Volume 6

In January 1972, Feather Bed’s progress was plagued by its limited resources and personnel. A new course of action was drawn up, returning the focus to the original goal of investigating Soviet penetration of the Canadian government. Much like the original phase in the 1960s, this latest effort began by examining the Department of External Affairs for candidates that fit specific patterns of behaviour deemed to be suspicious. From there, a list of individuals to be investigated was to be drawn up. However, other priorities led to the demise of the Featherbed section soon after.

While MP Cossitt’s consistent questioning of Feather Bed in the House of Commons ensured that Feather Bed was regularly mentioned in the press in the latter half the 1970s and early 1980s, public interest died down by the mid-1980s. Mackenzie King’s missing diaries were brought up again in the press via a Sunday Star article in December 1984. However, there was no active investigation under CSIS. Elmer MacKay, the new Solicitor General, received a briefing on Feather Bed similar to past Solicitors General.

Between 1958 and 1977, 136 Feather Bed files were destroyed. However, the Commissioner issued a moratorium in 1977 on the destruction of any further files. In 1992, the Feather Bed file was returned to shelf, and retained due to its usefulness for future research purposes.

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