Salmon, a pig shooting and an invasion plan: The moments the US and Canada nearly set the region ablaze | Weekend special
A historical review of diplomatic and military crises between the United States and Canada, from the invasion of 1812 to the salmon fishing dispute of 1997. The article describes friction points where the North American border nearly ignited, highlighting how the two nations learned to prefer verbal confrontations over rekindling the border.
The article reviews a series of historical crises between the United States and Canada, where the North American border nearly flared into military conflict. It opens with the American invasion of Canada in 1812, in which Americans captured York (Toronto) and burned the parliament, but a British-Canadian counterattack reached Washington and set the White House ablaze. It then describes the "Pig War" of 1859 on San Juan Island, where an American farmer shot a pig that had trespassed onto his land, leading to a military standoff that was averted at the last moment thanks to a British admiral who refused to escalate. The article reveals a secret American plan from the 1920s and 1930s for a blitzkrieg invasion of Canada, including the use of chemical weapons, and a Canadian counter-plan for a preemptive strike. Another crisis is described in 1985, when the American icebreaker "Polar Sea" traversed the Northwest Passage without permission, leading to diplomatic tensions that ended with an agreement in 1988. In 1997, Canadian fishing boats blockaded an American ferry in protest over exceeding salmon fishing quotas. Finally, the article presents the active territorial dispute over Machias Seal Island, where a battle over lucrative lobster fishing grounds is underway.