John Nelson and the Origins of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs

Lawrence T. Woods is associate professor of political science and international studies at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. The author is indebted to John Howes, the editors of this journal, and three anonymous referees for their constructive feedback on earlier versions of this article. Canadian universities might take some steps to attract [Asian] students; and might increase their facilities for the study of Oriental languages and history. Graduates in these should man our immigration staffs and our consular offices in the East. Greater contact and intercourse would do much to forestall misunderstandings and to facilitate and foster trade.(1)WITH THIS CHALLENGE, JOHN NELSON, having just chaired the Canadian delegation to the inaugural meeting of the Institute of Pacific Relations (IPR), launched his quest to enhance Canadian understanding of regional and international affairs. Three years later, in January 1928, the Canadian Institute of International Affairs (CIIA) was born.In some fascinating ways, John Nelson's intellectual development mirrors that of Canada itself. It is the story of a progression of understanding, from the perspective of ethnic difference as something to be feared to the view that it is something to be valued. This article traces the development of Nelson's thinking about things international and about the need to understand and appreciate difference. It also explores some of the reasons that he has faded from our historical memory. The lessons taken from this case study will be useful as Canadians seek to further develop their regional and international relations in the new millennium. Moreover, this story is important because John Nelson (1873-1936) was instrumental in shaping what is now commonly referred to as unofficial or track diplomacy--the activities of individuals and organizations that may or may not be formally sanctioned to represent their state, government or society, but are expected or seen by people from other countries to act and speak as if they are. Track two diplomacy and the concomitant activities of nongovernmental organizations like the IPR and CIIA are increasingly prominent subjects in the field of international studies. His 1925 call for more study of Asia within Canadian universities and his roles in the establishment of the IPR and CIIA place John Nelson toward the front of a long line of Canadians who have dedicated themselves to promoting a better public understanding of the global issues. Recognizing this history and the lessons it embodies will be vital to national efforts to recast Canada's international profile.LEARNING FROM LEPERSThe origins of the CIIA lie in a cross-cultural encounter in a tiny, unlikely place off the coast of Vancouver Island amidst one of the most abhorrent human rights abuses in Canada's early history. On Sunday, 22 May 1898, John Nelson, a cub reporter for the Victoria Daily Times, joined a small party accompanying the city health inspector on his quarterly visit to the Chinese leper colony on D'Arcy Island. The name given to the island in the language of the Saanich First Nation means arrival, in deference to the observation that salmon returning to the Fraser River are usually first spotted at this location in Haro Strait, just off the Saanich Peninsula. On this day, however, the Saanich name took on an additional meaning for, in the wake of what he saw on D'Arcy, Nelson--who had earlier that same year come west to British Columbia from Ontario--knew that he too had now truly arrived in a new land. The newcomer was troubled by the experience of coming upon six men who had been sent into permanent exile and essentially left to die on a rock because they were Asian by origin and suffered from a contagious disease that was poorly understood and allegedly dangerous to the general population. It was to haunt him for the next quarter century.The visit to D'Arcy Island may have been John Nelson's first meaningful, face-to-face encounter with Asians. …

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