WI: British West Indies transferred to Canada?

what if the British decided that they'd transfer their Caribbean land and put it with the dominion of Canada (or even after Canada is granted independence as an alternative to granting the various Caribbean countries independence), what would Canada look like today?

I know several timelines explore the issue but I'd be curious as to the likely makeup of Canada and how different it would be from otl (as a global player as well as cultural impact).
 

Cook

Banned
Why would they do so? There's not been a historic connection between them, and 'geography' is hardly justification given the enormous distance between them.
 
Why would they do so? There's not been a historic connection between them, and 'geography' is hardly justification given the enormous distance between them.

Well, historic connections or the lack thereof notwithstanding, there has long been limited interest in Canadian political circles about annexing certain places in the BWI.

Canada’s strange quest for its own Hawaii

As you can see from that article, nothing has ever come of these proposals, but they continue to be entertained, most recently at the NDP convention in 2016. So, I would not say it's total ASB.

As for how Canada would look today, well, obviously more people from the Caribbean would likely be living in "the Upper 10". I'll also be a little bit negative here and say that anti-black racism would be more of a thing in Canada, especially if the new provinces were viewed as benefitting from Canadian "generosity" while not pulling their own weight. (Check out the comments section of any Canadian news article about First Nations people to get an idea of what people would be saying about West Indian Canadians. Not pretty.)

I'd also predict there might be some resentment among Canadian First Nations themselves,some of whom would be thinking "Hey, a lot of us are still living in conditions that are third-world, why the hell is the government doing anything for the Caribbean before they've solved our problems?!" If the islands were brought in as full provinces, it would cause quite a bit of conflict with Yukon, the NWT, and Nunavut, all of whom are currently expected to make do with territory status.

Politically, I'm wondering if West Indians who voted for people like Michael Manley and Maurice Bishop would throw their support behind the NDP(who were the party debating annexation in 2016), or if they would just fall into the usual Canadian habit of swinging mostly between the Liberals and Tories, with occassional stops at the NDP.
 
And some of you doubtlessly remember this guy.

He got lambasted for alleged racism for talking that way, but the dirty little secret was that he was probably getting more black votes than a lot of the people who were calling out his supposed bigotry. And that vote seems to have been substantially conservative on social issues(eg. Ford always made a point of skipping the Gay Pride parade, but never missed Caribana). So, absorbing the British Caribbean into Canadian politics might bring some of those issues into play as well.
 

samcster94

Banned
Well, historic connections or the lack thereof notwithstanding, there has long been limited interest in Canadian political circles about annexing certain places in the BWI.

Canada’s strange quest for its own Hawaii

As you can see from that article, nothing has ever come of these proposals, but they continue to be entertained, most recently at the NDP convention in 2016. So, I would not say it's total ASB.

As for how Canada would look today, well, obviously more people from the Caribbean would likely be living in "the Upper 10". I'll also be a little bit negative here and say that anti-black racism would be more of a thing in Canada, especially if the new provinces were viewed as benefitting from Canadian "generosity" while not pulling their own weight. (Check out the comments section of any Canadian news article about First Nations people to get an idea of what people would be saying about West Indian Canadians. Not pretty.)

I'd also predict there might be some resentment among Canadian First Nations themselves,some of whom would be thinking "Hey, a lot of us are still living in conditions that are third-world, why the hell is the government doing anything for the Caribbean before they've solved our problems?!" If the islands were brought in as full provinces, it would cause quite a bit of conflict with Yukon, the NWT, and Nunavut, all of whom are currently expected to make do with territory status.

Politically, I'm wondering if West Indians who voted for people like Michael Manley and Maurice Bishop would throw their support behind the NDP(who were the party debating annexation in 2016), or if they would just fall into the usual Canadian habit of swinging mostly between the Liberals and Tories, with occassional stops at the NDP.
The Belgians, another partially Francophone country, wanted to actually annex Hawaii at one point.
 

Deleted member 109224

British Honduras was very interested in the idea in the mid-20th century.

Around 1911 there were proposals for Bahamas to go to Canada, but the issue was there was a sudden influx of African-American refugees fleeing riots/lynchings in Oklahoma and anti-black sentiment spiked in Canada.

In the 1880s, there was talk about Barbados joining the Confederation. There was interest in the 1950s as well.

In the late-19th century there was interest in the idea of Jamaica joining up as well.

There's still proposals for Turks and Caicos to be transferred to Canada today from time to time.

-----

If Barbados joined up in the 1880s, I could see other nearby Caribbean islands added to the colony and administered as the province of the windward islands.
Then Jamaica joins (with the Turks and Caicos, Cayman Islands, and British Honduras all administered as part of Jamaica).
Then the Leeward islands are added as a single province, Trinidad-Tobago and Guyana are made into a province, and Bahamas join as a province.

5 Canadian Caribbean provinces:
Jamaica (plus Belize, Turks-Caicos, and Caymans)
Windward Islands (Capital in Barbardos)
Leeward Islands
Bahamas
Trinidad-Tobago-Guyana
 

Cook

Banned
If we are talking post-WW1, then they would have to be transferred as League of Nations mandated Trust Territories.
 

Zagan

Donor
If we are talking post-WW1, then they would have to be transferred as League of Nations mandated Trust Territories.
Certainly not. The UK had transferred several islands to Australia after WW1 and even after WW2 with no involvement of the LoN or the UN and no mandate nonsense.
 
But what was the justification? It makes no sense.
Because Canada is 90% frozen wasteland, and they'd want to own some tropical islands to have nice vacation spot. Retired politicians instead of being stuffed into Senate, would be sent to Carribean while given some useless non-job sinecure related to the tropical paradise. How does "Deputy chairman for Canadian Caribbeans social development" sound?
 
Probably the Colonial Office in London had a justification. I really don't think that they were just acting randomly.

I believe more convenient travel, with the money staying in-country instead of going into foreign coffers, has been cited as a rationale for annexing the BWI.
 

Cook

Banned
Certainly not. The UK had transferred several islands to Australia after WW1 and even after WW2 with no involvement of the LoN or the UN and no mandate nonsense.

If you are referring to Christmas Island, it was purchased in 1958 for the equivalent of £220 million in today's money, specifically for its phosphate mine. Since the only inhabitants were the temporary work force, their rights to self determination didn't factor into it; I doubt that would be the case with Jamaica or Grand Cayman.
 
Rationale?
OTL By 1946 Britain was bankrupt and desperate to shed colonies that were expensive to administer.

ATL Britain forces Carribbean colonial administrative duties onto Canada. Semi-retired Canadian civil servants perform the bulk of administrative duties.
Every winter, the Royal Canadian Navy exercises in the Carribbean, docking at old RN piers. The RCN acquires three old RN troop transports. The Canadian Army grudgingly conducts winter exercises in tropical jungles. Meanwhile, the RCAF expands their transport fleet to fulfill demand. Sun-burnt Canadian servicemen grumble about arduous duty in the Carribbean. Hah! Hah!
 

Deleted member 109224

Because Canada is 90% frozen wasteland, and they'd want to own some tropical islands to have nice vacation spot. Retired politicians instead of being stuffed into Senate, would be sent to Carribean while given some useless non-job sinecure related to the tropical paradise. How does "Deputy chairman for Canadian Caribbeans social development" sound?

Banally beautiful.
 
I could see the Bahamas getting in, but anything beyond that is bound to be moribund. Jamaica was against it completely from the beginning, and I think once the latent racism of the times surfaces it will sour the other colonies on it. Representation is going to be an issue, and I think Canada would push for more colony status than actual representation (if the Canadian west is any indication of how Ottawa views things). Between that and the war breaking out I'd be hard pressed to see the rest going along with it.

Having a captive market for pineapple and sugar is probably a boon to the Bahamas though and might see fortunes swell somewhat. Between that and being the Canadian tourist destination I think there would be some prosperity in the islands.
 
I think once the latent racism of the times surfaces it will sour the other colonies on it. Representation is going to be an issue

Yeah, I think it's difficult to overstate the impact that racism(or racial tensions, if you prefer) would have on provoking conflict between old-stock Canadians and the new BWI citizens.

Another thing, the two largest BWI nations, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, together have a poplation about equal to that of Alberta, plus there are lots of other BWI nations besides those that could be annexed as well. And they're ALL English-speaking. One wonders what Quebec, or for that matter non-Quebec francophones, would think about admitting them all into Canada. Especially given the Empire Loyalist-style hoopla that likely would have surrounded annexation in at least the earlier years of Canadian history.
 
Top