page_title: World Federalist Movement-Canada
section_title: Decentralized Canadian Network
hierarchical_section_title: World Federalist Movement-Canada / History / Decentralized Canadian Network
caption_attribution_description: English: A photo released by the Law Society of Upper Canada of James Lewis Duncan, taken at some point in the 1940s. The Law Society of Upper Canada states on their website that copyright on the image has either expired, or if they own the copyright, it is freely available for use.
context_page_description: The World Federalist Movement — Canada is a member organization of the World Federalist Movement, a global citizens movement dedicated to promoting institutions of world governance. WFMC has a national headquarters in Ottawa, and active branches in Vancouver, Victoria, and Montreal.
  Since its founding in 1951, the WFMC and its predecessor organizations have been a strong advocate for the application of the principles of democratic federalism to world affairs. It advocates for the strengthening international bodies and democratizing existent global institutions.
  The current National President of the Canadian section of the movement is scientist and conflict researcher Walter Dorn, who succeeded former Cabinet Minister Hon. Warren Allmand in August 2016. Other well known Canadians have also served as WFMC President, including Hon. Flora MacDonald, The Very Rev. Sen. Lois M. Wilson and Hon. Allan Blakeney.
  As World Federalists, we view the world as one society embracing all of humanity in all its diversity.
context_section_description: Toronto lawyer and political icon Lewis Duncan lost his only child on a Dutch battlefield, a month before the end of the Second World War. In the wake of this loss, Duncan used his local connections to assemble a group of prominent individuals into a new public-service organization called the World Government Association, Dec. 1945. The group became associated with the larger movement as the philosophy of federalism began to gain traction globally.
  With more of a political edge than their Toronto counterparts, the Ottawa world federalists took advantage of their location in the national capital. In 1949, the group was successful in drumming up support for world federalism from seven CCF Members of Parliament and two PCs, including leader John Bracken. In response to a speech by Prime Minister Mackenzie King, Bracken said "our path as Canadians is clear. Collective security for humanity is possible only in international collective agreement.[...]That price is the sacrifice of some degree of national sovereignty."
  The Hon. Lester B. Pearson, Liberal Secretary of State for External Affairs, congratulated the Ottawa group "...on its work to extend and consolidate international cooperation..."
  In April 1949, ten world federalists who had been meeting since Fall 1948 organized themselves into the Saskatoon World Government Association. It was modelled after the Toronto group, and was active in lobbying Saskatchewan Members of Parliament, and even interested Premier Tommy Douglas in world federalism. Douglas was inspired enough to make several speeches on the subject, advocating for an international court, police force and parliament. He also devoted one of his famous weekly fireside chats to the topic of world federalism. The Saskatoon world federalists spread their message by sending speakers throughout the province, and having a letter to the editor published in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix.
  After a Dec. 1949 talk by Toronto world federalist Charles Millard at the Winnipeg YMCA, 18 members of the YMCA Citizen's Forum Group and the Phoenix Club formed a world government group. Dr. Bernard G. Whitmore, associate professor at the University of Manitoba Department of Physics, was elected chairman of the Winnipeg World Government Association. The group was successful in holding several public meetings and debates, and received support from Liberal MP Ralph Maybank, CCF MP Alistair Stewart, and later PC MP Gordon Churchill.
  In Vancouver, Elmore Philpott worked with Lewis Duncan on his national initiatives, and even ran as an independent candidate in a provincial election, campaigning on a world government platform and achieving a close second place finish. Between 1949 and 1950, other coordinated world federalist activity went on in Halifax, Hamilton, and Norfolk County.
caption: James Lewis Duncan (1892-1960). Photo from The Law Society of Upper Canada.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0", "Image DateTime": "2011:05:19 11:37:57", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2886", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "765", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "953"}