Impacts Of The Red Scare On The Canadian Society

The “Red Scare” is a powerful and controversial term used to promote communism within a society. In the late 1940s, the cold war was declared in Canada which was against the Soviet Union and the beginning of the western democratic becoming suspicious of the communist party. The left-wing party was first introduced into Canada during the great depression with responsibilities for initiating and fighting for human rights. They had influenced part of the labor movement and organized unions throughout Canada by protesting for better employment and wages. During the second war, Canadian men and women were working in factories producing military weapons while the scientist had worked on researching explosive weapons including the atomic bomb.

Canadians codebreakers were also employed to unlock Germany's top secrets and discover Japanese wireless traffic- capturing the Russians' interest in spying among Canadians. The war caused dishonesty among Canadians and possibilities of a third war- which had been contributed to the cold war. The cold war was triggered by two events the release of the atomic bomb which had affected many Canadians and the defection of Igor Gouzenko.

In 1945 Gouzenko insisted that the Canadians were led to believe naïve nonsense about the Stalinist and later managed to convince the RCMP that the Soviet-Union spies were recruiting in Canada. He was not taken seriously until the Soviet diplomats raided his apartment after the defection. The Soviet Union bloc was known as the enemy allies who fostered the mind of many Canadians. The war was a dark time for civil liberties and freedom of expression in Canada (Whitaker & Marcuse, Cold War Canada, pg. 7).

Canada had accepted the United States as military leaders of western democracy, as a result when the Americans were in war with the Soviet- Union Canada became involved. American senator John McCarthy made claims about the Soviet spies in Canada which lead to Canada carrying their own “witch hunt” and silencing the communist. Many Canadians had become favorable of government public opinion, ownership of industry and social security programs. The fear of enemies within made of communists and sympathizers allowed authorities to increase RCMP security activities and responsibilities which includes; gathering intelligence and surveillance. The development of Canadian hatred towards communist affected many innocent people while increasing disloyalty and unemployment within the society.

Canadian society changed during the ’40s and the ’50s, there was a movement of middle-class Canadian relocating to the suburb and the culture being centered on radio, movies, and sports. Canadian contents were promoted by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), which was a radio station that offered commercials and American content. By 1952 television were popularized with content such as; images and senator John McCarthy claims about communist within the US government. The technologies allowed Canadians to witness the hearing of many communist and blacklisted individuals within the Hollywood industry.

The government tried to remove all traces of the communist with very little evidence such as censoring the media and instead feed anti-communist and anti-Soviet towards Canadians. To scare Canadians, the government and liberal parties accused communist of destroying society, claim such as; when the Duplessis bridge collapse, it was blamed on the communist. Canadian were left with the decision of either to support the tory right of political ties which were anti-communist or left-wing who were social democrat in the trade union and CCF. The left-wingers were discriminated against and were dominated by the right-wingers.

In Canada too, “scaring hell” out of a country turned out to be an effective public-opinion strategy (Whitaker & Marcuse, Cold War pg. 263). The government and the Liberal party influenced the anti-communism, including the trade union movement and encouraging the national security system. Compared to the American’s, the Canadian government handled national security by being more cautious and quiet. Most Canadians were not aware of what was occurring due to the liberal government making a conscious effort by organizing anti-communist propaganda and removing traces of communism within the political system and Canadian society. The RCMP officers were put in control of the security panel, defense intelligence, few senior servants, and full-time bureaucrats acting as a kind of secretaries. The government carried out the screening process quietly and allowed the RCMP to take control of the process. Except in Quebec, where they relied on the Red squad (who displayed aggressive approaches). The government would also have border inspectors, who would carry a list of names of people who were not allowed into Canada or entering the United States. Those on the list were integrated and if they crossed the border they were charged with illegal entry.

The RCMP was responsible for screening all federal civilian employees, except for the military, screened military contractors, handled immigration screening and advising the government of all matters of screening such as counter-espionage (Scher, Un-Canadian pg. 117). The files contained a list of possible communists containing; names, addresses, affiliation and so on. Some of the wealthy Canadians were part of the list because of their donations towards a choir or a soviet aid during the war period. As the thesis states many innocent people were affected, even offering an aid could put someone’s reputation in danger. Some Canadian took part in the private list by “naming names” to the RCMP. They would keep track of domestic dissidents, harassed and spy on them.

Immigrants involved or are suspected to be a communist were rejected their citizenship or lived in fear of being deported. Most immigrants mostly joined the left-wing because it was the only organization fighting for employment. Even individuals who had troubled past or present were on the list due to the RCMP officers believing the individual can become vulnerable and can be targeted by the Soviet Union. The RCMP were also targeting writers, actors, and artists, those were exposed as left-wingers were blacklisted and denied entry into the United States. Journalist articles. were also relied upon in exposing communists. One of the most trusted journalists Ronald Williams, a writer for the financial post. The RCMP would reproduce Williams articles and the exposed individuals would be considered a threat. The article contained unreliable facts and was based on competition between other journalists, which caused threats among innocent people.

In late 1959-1960 there was a great shortage of teachers. Due to the shortage, teachers would only take two six-seven weeks of courses, the RCMP demanded the file of the student, which made it difficult for them to enter into the teaching force. The RCMP would follow suspected teachers around asked them about their past organization involvement or political views leading the RCMP to corporate with the principal or dean into unemploying the suspected individual.

Since most of the teachers were on contract, the ones that were suspected would have their contract not renewed but instead be advised to resign before having it on record that they were fired. Teachers who kept their teaching jobs were not allowed to teach some courses such as ad history or economic due to the possibilities of them discussing capitalism, socialism, and communism. Students who participated in communist activities or had communist parents were taunted and were unwanted among others. The students would also be integrated from their authorities in which they were questioning whether they conducted meetings or have spoken with other students.

Members of the peace movement were also targeted, such as in Montreal the Montreal Police’s Red Squad would attend the peace and union meetings. They would collect people’s names and try to find out who was a communist. The police caused fear among church members due to the fear of their church getting padlock. Quebec had a padlock law in which the authorities could enter buildings without consent if they felt that the individuals were promoting left-wing activities. The police would also accuse the suspected individuals as using propaganda to promote themselves leading the individual to be excluded from the movement.

The real world, as we have described it, was one in which ideas were overshadowed by emotional appeals, patriotic bombast, and urgent demands that everyone takes sides, declare his or her loyalties and snap to attention (Whitaker & Marcuse, Cold War, pg. 279). The effect of the public leader's opinion had encouraged Canadians to leave in fear of being exposed. The popularized technology networks had brought political knowledge into Canada, but at the same time turned Canadians against each other. The politicians would encourage Canadians to expose the communist within them and as a result, the individuals would lose their social standing. The Canadian government had jeopardized the lives of many Canadian based on allegations. Many innocent people were label as communists due to their past or present action, causing them to lose jobs, family, and friends.