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Canadian identity is often seen as many things.  Some say Canada is about multiculturalism, some say Canada is about Vimy Ridge.  Really, Canada is about the people:   People like Lester Bowles Pearson.  Innovative and striving for the greater good, Lester Pearson was a great advocate of what it really means to be Canadian.  Lester Pearson is the example of Canadian Identity because of his Diplomacy and his leadership, two things that Canada is internationally recognized for despite its small population and military.  

Lester B. Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts of diplomacy in 1957.  To deserve this great honour, Lester Pearson merely had to solve the conflict that would have led to World War 3: the Suez Canal Crisis.  Canada is represented by Pearson; not every Canadian could have 

been there.  But in effect, it was Canada, a largely disregarded British colony calling itself a country, acting on behalf of the world to save the superpowers from blowing each other up a third time in half a century.  In order to ensure the peaceful liberation of the Suez Canal, Lester Pearson fathered the United Nations Emergency Force; a major step forward for the United Nations, and what 

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essentially made it distinct from from the doomed League of Nations.  This force effectively ensured the peaceful release of tensions between countries until 1967.  Lester Pearson shows the world what Canada is about… not about great armies to intimidate our enemies, but about peaceful negotiations whenever possible.  Canada could not have sent a better example of Canadian diplomacy, or of Canadian leadership.

Canada was in the process of finding its identity during the 20th century.  Canada needed leadership.  And Pearson was ready to lead.  Pearson began his political career in the ‘30s and ‘40s through the Ministry of External Affairs.  In 1945 he became Canada’s ambassador to the United States.  Although Prime Minister of the time, William Lyon Mackenzie King, tried to recruit Pearson into his government, the honoured Pearson declined as he did not agree with Mackenzie’s style.  It would not be until 1948 that Pearson became Minister of External Affairs under Louis St. Laurent’s government.  Saving the world brought him to popularity and in 1963 became prime minister in a Liberal minority government.  In his few years in office with a minority government, Lester Pearson showed Canada his leadership qualities; introducing universal health care, Canada Student Loans, the Canada Pension Plan and many more including a controversial new flag for the country:  The Maple Leaf.  Lester Pearson’s Auto-Pact with the United States drove unemployment to a new low, and introduced a new minimum wage.  All this he did, even just with a minority government.  That means that the opposition was not opposed to his brilliant ideas; a never before seen development in politics.  His ideas must have been good.  They were.  Without Lester’s leadership, Canada would not have been able to find its identity, and we would all still be searching under the union Jack.  Lester Pearson also produced many future Prime ministers from his cabinet, including Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chrétien who took his example and ran to help shape the country we call Canada long after Lester left politics.  Lester’s legacy lives on in the Canadian flag and in every part of our identity.  

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Lester B. Pearson is arguably the most influential person when it comes to identifying Canada’s Identity.  His diplomatic and leadership skills are what Canada is about.  When Lester was PM, Canada had a chance to find itself.  And it did, the end result being Canada as we know it today.  Lester Pearson retired in 1967 and died in 1972.  But Canada will not die with him because of what he left behind.