Topic > Spying on Youth in Depression and War: Article Review

Canada is known today as a liberal democracy that promotes itself to the rest of the world as a country that has allowed its citizens to enjoy political freedom throughout of the country's history. However, author Paul Axelrod reminds readers that the Canadian government's political views were not as free as the world might think. Rather, he explains that the Canadian government has maintained near-totalitarian control and has chosen to use this power on many occasions. This was a period in Canada's history when the world was at war and governments were heavily dependent on propaganda to influence citizens to support the country's political views so that anti-political or socialist ideologies did not emerge. Paul Axelrod claims that Canada has used the authority created by several acts and laws under the Criminal Code to disrupt political freedom and has justified these policies as a method of retaliation against political opposition within the country. The government had primarily targeted universities, students and youth groups as they believed these institutions and groups were key sources of communism and socialist opposition. They therefore exercised state and police power through reports and recommendations provided by the RCMP and CSIS. Paul also says that during the Depression anyone who identified as a communist was the prime target of police surveillance, this was another use of authority to dissuade any citizen from holding communist views, which clearly violated a person's political freedom. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayThe Canadian Student Assembly was formed by students and organized by the Student Christian Movement, it was a group that met to discuss a wide range of educational and social issues in Canada. He openly opposed the idea of ​​militarism and wanted better educational opportunities and closer relationships with French and English Canadians. They were closely watched by the RCMP especially after they opposed conscription, and this was seen as a threat of subversion to the government. Many professors were known to have radical tendencies when speaking about foreign affairs and Canadian unity. They were expected to speak in favor of radical resolutions, a letter sent by the commander of the Toronto detachment to the commissioner wrote that by the government these professors were all considered in university life as men of extreme thinking, if not downright communists and this led to the 'RCMP to closely monitor their actions. However, these accusations were false as none of these professors were communists. Many of the professors accused of being communists were supporters of the non-communist social democratic party CCF. Although some professors criticized British foreign policy and favored civil liberties, Paul justifies this by saying that their thinking was rooted in nationalism and liberalism, not socialism or communism. Paul's perspective in shedding light on the true history of Canada and its political views is important as history should never be forgotten. The way the RCMP gathered intelligence, conducted surveillance and spied on university youth groups as if they were radicals shows us how much Canada has evolved over the years. It also shows us that Canada effectively had no political freedom. It may seem that way on text, but the government's actions along with the RCMP demonstrated that any suspicion of communism would keep that person under close surveillance and risk being labeled.