Jump to content

PROFUNC

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 67.193.137.116 (talk) at 17:16, 26 December 2010 (→History). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

PROFUNC (1950–1983[1]), which stands for "PROminent FUNCtionaries of the communist party", was a Government of Canada top secret plan to identify and intern Canadian communists and crypto-communists during the height of the Cold War.[2][3]

History

Suppression of civil rights and democratic freedoms had historical precedent in Canada's past, including the War Measures Act, the mass internments of Ukrainians and Japanese during the First and Second World Wars, as well as mobilization of police and local militias against striking workers.

With the 1945 Gouzenko Affair occurring in Canada, which was a main contributor to starting the Cold War[4] and the threat of the Korean War becoming the precursor for the Third World War, the Government of Canada in 1950 determined a need to create the PROFUNC blacklist.[2][3]

In the 1950s, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Commissioner Stuart Taylor Wood, had a PROFUNC list[5] of approximately 16,000 suspected communists and 50,000 communist sympathizers[6] to be observed and potentially interned, in a national security state of emergency, such as a Third World War crisis with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and Red China.[2][3]

A separate arrest document, known formally as a C-215 form, was written up for each potential internee and updated regularly with personal information, including but not limited to, age, descriptions, photographs, vehicle information, until the 1980s.[7] In addition, more obscure information, such as, potential escape routes from the individuals personal residence were noted.[3] Several prominent Canadians are suspected of being on the PROFUNC list including: Roland Penner[7] and Tommy Douglas.[3]

During the 1970 October Crisis it is suspected that the PROFUNC's blacklist was used to increase the number of Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) suspects detained, in contravention of the presumption of innocence, many of whom had no affiliation with the FLQ.[2]

The Canadian Penitentiary Service received an updated PROFUNC list from the RCMP in 1971 to make them aware of the number of potential internees.[8]

In the early 1980s, the then Toronto Liberal Member of Parliament and Solicitor General of Canada, Bob Kaplan, caused PROFUNC to become defunct[1] by introducing administrative changes entailing the RCMP to discontinue whatever was contributing to superannuated communists encountering problems while attempting to cross the Canada – United States border.[7] Kaplan claims to have had no knowledge of PROFUNC until advised of it by journalists in 2010 and that he was dismayed by its existence, "I just can’t believe it had any government authorization behind it", said Kaplan.[3]

Of course it is also true that on these lists were the names of individuals who were traitors working in the interests of the Soviet Union. The ranks of the so-called "progressive" movement (particularly in the Ukrainian, Jewish and Finnish branches of the Communist Party of Canada) were populated with activists who were, in many cases, the paid agents of Moscow, committed to undermining Canadian security.

M-Day and internment

Canadian Penitentiary

Mobilization Day (M-Day) was to be the day the Police would arrest and transport people noted on the PROFUNC list and temporarily detain them in reception centres across Canada including: Casa Loma, a country club in Port Arthur, Ontario and Regina Exhibition Park then they would be transferred to penitentiaries.[7] The men would be interned across Canada, the women would be interned in one of two facilities in the Niagara Peninsula or Kelowna and the children would be sent to relatives or interned with their parents.[7] Strict punishment regulations[9] awaited the internees if they broke the rules, including being held indefinitely and shot when caught while attempting a prison escape.[3]

Aftermath

The existence of the program was revealed in a Jan. 24, 2000, news story by Dean Beeby of The Canadian Press. [10] Four days later the Communist Party of Canada condemned the long-secret plan as "chilling" in a public statement.[11] In October 2010, the PROFUNC plan was discussed at length in a television documentary by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's The Fifth Estate[3] and Enquête.[12] It was not until 2010 that some Canadians, their family and friends learned for the first time that they were deemed a potential enemy of the state by the Government of Canada and law enforcement in Canada.[13] Canadians who want to determine if they or someone else were in the PROFUNC files can make a disclosure request to the Federal Government of Canada through the Privacy Act or the Access to Information Act.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b Officer in Charge, "D" Operations; "Memorandum to Area Commanders: Ref No. 6270-2-2", RCMP Security Service, 27 May, 1983. Retrieved 19 October, 2010, via CBC website.
  2. ^ a b c d "Secret Cold War plan included mass detentions", CBC News, 14 October 2010. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Enemies of the State", The Fifth Estate, 15 October, 2010. Retrieved 19 October, 2010.
  4. ^ "The Gouzenko Affair", Front Page Challenge, 18 February, 1958. Retrieved 19 October, 2010, via CBC website.
  5. ^ "PROFUNC Recapitulation", RCMP Security Service, 15 May, 1953. Retrieved 19 October, 2010, via CBC website.
  6. ^ Wood, Stuart T.; "Draft Letter to Stuart S. Garson", 15 February, 1950. Retrieved 19 October, 2010, via CBC website.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Former Manitoba AG on secret internment list", CBC News, 15 October, 2010. Retrieved 19 October, 2010.
  8. ^ Parent, L. R.; "Letter to the Canadian Penitentiary Service", 12 November, 1971. Retrieved 19 October, 2010, via CBC website.
  9. ^ "http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/2010-2011_includes/episodes/enemiesofthestate/images/Regulations%201959.pdf
  10. ^ RCMP Had Plan to Intern 'Subversives,' Proposal Called for Communists -- and Their Children -- to Be Rounded Up at the Outbreak of War, The Globe and Mail, Jan. 24, 2000, p. A2.
  11. ^ "CPC Statement on RCMP Plan to Intern Communists". Mail-archive.com. 2000-01-28. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
  12. ^ "Les dessous de la liste", Radio Canada, 15 October, 2010. Retrieved 19 October, 2010. (French)
  13. ^ "CBC News - Canada - Secret internment plan included Toronto landmark". Cbc.ca. 2010-10-15. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
  14. ^ "How you can find out if you were in the Profunc files - the fifth estate". Cbc.ca. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=PROFUNC&oldid=404316539"