2017 marks not only the sesquicentennial of Canada as a self-governing federation (albeit not as a completely independent modern state, a status that would not be attained for several more decades). More than this: 2017 is also the centennial year of what quite a few scholars believe really did pave the way to the country's full independence, namely the symbolically important battlefield victory achieved by the Canadian Corps over the German Sixth Army at Vimy Ridge, in April of that year. This battle, in northern France, took place one week after the American president, Woodrow Wilson, asked Congress to declare war against Imperial Germany, effectively making of America a military ally (though the president insisted on the appellation, “associated” power) of both Canada and France – and, it goes without saying, of Britain as well. 

 Thus, you cannot understand fully the meaning of 1867 without comprehending the meaning of 1917. Moreover, you need as well to bring into the equation the “place” of France in the development not just of Canada's but of both North American countries' evolving foreign and security policies of a century ago. This is what we propose to do in this paper.