[Talos]

A friend of mine insists that back in the 1950's, the Caribbean island of St. Martin was officially offered to Canada, and the offer was turned down by the Diefenbaker government. I can find no mention of this on-line, but other than a Google search I wouldn't know where to look. Can anybody confirm this, and point me at some sort of resource where I can learn more about it?

[Brenda]

Why would the Netherlands (or the French) offer Canada one of their islands?

[sandorski]

Not aware of any such thing. There was a Caribbean island where a movement was present that considered joining Canada back in the '80/90's(or maybe even 10 years ago, don't recall now), but that went no where.

[andyt]

Turks and Caicos, and it came up again just a few years ago.

[Talos]

andyt andyt:

Turks and Caicos, and it came up again just a few years ago.

Aha! Turks and Caicos! That is obviously what my friend was thinking of. I have been able to easily uncover many references to that ... and it makes for amusing reading

[andyt]

I typed in "Caribbean Island join Canada" and up it came. Google is your friend.

[DanSC]

Look, Canada, if you want a Caribbean Island, you have to get it the old fashioned way, by conquering it.

That's what your British mother country would have done.

[stratos]

We got our last ones, The US Virgin Islands, from England during WWII for a few ships and an agreement to take over the patrolling of the Caribbean. We obviously needed a base so presto change-o we now have control over what is now called the US Virgin Islands.

[Lemmy]

stratos stratos:

We got our last ones, The US Virgin Islands, from England during WWII for a few ships and an agreement to take over the patrolling of the Caribbean. We obviously needed a base so presto change-o we now have control over what is now called the US Virgin Islands.

You sure about that?

[ShepherdsDog]

stratos stratos:

We got our last ones, The US Virgin Islands, from England during WWII for a few ships and an agreement to take over the patrolling of the Caribbean. We obviously needed a base so presto change-o we now have control over what is now called the US Virgin Islands.

They were the Danish West Indies, not owned by the UK and only briefly occupied by Britain in the early 1800s.

[DrCaleb]

DanSC DanSC:

Look, Canada, if you want a Caribbean Island, you have to get it the old fashioned way, by conquering it.

That's what your British mother country would have done.

See, you guys had to start shooting at the Brits to get them to leave. We just gave them menacing stares, and they left willingly.

Same with Turks and Caicos. We just have to say 'Look! Healthcare!!' and they'll sign on the dotted line. No bullets expended. Much more civilized.

[Lemmy]

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

They were the Danish West Indies, not owned by the UK and only briefly occupied by Britain in the early 1800s.

And the Yanks had their hands on them long before WWII.

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Same with Turks and Caicos. We just have to say 'Look! Healthcare!!' and they'll sign on the dotted line. No bullets expended. Much more civilized.

We're still working on that. Support for annexation by Canada has gone up and down over the last 25 years or so, but I remain confident that there'll be a time in the not-to-distant future when Turks & Caicos are brought into Confederation.

[stratos]

Lemmy Lemmy:

stratos stratos:

We got our last ones, The US Virgin Islands, from England during WWII for a few ships and an agreement to take over the patrolling of the Caribbean. We obviously needed a base so presto change-o we now have control over what is now called the US Virgin Islands.

You sure about that?

nah not positive, still recovering from this weekend. It was a very good weekend in Corpus Christi.

[Lemmy]

stratos stratos:

nah not positive, still recovering from this weekend. It was a very good weekend in Corpus Christi.

[Batsy2]

Lemmy Lemmy:

but I remain confident that there'll be a time in the not-to-distant future when Turks & Caicos are brought into Confederation.

Highly unlikely.

It would require the Queen being willing to transfer one of her assets to Canada and that's not very likely. But it’s a nice fairy tale.