24 March 1943: Letter from Pearson to Robertson

Canadian officials were also not free from the interference of American censors. In March 1943, Lester B. Pearson at the Canadian Legation in Washington wrote to Robertson and complained that the Canadian Commercial Attaché had been “cut off in the middle of a telephone call to Ottawa” when discussing shipments to Martinique. Like Wrong, Pearson also suspected that calls made from the Legation were being monitored – either by the censors, or by “some other agency of the United States Government.”

Pearson wondered if the Legation had any exemption from censorship, and further questioned if the American legation in Ottawa had been extended such privileges. However, he drily observed that even if such an exemption could be secured, this would have little effect on any monitoring for intelligence purposes.