As a kid, I had trouble understanding why my parents and siblings lived in Montreal, while my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins were scattered across the United States. On long car trips to visit relatives in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, my parents would tell us about the Vietnam War and the thousands of U.S. peace activists who had sneaked across the border to Canada in the late 1960s.

I was told that the Canadian government not only stayed officially neutral during that war, it offered sanctuary to U.S. citizens who refused to fight in a war that they believed was wrong. Derided as “draft dodgers” at home, they were welcomed in Canada as conscientious objectors.

My family’s decision to emigrate to Canada was made before I was born, but these romantic stories planted an idea in my head when I was far too young to fend it off. I believed Canada had a relationship with the world that was radically different from that of the U.S.: that despite cultural similarities and geographic proximity, more humane and less interventionist values guided our dealings. In short, I thought we were sovereign.

Ever since, I have searched for evidence to back up that childhood (some would say childish) belief, with no luck — until last week, when Canadian foreign policy took its sharpest turn away from the U.S. since the Vietnam War.

As it was in the 60s, Canada’s position on this U.S. invasion is filled with hypocrisies. We have thirty-one soldiers in the Persian Gulf who are serving on exchange alongside U.S. and British troops, as well as three warships in the region. They are there, says Prime Minister Jean Chr

Naomi Klein

Naomi Klein

Naomi Klein is the award-winning author of the international bestsellers, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism and No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies. She writes a regular column...