Gouzenko Affair

Gouzenko Affair
Part of the Cold War in Canada
Front page of The Gazette from February 18, 1946
Date1945 (1945)–1946 (1946)
Arrests21[1][2][3]
Convicted11[1][2][3]

The Gouzenko Affair was the name given to events in Canada surrounding the defection of Igor Gouzenko, a GRU cipher clerk stationed at the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa, from the Soviet Union in 1945 and his allegations regarding the existence of a Soviet spy ring of Canadian communists. Gouzenko's defection and revelations are considered by historians to have marked the beginning of the Cold War in Canada,[4] as well as potentially setting the stage for the "Red Scare" of the 1950s.[5]

The Kellock–Taschereau Commission was a royal commission that began in February 1946 with the mandate to investigate the veracity of Gouzenko's information. The Commission, appointed on February 5, 1946, by Governor General the Earl of Athlone, on the advice of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, was headed by two judges of the Supreme Court of Canada: Robert Taschereau and Roy Kellock. The investigations led to the arrest of 21 people, along with 11 convictions. Among them was the Labor-Progressive Party (LPP) member of Parliament for Cartier, Fred Rose. Other notable people among those accused of passing over secrets were Canadian Army Captain Gordon Lunan, and Sam Carr, a senior organizer of the LPP.

Filling 6,000 pages, Gouzenko's testimony was not made public until 1981.[1]

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference CBCArchives1958 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Sawatsky 1984, pp. 286–287.
  3. ^ a b Cross 2005, p. 79.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference ClémentPage1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ MacKenzie 2001, p. 2.