PROFUNC -- Canada's Secret Plan for Indefinite Detention In
2010, the CBC's The Fifth Estate and Radio-Canada's
Enquête programs exposed a plan to
indefinitely detain thousands of Canadians believed to be communists or
communist sympathizers in the event of a "national emergency."
PROFUNC, which stands for PROminent FUNCtionaries of the
Communist Party, was a top-secret plan first devised in 1950 by RCMP
Commissioner Stuart Taylor Wood. It listed 16,000 suspected communists
and 50,000 sympathizers to be spied on and possibly indefinitely
interned. The plan was kept secret even from the
Solicitor General who was responsible for the RCMP. The CBC/Radio
Canada program interviewed Robert Kaplan, who was Solicitor General of
Canada from 1980 to 1984. Kaplan apparently inadvertently brought an
end to the program in 1983 when he ordered the RCMP to stop whatever
actions were responsible for elderly Canadians being barred from
entering the United States. Kaplan stated that he heard about the
program only when informed about it by the Fifth Estate. He told the
CBC that he was appalled to hear that the Canadian government had been
involved in such a plan: "I just can't believe it had any government
authorization behind it," Kaplan said. Information
gathered under the PROFUNC program was used when the War
Measures Act was declared in 1970. Trudeau had declared an
"apprehended insurrection" but according to retired Lt. Julien
Giguère, head of Montreal police's anti-terrorism squad at
the time, their list of FLQ sympathisers had only 60 names. This list
was considered too short in light of the claim of an "apprehended
insurrection." So, according to Giguère, both the
Sureté du Québec (SQ, provincial police) and the
RCMP provided more names, leading to almost 4,000 raids and 500 arrests.
Damage to CPC(M-L)'s
Progressive Books and Periodicals in Toronto during a December 1, 1970
raid by the Metro Toronto and Ontario Provincial Police, led by the
RCMP. Besides ransacking the bookstore, police also attempted to start
a fire using the hot water heater.
The CBC program
described PROFUNC as one of the most draconian national security
programs in Canada's peacetime history. It said that those on the list
could be detained indefinitely, would be subject to "severe discipline"
and shot if they tried to escape. The lists
included prominent Canadian public personalities and ordinary people --
men and women, and their children -- whose identities were kept hidden
in sealed envelopes kept at RCMP detachments across the country. An
arrest document known as a C-215 form was created for each potential
internee. Files included personal details such as age, physical
description, photos, vehicle information, and housing, and even the
location of doors to be used in potential escapes, the CBC said. The
lists of targets included the children of the men and women to be
detained. The information was regularly updated, from 1950 when the
program was created until 1983 when it is claimed it was disbanded.
PROFUNC provided for the RCMP to begin a massive roundup on
what was designated M-Day, or Mobilization Day. Police commanders were
secretly briefed on preparations for the day. The plan included special
teams to be deployed in residential neighbourhoods, taking up tactical
positions and rounding up the "targets" who would then be transported
to temporary "reception centres" and later to permanent prisons or
detention camps.[1]
Children would either be sent to relatives or interned with parents.
The CBC reported that internees also faced harsh punishment if
they broke the strict rules of the camps, such as the following: "No
internee shall converse with any person, other than an officer guard or
staff member, unless he is permitted to do so under these regulations
or is given special permission to do so by an officer." Note
1. While the plan changed
over the years, a 1951 document listed the following reception centres
and internment camps to be set up across the country. Reception Centres Halifax:
Canadian Immigration Detention Headquarters
Montreal:
Department of Labour Hostel
Toronto: Casa Loma
Winnipeg: Normal School
Port Arthur, Ont.: Port Arthur
Country Club
Regina: Grandstand Exhibition Grounds
Edmonton: Canadian Immigration Quarters
Calgary: Northern
Electric Building
Vancouver: Canadian Immigration Building
Internment Camps Kelowna,
BC: A female-only facility housing 400 BC and Prairie internees.
Chilliwack, BC: A male-only camp for 400 British Columbians
Lethbridge, Alta.: A facility accommodating 400 male internees from the
three Prairie provinces
Neys, Ont.: A camp for 400 men from
Ontario.
North Bay, Ont.: A male-only facility for 400
Ontarians
Niagara Peninsula (St. Thomas or London area),
Ont.: A facility for 400 women from Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes
Parry Sound, Ont.: A co-ed camp, numbers not specified.
St.
Gabriel de Brandon, Que.: 400 men from Quebec and Maritimes.
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 38 - October 10, 2020
Article Link:
PROFUNC -- Canada's Secret Plan for Indefinite Detention
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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