CONSPIRACY THEORIES

CONSPIRACY’S GREATEST HITS

REWRITING HISTORY –IT’S EASIER THAN YOU THINK

By Jacques Daviault

Jacques Daviault is a Montreal-based writer and art director with a curiosity that knows few bounds. In late June 1985, 14 of the most senior members of the U.S. State Department and the Chairman of the U.S. Joints Chief of Defence staff met the Canadian Defence Minister and the Canadian Chief of the Defence Staff at the Mount Washington Hotel in New Hampshire.1

This was the site of the famous Bretton Woods Economic Conference that largely determined the course of economic thought, co-operation, and business modelling for the post-war period. They chose this auspicious spot for its symbolism and its secrecy. No one would be looking here. Their preoccupation? Not the Warsaw Pact, not Afghanistan, nor the increasing communist influence in Central America. It was the Northwest Passage.

GIVING UP THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE

In 1985, Canada gave up the Northwest Passage in return for the U.S. abandoning its covert support of the Quebec independence movement, which it had hoped would destabilize Canada and make it vulnerable to breakup and assimilation, largely to gain unfettered access to its vast resources.2

Canada had been facing another existential threat across the Arctic Ocean – the Soviet Union had been dipping its toe into Canadian territorial waters, challenging our sovereignty, and exercising their territorial ambitions. This seemingly minor battle was lost amidst the larger issues of nuclear disarmament, acid rain, and the befuddled, but mildly entertaining, presidency of Ronald Reagan.

Their preoccupation? Not the Warsaw Pact, not Afghanistan, nor the increasing communist influence in Central America. It was the Northwest Passage.

In early 1986, The Globe & Mail reported the story, diluted, redacted, and buried in Section B of the world news. “Canada Offers To Share Northwest Passage Policing With Allies,”3 is word-for-word the headline they were fed by spokespersons from the Canadian Government. The deal was sealed.

THE COMING OF AN ICE-FREE PASSAGE

Our signing over of the Northwest Passage was timely, and fortuitous, as the early 1980s saw the publication of the first reports of global warming. The Reagan administration was fully aware of the incontrovertible evidence that mentioned an ice-free Arctic, yet chose to publicly refute the findings and demand that more research was needed.4

Why? Simple, deflection and distraction. The Canadian government was a victim of the subterfuge. It did not realize the long-term economic and geopolitical advantages that came with controlling the waterways in an ice-free Arctic. Instead the U.S. encouraged Canada to recognize and act upon the

threat of Soviet incursion into the region – a region so vast, it could not possibly hope to police on its own.

STOPPING THE SEPARATIST THREAT

In parallel, as newly disclosed but still heavily redacted State Department documents reveal5, the CIA had infiltrated the Quebec separatist movement, supplying it with funding and advice, albeit under the guise of like-minded French nationals who served as convenient patsies. Their objective was one of preparedness and not necessarily determined action: destabilize if and when needed, monitor and maintain to preserve the status quo.

THE REAGAN DOCTRINE

Diplomatic decorum demanded that Canada, upon being apprised of this by British envoys in the know, not raise its public ire. Instead it needed to reach some sort of quiet agreement with America and counter its passive-aggressive tactics of providing overt and covert aid to resistance movements as dictated by the Reagan doctrine.

The Soviet threat was just as real, so keeping up appearances was essential. It was a simple matter of choosing which threat to side with. Convenience and geography won the day. The U.S. dictated the terms and Canada folded.6

At this time, representatives from Secretary of State George Shultz’s office began a series of clandestine

...documents reveal 5, the CIA had infiltrated the Quebec separatist movement, supplying it with funding and advice.

and frank discussions with the Prime Minister’s Office. This in turn led to the June 1985 meeting at Bretton Woods. The rest is history. Canada has until 2029 to announce the formal ceding of the Northwest Passage to the United States.7

Remember, you read it here first.

FOOTNOTES

1 p.134-146: The Hidden History of The Washington

Hotel - Bretton Woods to the Dayton Accord.

Archibald Alec Leach, Render & Annan, 1994

2 p.44: The CIA Declassified, Greta Lovisa

Gustafsson, Ackerman University Press, 2017

3 Section B - Page 19: Canada Offers To Share

Northwest Passage Policing With Allies (Leonard Franklin Slye) The Globe & Mail.

February 6, 1986

4 p.17: Reagan Administration Officials Dismiss

Global Warming, Demand Additional Research. (Marion Morrison) Time Magazine. October 19, 1985

5 US State Department Records 1980-1986; Public domain, redacted and declassified.

6 p.209: The Hidden History of The Washington Hotel - Bretton Woods to the Dayton Accord. Archibald Alec Leach, Render & Annan, 1994

7 US State Department Records 1980-1986; Public domain, redacted and declassified. Corroborated through Canadian access to information protocols.