Office of the Historian

711.56342/11–951

The Canadian Acting Secretary of State for External Affairs (Reid) to the Ambassador in Canada (Woodward)1

restricted
No. 322
Ottawa, November 9, 1951.

The Acting Secretary of State for External Affairs presents his compliments to His Excellency the Ambassador of the United States of America, and has the honour to refer to the Ambassador’s Note No. 112 of July 27, 1951, in which the approval of the Canadian Government was requested for the establishment by the United States Air Forces of global communications facilities in certain specified areas in Newfoundland.

The Canadian Government agrees to the extension of global communications by the United States Air Force within the areas in Newfoundland as defined in the Ambassador’s Note. The approval of the Canadian Government is given on the following conditions:

(1)
The land necessary for the facilities will be acquired by the Canadian Government, which will retain title to it.
(2)
This land will be available without charge to the United States for its exclusive use for as long as, in the opinion of both Governments, there is a continuing need for the facilities.
(3)
If, at any time in the future, it is decided by either Government that the facilities are no longer necessary for joint defence or for NATO purposes, the land, together with any immovable facilities on it, will, on twelve months’ notice, revert to the use of the Canadian Government.2
(4)
Any movable property placed on the land by the United States may be removed by the United States at any time prior to the evacuation of the property by U.S. forces, or within a reasonable time there-after.
(5)
Arrangements respecting such technical matters as frequencies and powers will be co-ordinated with the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Department of Transport of Canada, and will be subject to the approval of the Department of Transport.

The Canadian Government does not wish at this time to make any commitments on the question of privileges and immunities until the position of the NATO Forces Agreement has been clarified.3 The [Page 902] Canadian Government nevertheless agrees that U.S. forces stationed on the land in question will be granted privileges and immunities on a standard no lower than those set forth in the NATO Forces Agreement, conditional on the approval of that Agreement by the Parliament of Canada.4

E[scott] R[eid]
  1. A copy of this note was enclosed with despatch 471, November 9.↩
  2. In a letter of December 11 from the Acting Secretary of State to Secretary of Defense Lovett, inviting the Defense Department’s comments on the Canadian note, the State Department called attention to this provision and observed: “In the case of NATO facilities the Department of State could not agree that the Canadian Government would have a unilateral right to determine whether these were necessary for NATO purposes. The Department understands, however, that the global communications project in Newfoundland is a United States requirement, rather than a NATO requirement.” (711.56342/12–1151)↩
  3. For documentation on U.S.-Canadian discussions concerning the applicability of the NATO status of forces agreement to the Newfoundland bases, see volume iii.↩
  4. Negotiations concerning the global communications sites continued in 1952.↩