The Infernal Machine: Investigating the Loyalty of Canada's Citizens

Steven R. Hewitt teaches history at the University of Saskatchewan.

At its most basic level, The Infernal Machine is a study of the
development of security screening in Canada. Security screening involves
the vetting of individuals through background checks or fingerprinting.
Hannant shatters the myth that security screening in Canada originated
with the defection, in 1945, of Igor Gouzenko by tracing its roots to
1931. His book also reveals the class-based nature of security
screening—a system that was largely restricted to those outside of the
intellectual, political, and economic elites. The foundation of this
system was social control, especially over workers.

One consistent flaw, in an otherwise fascinating and valuable study, is
the author’s inability to note the linkage between communism and
foreignness in the minds of the RCMP and the Canadian government.
Hannant argues that, in the aftermath of World War I, the government’s
primary security concern switched from nationality to ideology. This is
true to a certain extent, but the point needs to be made that, for many
of those in power, communism and nationality were inextricably bound.
Domestic communists were viewed as the tools of a foreign
interest—specifically, the Soviet Union. This caveat aside,
Hannant’s book is an important contribution to the history of civil
liberties in Canada.