An RCMP document entitled: No. 830 - Weekly Summary Report on Revolutionary Organizations and Agitation in Canada outlines the arrival of the Spanish envoys in Toronto, October 20, 1936 (see pages 463-465, paragraph three – ‘The Campaign in Aid of the Spanish Government’). Also No 833 – Weekly Summary Report on Revolutionary Organizations and Agitation in Canada further describes in detail the delegations arrival in Regina on October 30, 1936 (page 499, paragraph four) as well as the Edmonton (November 5, 1936) and Vancouver meetings (November 9 & 10, 1936). Although dad recalled the Edmonton meeting being in the Capitol Theatre, the RCMP duly note that it was the Empire Theatre.
Despite Section 98 of the Canadian Criminal Code banning “unlawful associations” being repealed in 1936, the RCMP doggedly continued to scrutinize progressive organizations they believed to be threatening. Throughout my research, I have frequently come across RCMP documents on-line pertaining to The Canadian League Against War and Fascism, The Canadian League for Peace and Democracy and The Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy. Ironically, in their fervour to monitor and expose these “threats”, the RCMP has instead, oddly enough, managed to preserve some of this significant era of Canadian history.
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