Volume 3

The first half of the 1970s saw the Feather Bed file meet its demise due to a lack of concrete evidence and results. Investigations focused on Jean Daviault, a former Dominion Archivist, and also the Parliamentary Press Gallery. Existence of the Feather Bed file became public knowledge in 1975 when MP Tom Cossitt’s posed questions about its existence in the House of Commons. Cossitt’s questions prompted Solicitor General Francis Fox to finally confirm that file’s existence on 16 November 1977, a day after Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau denied knowledge of it. Indeed, there was speculation that the Prime Minister himself was the target of Feather Bed, and that this was why he was not aware of Feather Bed’s existence.

During this period, the RCMP faced public scrutiny and suspicions. This was intensified by news coverage of Cossitt’s question and especially the release of Ian Adams’ spy thriller, S – Portrait of a Spy, and an interview of Leslie James Bennett, a former senior RCMP official once accused of being a Soviet spy.

All of the documents in this section are from Volume 3, linked below.