Series 6 - Advisory Committee, Defence of Canada Regulations

0.47 m of textual records

During the 2nd World War, Cochrane was a member of the Defence of Canada Regulations, Advisory Committee to the Minister of Justice. The committee heard appeals from people interned under the Defence of Canada Regulations and made recommendations on the terms of release or continued imprisonment of the internee. Records include some general correspondence, background papers and notes. Most of the series are case files for individual appeals.

There are some 170 case files that minimally contain a copy of the memo sent from the committee to the Minister of Justice with decision and justification. Some files also contain police or RCMP reports, background briefings, transcripts of the hearing and other interviews, correspondence of witnesses and Cochrane’s notes.

Also included in this series are some documents and clippings about various communist and fascist groups such as the Communist Party of Canada and the German Bund of Canada. These groups were illegal in this period under the Defence of Canada Regulations and many of its members appeared before the Advisory Board. There is also an early manuscript and a typescript of the Memorandum on the Communist Party of Canada, co-authored by Cochrane and A.S. Simpson ca. 1942.

General files have been placed in B2003-0011/023, followed by files on the Memorandum. Case files, found in B2003-0011/021 and B2003-0011/022, were grouped in large brown envelopes, upon which Cochrane listed the names of the internees and recommended decision for each case. These groupings have been maintained and arranged chronologically. The front of each envelope has been preserved and filed at the beginning of each group. Case files within each group have been arranged alphabetically by surname.

Case files in B2003-0011/021 and B2003-0011/022 are restricted for 75 years. Consult University Archivist.