Collection search - Royal Commission to Investigate the Facts Relating to and the Circumstances Surrounding the Communication, by Public Officials and Other Persons in Positions of Trust of Secret and Confidential Information to Agents of a Foreign Power fonds [textual record]

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1
Royal Commission to Investigate the Facts Relating to and the Circumstances Surrounding the Communication, by Public Officials and Other Persons in Positions of Trust of Secret and Confidential Information to Agents of a Foreign Power fonds [textual record]

Hierarchical level:

Fonds

Date:

1942-1946

Reference:

R1142-0-7-E, RG33-62

Type of material:

Textual material

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

123

Context of this record:

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Royal Commission to Investigate the Facts Relating to and the Circumstances Surrounding the Communication, by Public Officials and Other Persons in Positions of Trust of Secret and Confidential Information to Agents of a Foreign Power fonds
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Record information – Details
Date(s):

1942-1946

Bilingual equivalent:

Click here

Place of creation:

No place, unknown, or undetermined

Extent:

3.4 m of textual records

Language of material:

English
Accession:

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Royal Commission to Investigate the Facts Relating to and the Circumstances Surrounding the Communication by Public Officials and Other Persons in Positions of Trust of Secret and Confidential Information to Agents of a Foreign Power [textual record]

Royal Commission on Espionage in the Government Service ("Gouzenko Affair") [textual record]
Scope and content:

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Fonds consists of transcripts of in-camera hearings and exhibits. These records are also available on microfilm.

Provenance:

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Canada. Royal Commission to Investigate the Facts Relating to and the Circumstances Surrounding the Communication, by Public Officials and Other Persons in Positions of Trust of Secret and Confidential Information to Agents of a Foreign Power

Biography/Administrative history:

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Canada. Royal Commission to Investigate the Facts Relating to and the Circumstances Surrounding the Communication, by Public Officials and Other Persons in Positions of Trust of Secret and Confidential Information to Agents of a Foreign Power : The Royal Commission to Investigate the Facts Relating to and the Circumstances Surrounding the Communication, by Public Officials and Other Persons in Positions of Trust of Secret and Confidential Information to Agents of a Foreign Power was established under Order in Council P.C. 411, 5 February 1946, under Part I of the Inquiries Act (R.S.C. 1927, c.99) and on the recommendation of the prime minister. The Commission was mandated to inquire and report on which public officials and other persons in positions of trust or otherwise, have communicated, directly or indirectly, secret and confidential information, the disclosure of which might be contrary to the safety and interests of Canada, to the agents of a foreign power and the facts relating to and the circumstances surrounding such communication. The Commissioners were Robert Taschereau and Roy Lindsay Kellock. The Secretary was W.K. Campbell.

On the evening of 5 September 1945 Igor Gouzenko, a cipher clerk for the Military Attaché, Colonel Nikolai Zabotin of the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa, left the embassy taking with him a number of secret documents. Gouzenko spent more than a day in fear before the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) provided him with protection. During that time he tried to turn the documents over to the Ottawa Journal as well as to the Minister of Justice, Louis St. Laurent, but he was turned away from both places. After that, he returned to his Somerset Street apartment on the evening of 6 September with his wife and child and appealed to his neighbors for help. One of them alerted the Ottawa City Police and another took the Gouzenko family in for the night. Meanwhile, officials from the Soviet Embassy forced their way into Gouzenko's apartment. The Ottawa City Police arrived on the scene and after an angry exchange the Soviets left. On the advice of the Under Secretary of State for External Affairs, Norman Robertson, Gouzenko was taken by the city police to RCMP headquarters on the morning of 7 September for questioning. Once there, he officially defected. More important, he turned over the documents that he had taken from the Soviet Embassy to the RCMP that proved the existence of a Soviet spy network operating inside several government departments in Canada and in the office of the British High Commission in Ottawa.

Within a few days the British and Americans sent agents to Ottawa to assist the RCMP with its investigation. As the investigation proceeded, Prime Minister King discussed the matter personally with Prime Minister Attlee of Great Britain and President Truman of the United States. As a result, it was decided not to proceed at once with any arrests.

Five months after Gouzenko's defection matters came to a head. Early in February 1946, Drew Pearson, a Washington columnist, told his radio audience that Prime Minister King had advised President Truman of a Soviet spy ring operating in Canada. Pearson's revelations made Canadian action on this matter imperative. On 5 February 1946 Prime Minister King informed his Cabinet about the Gouzenko case and then read the text of the order in council appointing a federal royal commission to investigate and report upon the information disclosed by Gouzenko. No public announcement was made of this inquiry, however, until 15 February - the day that the first arrests connected with the case were made. (See The Gouzenko Transcripts, ed. R. Bothwell and J.L. Granatstein, Ottawa: Deneau Publishers, 1982, pp. 3-11; The Quiet Canadian, H.M. Hyde, London: Hamish Hamilton Ltd., 1962, pp. 229-235; Men In The Shadows, J. Sawatsky, Toronto: Totem Books, 1983, pp. 72-82; and A Man of Influence, J.L. Granatstein, Ottawa: Deneau Publishers, 1981, pp. 172-177.)

Hearings of the commission were held in Ottawa from 13 February to 27 June 1946. Approximately 1000 exhibits were filed with the commission. RG33-62 General Inventory

Finding aid:

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(Electronic) Finding aid 33-52 is a typed file list. 33-52 PDF (90: Open)
http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf002/33-52_123_open.pdf

(Electronic) All or some of the documents described have been digitized and are available at the following address: (90: Open)
http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_123

Additional information:

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General note:

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The commission's First Interim Report, dated 2 March, 1946 was tabled in the House of Commons on 14 March, 1946 as Sessional Paper no. 132, 1946. The report was printed in the Final Report, pp. 693-696, and also printed as: Documents relating to the proceedings of the Royal Commission established by Order in Council P.C. 411 of 5 February, 1946. Ottawa, King's Printer, 1946, 25 p.
The commission's Second Interim Report, dated 14 March 1946, was tabled in the House of Commons on 15 March 1946 as Sessional Paper no. 132a, 1946. This report was printed in the Final Report, pp. 697-703.
The commission's Third Interim Report, dated 29 March 1946, was tabled in the House of Commons on 29 March 1946 as Sessional Paper no. 132d, 1946. This report was printed in the Final Report, pp. 705-712.
The commission's Final Report, dated 27 June 1946, was tabled in the House of Commons on 15 July 1946 as Sessional Paper no. 132f, 1946. The report was printed as: The Report of the Royal Commission appointed under Order in Council P.C. 411 of February 5, 1946 to investigate the facts relating to and the circumstances surrounding the communication, by public officials and other persons in positions of trust of secret and confidential information to agents of a foreign power. June 27, 1946. Ottawa, King's Printer, 1946, 733 p. Researchers may view a microfiche copy of this report by consulting finding aid 33-1, Henderson # 337.
For more information about royal commissions, researchers should consult: Records of Federal Royal Commissions (RG 33) / James Murray Whalen. -- (General inventory series / Government Archives Division). -- Ottawa : National Archives of Canada, 1990).

Source of title:

Order in Council PC 411, 5 February 1946.

Availability of other formats note:

See reels T-1368 to T-1370 and T-3423 to T-3434 for microfilmed copies of the records in this series. Researchers may view these microfilms in the Reading Room.

Accruals:

No further accruals are expected.

Related material:

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See also: National Archives of Canada, W.L.M. King Papers, MG 26 J1, Vols. 398-443, correspondence under the subject heading "Royal Commission - Kellock - Taschereau Commission of 1946" scattered throughout this series; MG 26 J4, Vol. 276, file 2822, I. Gouzenko, 1946- 1948; MG 26 J4, vols. 390-391, files 31-33, Espionage - Royal Commission, 1946-1947; MG26 J4, vol. 417, Gouzenko, Igor, correspondence, 1945-1949; and MG 26 J4, vols. 417-418, Espionage, Taschereau Commission on Espionage, 1945-1946., National Archives of Canada, Louis St. Laurent Papers, MG 26 L, vol. 19, file 100-9, USSR - Espionage in Canada, 1947-1948; MG 26 L, vol. 99, file E14, Espionage, 1950; MG 26 L, vol. 99, file E-14-6, Gouzenko, I, 1951 and MG 26 L, vol. 99, file E-14-R, Royal Commission on Espionage, 1949., National Archives of Canada, John G. Diefenbaker Papers, MG 26 M, Series 3, vol. 82, Microfilm reel M-7450, Royal Commission on Espionage, 1947, Committee Notes and Royal Commission on Espionage, 1947, Dr. David Shugar., National Archives of Canada, L.B. Pearson Papers, MG 26 N., Vol. 33, Pre- 1958 Series, Gouzenko Case - USA Investigation, 1953., National Archives of Canada, J.L. Cohen Papers, MG 30 A 94, Vol. 45, file 3156, legal documents, trial transcripts, etc. relating to the following court cases: D.G. Lunan, K.M. Willsher, E.G. Adams, M.S. Nightingale and Fred Rose., National Archives of Canada, Laurent Beaudry Papers, MG 30 E 151, Vol. 3, file 59, memorandum concerning the arrest of Lt. Col. Popov, 1946., National Archives of Canada, Records of the Privy Council Office, RG 2 series A1a, Orders in Council concerning the Commission's appointment and its report; and RG 2 series B2, vol. 54, file 1-40-3, Information and Intelligence - Royal Commission of inquiry on disclosure of information to a foreign power, 1946-1949., National Archives of Canada, Records of the Department of Justice, RG 13, Vol. 2119, file 149685, request by the Soviet Embassy for the apprehension of Gouzenko and his wife; and RG 13, vol. 2121, file 150262, appointment of the Royal Commission., National Archives of Canada, Records of the Department of Finance, RG 19, Vol. 349, file 101-85-24, Royal Commission on Espionage - Correspondence regarding expenditures of the Commission and complaints from a Civil Rights Committee about the Commission., National Archives of Canada, Records of the Department of National Defence, RG 24, file TS-1230-S2-2, Microfilm reel C-11668, Interdepartmental Security Committee, 1946-1950, meetings of the Committee following the release of the Commissions report; and RG 24, file TS-711-270-16-1, Microfilm reel C-11672 compromise of classified military information to USSR, 1946; contains requests by the Joint Intelligence Committee to view the records of the Royal Commission., National Archives of Canada, Records of the Department of External Affairs, RG 25, A12, vol. 2081, file AR13/13, AR13/13/1 and AR13/13/2, articles on the Gouzenko affair and items concerning distribution of the Commission's report; RG 25, B3, vol. 2146, file C-1/3-3, Canada - Royal Commission report on Espionage, 1946-1953, contains a request to the Canadian government to make a movie concerning the Gouzenko case and various comments on the Commission's report; and RG 25, G2, vol. 2619- 2620, file 8531-40C, contains press clippings, information concerning the printing and distribution of the Commission's report, extracts from the Commission's report, communications between the Soviet Embassy and the Department of External Affairs regarding the Gouzenko affair, charges of theft of money from the Soviet Embassy, documents relating to the withdrawal from Ottawa of members of the Soviet Embassy and related material., Archives of Ontario, RG 4, Series C3, Files 345, 398, 1119, 1146 of 1946 and file 228 of 1949, information relating to the involvement of the Attorney General of Ontario in the criminal proceedings against E. Woikin, K. Willsher, E. Mazerall, D.G. Lunan, F. Poland, J. Soboloff, S. Gerson and S. Carr.

Container note(s):

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T-1368 : Microfilm copies Copy No. 1
T-3423 : Microfilm copies Copy No. 1
T-1368 : Microfilm copies Copy No. 2
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Source:

Government

Related control no.:

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118-000159-1
1981-82/136 GAD
1984-85/249 GAD
1984-85/396 GAD
1986-87/002 GAD
1990-91/159 GAD
RG33-62

Former archival reference no.:

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RG33-62
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Textual records

[Consultation90 Open]

Volume [RG 33 62] 1--17

[Consultation 90 Open]

Microfilm reel [RG 33 62] C-3206

[Consultation 90 Open]

Microfilm reel [RG33]

[Consultation 90 Open]

T-1368--T-1370;

[Consultation 90 Open]

T-3423--T-3434;

[Consultation 90 Open]

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