The RCMP once maintained a secret nationwide blacklist of properties it feared could shelter Communists, according to newly declassified files.Blacklock's Reporter says beginning in 1955, the Mounties compiled annual reports of homes, cabins, farms, motels, fishing lodges and trailer parks in seven provinces that were flagged as “potential hideouts.” A memo titled Potential Communist Hideouts: Canada Generally warned that Party members often visited rural summer camps and farms “either to attend schools or other Party gatherings or to spend vacations,” and that such places could be used as refuges in an emergency.The list swept up properties owned by Doukhobors, families with Eastern European surnames, and Canadians who had traveled to Cuba. Even hosts of folk musicians or university students were considered suspect. One file described Sointula, a Finnish settlement on Malcolm Island, as “a likely hideout spot.”.In British Columbia alone, police documented hundreds of addresses, complete with photographs. RCMP detachments were ordered to submit yearly updates on “cottages, camps and lodges owned or leased by Party members and sympathizers.” A 1967 directive in Prince George reminded officers to keep watch for anything that could serve as a “potential Communist hideout.”Some properties were flagged simply for being remote. A Summerland orchard house and a Quesnel Lake cabin reachable only by boat were listed as suspicious. Others were targeted for political reasons, such as a Sooke farm linked to the Seattle Socialist Workers Party or a Mount Seymour cabin where students once debated inflation, democracy, world peace and Marx’s economics..Commercial sites were also included. Files mention the Castaway Motel in Lake Cowichan, the Lucky Strike Motel in Hope, and the Maverick Hotel in Fort Nelson as “adequate cover.” A trailer court in Fort George was blacklisted because the owner’s wife supported Communism, though her husband “probably would not allow” its use as a hideout.Despite often acknowledging owners were “not considered a subversive threat,” the RCMP kept the blacklist active from 1955 until 1972. The Security Service was ultimately disbanded in 1984 following revelations of illegal surveillance. The files have now been released by Library and Archives Canada..Due to a high level of spam content being posted in our comment section below, all comments undergo manual approval by a staff member during regular business hours (Monday - Friday). Your patience is appreciated.
