| In 1956 Egyptian president Gamel Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. Britain and France fearing that Egypt would cut off oil shipments flowing from the Persian Gulf to western Europe, began a military occupation of the canal zone. The United Nations became involved and Canada's Minister of External Affairs, Lester B. Pearson, played a key role in working out a compromise, the creation of a United Nations Emergency Force to defuse the crisis. Within weeks a ten-nation UN force was in place, led by Canadian General E.L.M. Burns. Canada contributed equipment and the largest number of troops, about 800. For his role, Lester Pearson was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1957 and Canadians came to see peacekeeping as a talent they could exercise on the world stage. PA-122737 |