This paper examines and assesses the security relationship between Canada and the United States in the post 11 September 2001 era. Following the terrorist attacks in the United States on 11 September 2001, the United States became an even more iconoclastic in its approach to accepted norms of international behaviour among sovereign states. The contemporary American policy appears to be that some states are more sovereign than others. The perspective allows the United States to justify its own behaviour toward other states in the contemporary era, after condemning similar behaviour by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. This background is relevant to a consideration of the security relationship between Canada and the United States in the post 11 September 2001 era because (a) the United States expects to call the tune, while (b) Canada may lose its sovereignty if it dances to the American tune.
The Essential Problem Confronting Canada
The situation confronting Canada with respect to its security relationship with the United States in the post 11 September 2001 period is analogous in one way to the situation that confronted the country in the early-1990s, following the end of the Cold War. At that time, it was necessary for Canada to review its security policies and its security activities to determine which of those policies and activities remained relevant in the onset of the new era. A similar situation exists in 2003, as Canada must determine which of its security policies and activities affecting its relationship with the United States remain relevant in the post 11 September 2001 period.
In 1993, when Canada was reviewing its Cold War security policies and activities, Wesley Wark (284) suggested that it also was appropriate consider which agencies of government should retain responsibilities in the area of security, when he wrote รดร why should any of these roles fall into the hands of intelligence services, rathe...