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 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 s. The KellockβTaschereau Commission was a royal commission that began in February with the mandate to investigate the veracity of Gouzenko's information.
The investigations led to the arrest of 21 people, along with 11 convictions. Filling 6, pages, Gouzenko's testimony was not made public until However, with the German invasion of the Soviet Union , the two countries suddenly found themselves allies fighting a common enemy. Organizations began sending aid to the Soviet Union and a number of Soviet-Canadian friendship societies were formed throughout the country, pushing for greater Canadian-Soviet co-operation.
Public disdain for communism was also tempered by the events of the war. The early years of the war had seen extensive surveillance and arrests of trade unionists and suspected communists. In February , Canada and the Soviet Union reached an agreement to establish diplomatic relations.
In particular, the Soviet Union had been left out of the Manhattan Project. As the Eastern Front turned in the Soviet Union's favour, the Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin , became convinced that the Western powers would soon return to their pre-war hostility toward the Soviet Union.
