The Royal Commission on Espionage and the Spy Trials of 1946-9: A Case Study in Parliamentary Supremacy

Abstract

Through an examination of the 1946 Royal Commission on Espionage, this paper explores the relationship between Parliamentary supremacy and the civil liberties movement in the period immediately after the Second World War. The commission was formed in late 1945 in response to the defection of Russian cipher clerk Igor Gouzenko, and investigated the existence of a Russian-led spy ring that had recruited several Canadian civil servants. The commission is unique in Canadian history because it was empowered under the War Measures Act, which granted the commission enormous powers. In examining the legal debate surrounding the extreme measures used by this commission, this paper attempts to offer a few answers to some important questions about Canadian civil liberties. What were the consequences of the commission's actions? Do Canadians accept the argument that a government can violate individual liberties to protect the integrity of the state? The Royal Commission on Espionage played a central role in stimulating debate over the need to develop greater legal protection for individual rights against state abuse in Canada.