Cold War Canada: The Making of a National Insecurity State, 1945-1957

David A. Lenarcic teaches history at Wilfrid Laurier University in
Waterloo.

This book examines the “inception and implantation of the Cold War
within Canadian society.” It does so by discussing both general areas
(security screening and surveillance, anticommunist legislation) and
specific events (the Gouzenko affair, the Herbert Norman case). By
adroitly using an impressive array of declassified government documents
as well as personal interviews, the authors paint a vivid portrait of
the Cold War’s impact on Canada.

It is not a pretty picture. “Driven by the obsessive fears of
Canada’s senior partners, Canada set out in search of external and
internal enemies—and soon found them,” the book argues forcefully.
“The Canadian state was mobilized and transformed into a ...
‘National Insecurity State,’” where individual rights were
violated in a shroud of secrecy at home while Canadian independence in
charting a course abroad was compromised.

However, the authors’ account of Canadian diplomacy acknowledges that
Ottawa made a sincere effort to distinguish itself from the
less-commendable aspects of Washington’s world-view. Similarly, they
also concede that internally the Canadian brand of “witch-hunting”
was less odious than American McCarthyism. This does not for them excuse
the Canadian variant’s illiberal dimensions, whose existence they
demonstrate with ample evidence. But after considering the authors’
comparisons of the domestic and foreign policies instituted on either
side of the 49th parallel, readers might find their interpretation
somewhat confusing, if not slightly self-contradictory. They contend
that too much should not be made of the differences between the two
countries, but their significance could just as easily be emphasized as
downplayed.

Cold War Canada is an interesting, well-written book (though an
inordinately long one) that will compel Canadian readers to give sober
second thought to their country’s image as a tolerant and democratic
society. Such introspection is healthy when accompanied—as it is
here—by an honest attempt to maintain a balanced perspective.