RCMP spied on Tommy Douglas for more than 30 years

Daughter Shirley Douglas says founder of Medicare would not have been surprised

Ottawa (CP) - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) spied for more than 30 years on Tommy Douglas, the man voted as the greatest Canadian ever in a 2004 CBC contest that attracted participation by more than a million citizens across the country.

The beloved pioneer of the country's national Medicare program died in 1986. He served for 17 years as premier of Saskatchewan, where public medicine was first introduced by his social-democratic government in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Douglas also served as the first national leader of the New Democratic Party.

A declassified file on Douglas shows that RCMP spies kept a paranoid eye on the Prairie politician throughout his long and illustrious career. The 1,142-page dossier begins in the late 1930s and covers more than three decades. It was obtained by The Canadian Press from Library and Archives Canada under the Access to Information Act.

The file shows that the Mounties sat in on Douglas' speeches, analyzed published articles and monitored contacts he made with peace groups and Communist Party of Canada members.

In late 1964, the RCMP received a letter alleging that Douglas had once been an active member of the Communist Party at the University of Chicago, where he had studied in the 1930s. The allegation was never substantiated.

Shirley Douglas

His daughter Shirley Douglas, now 72, says attempts to associate her father, a Baptist minister before he entered politics, with the doctrines of Communism were silly.

"If my father had been a member of the Communist Party, he would have told you," she said, quoting from a speech her father once gave. "While capitalism offers men freedom without security, Communism offers security without freedom," he said.

If there is anything that raises eyebrows about the RCMP file it is the length of time they kept an open file on her father, his daughter added.

"It really speaks to the deep belief they have that there is a scurrilous side to this man. This kind of obsession, that if we keep looking hard enough and long enough, Tommy will turn into a bad person," she said. "I would think after 30-odd years you ought to throw in the towel if you haven't come up with whatever it is you're looking for."

Disturbing parallels today

Douglas said she sees a disturbing parallel between the clandestine monitoring of her father and current Canadian security excesses in the fight against terrorism. "I think we're in much worse shape today than we were 50 years ago," she said.

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) was among the many organizations that supported the choice of Douglas as the country's 'Greatest Canadian' in 2004. NUPGE

More information:
Medicare founder Tommy Douglas voted greatest Canadian