Emma

W.H. Heick is a professor of History at Wilfrid Laurier University.

This biography is really a tragedy: personal and collective. Few Canadians emerge from this historical incident without blemish. In the process of telling her stony, June Callwood provides a superb picture of Canadians at a key moment in their history. At virtually the height of jubilation over the victorious end of World War II and satisfaction over our valuable contribution to that victory came the revelations that our great ally, Russia, was not playing fair and was carrying on numerous spying activities in Canada. If the Russians were so active in Canada, a rook in the international chess match, then how active were they in countries that were much more important chess pieces than Canada? Igor Gouzenko’s defection marked the beginning of the Cold War, regenerating to new heights of concern the emotions of the Red Scare of the 1920s. Within that context, the accused faced Canadian justice.

Emma Woiken, a Doukhobour cipher clerk in the Department of External Affairs, passed on to Russians in the Ottawa embassy material that was labelled secret but was really of no great importance. For this act she was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. The tragic element showed in her reasoning: abject poverty and loss of her husband and child during the 1930s, as well as the wartime propaganda concerning Russia as our ally in the fight against fascism, had left her with the impression that Russia was a better place to live in than Saskatchewan. She wanted to help the two societies continue to live together in harmony and to learn from each other.

Under the authority of the War Measures Act, the Canadian government used the judicial system to stamp out spying. The problem was that most of the evidence against the accused was too weak to stand up under normal procedures of justice. All sense of fairness went by the boards. For example, two justices of the Supreme Court took evidence in camera and provided warnings of legal rights only at the end of the hearings, and few in Canada objected. Canadians are supposed to have, as one of their national traits, a willingness to accept authority. The Gouzenko spy trials were occasions for a very black mark against Canadians as a society.

The book’s structure centres on a biography of Emma Woiken. However, by skillfully working in material originating from her interviews (supported by an exhaustive search of newspapers and court and other legal records), Callwood provides sound insights into Woiken’s family, friends, employers, and acquaintances as they fit into Emma’s life. In particular, for the 1930s and 1940s, Callwood provides a fine piece of social history.