It will be recalled that last October the Minister of National Defence submitted a memorandum on the above subject (Cabinet Document 304/59)† recommending that “approval in principle be given for the use of the range at Forth Churchill by the Canadian and United States scientific and military groups for upper atmosphere research and related purposes.” On October 24 the Cabinet Defence Committee recommended to the Cabinet that such approval be given and that an exchange of Notes be negotiated with the United States based on specific conditions.

The Cabinet considered these recommendations but asked that certain aspects of the question be looked into further. As a consequence, the Cabinet Defence Committee again considered the matter on November 5 and

“(a) approved the recommendation of the Minister of National Defence, made on the advice of the Chiefs of Staff, that approval in principle be given for the use for upper atmosphere research and related purposes of the rocket range at Forth Churchill by Canadian and United States scientific and military groups, on the understanding that the firing schedules would be subject to the Committee’s approval;

“(b) approved the firing schedule for 1960, and indicated it would not approve any firing tests of weapons that year beyond the eight Lacrosse weapons in the schedule; and

“(c) decided that an agreement should be worked out with the United States to give effect to this approval, including the terms agreed at the previous meeting.”

Negotiations with the United States were undertaken on the basis of a draft agreement in the form of an exchange of Notes submitted last July† to the Department of External Affairs by the United States Embassy. Subsequently the United States Embassy was handed a complete re-draft† which included the conditions stipulated by the Cabinet Defence Committee referred to above. Although this re-draft was generally acceptable to the United States authorities they suggested certain minor drafting changes. None of these affected the substance of the conditions laid down by the Cabinet Defence Committee and all of them are acceptable to the Canadian Departments concerned. Paragraphs 1(a), 2(a), 2(c), 3(b), 4, 5 and 6 of the attached Annex† and the attached proposed exchange of letters (which would remain Confidential) accompanying the main agreement reflect the conditions set by the Cabinet Defence Committee. The remaining paragraphs of the Annex are, for the most part, identical to those contained in recent agreements governing the establishment and operation of United States defence facilities in Canada, such as TACAN, the SAC Refuelling Bases and the BMEWS Agreements, the main differences being those dictated by the subject matter of the present Agreement.

The attached draft† of the proposed agreement would confine the use of the range to upper atmosphere research activities and to the continuation of the present cold weather testing of the field Army support equipment. This latter testing would be limited to weapons which the Army would use in the field. The detailed programme of the projects to be tested on this range to be agreed to in advance by the Government on a yearly basis. ¹¹⁸

H.C. GREEN

Note: Amendments proposed by the Minister of National Defence are underlined …

¹¹⁸Le Cabinet a approuvé le texte de cet accord le 29 mars 1960. Voir Recueil des Traités du Canada, 1960, no 12, pour les sections non classifiées de cet accord.
Cabinet approved the text of this agreement on March 29, 1960. See Canada Treaty Series, 1960, No. 12, for the non-classified portions of the agreement.