heavily influenced by lingering tensions from a decade earlier.
Read more about this topic: Canada–France Relations, History
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