William Higgitt

Britain and France declared war on Germany in September 1939, and Canada followed. Higgitt was posted to Ottawa, Ontario, for special war duties and to serve in the Intelligence Branch. By the late 1930s, various fascist groups across Canada had combined into the National Unity Party under the leadership of Adrien Arcand. Other such groups, and individuals sympathetic Nazism, remained underground. Higgitt was appointed Government advisor to the Commons Judicial Committee on Internment Operations, a committee set up to identify and mitigate potential security risks to Canada and the Allied effort against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan,[4] and prior to the Allies' pivotal Normandy Landings these operations led to the removal of several hundreds of German- and Italian-born Canadians, Arcand included, to detention camps in Canada's hinterlands until the surrender of the Axis powers. The RCMP advised the Canadian Federal Government that Japanese Canadians, for their part, posed relatively little threat as a supposed 'fifth column' of spies and saboteurs. Subsequently, the Government, not believing the RCMP, took the responsibility for evacuating coastal Japanese Canadians to interior British Columbia out of the Mounties' hands and gave it to the BC Security Commission, and in turn, by 1943, to the Department of Labour.[5][6] Political scientist Reg Whitaker and historian Gregory Kealey have argued that the relative effectiveness of the RCMP's Intelligence Branch in carrying out the responsibility of penetrating and monitoring pro-fascist groups, along with the nullification of the espionage, sabotage, or subversion threats believed to have been posed by these groups, ensured that the RCMP would carry out of the War an enhanced prestige within the Canadian state and some surety of a continued pre-eminent role in security intelligence in the postwar era.[7] Higgitt remained a key figure in the RCMP's Cold War era security intelligence operations.

In 1945, Higgitt, along with John Leopold of the RCMP's Intelligence Branch and two other future RCMP Commissioners, Charles Rivett-Carnac and Clifford Harvison, was a principal investigator of Igor Gouzenko, a cipher clerk for the Soviet Embassy to Canada who defected on September 5, three days after the official close of the War, with 109 documents on Soviet espionage activities in Canada and the United States. Higgitt was in charge of liaison with the special Crown prosecutors at the series of criminal trials related to Gouzenko and had control of the exhibits and documents. Gouzenko's defection was one of the major catalysts for the beginning of the global Cold War, and compelled RCMP leadership to organize a special counter-espionage section of the RCMP, which Higgitt headed until 1952.[8] This was a forerunner of the RCMP's Security Service, an arm of the RCMP that had responsibility for domestic intelligence and security in Canada.

In 1952, Higgitt was commissioned as an officer and became Inspector and Personnel Officer in Ontario. He moved to western Quebec two years later to serve as Inspector at "C" Division, then was transferred to Montreal to take charge of the RCMP's Montreal Subdivision and supervise the RCMP's investigation and enforcement of the Canada Customs Act. He was posted to the RCMP's Security and Intelligence in Ottawa in 1957, the year Soviet spy Rudolf Abel was arrested in New York.[9] With the Security Service, Higgitt was involved in the investigations of Soviet KGB agents Nikolai Ostrovsky and Rem Krasilnikov, and the double-agent Yevgeni Brik. Three years later he was assigned to London, England, where he served as Liaison Officer with British Intelligence and, later, with Western Europe via the Canadian Delegation to the General Assemblies of Interpol.[10] Higgitt remained in Europe for three years, travelling extensively and working closely with police organizations and intelligence agencies throughout the continent. Higgitt made regular visits to Bonn to visit Canada's Ambassador to West Germany, John Kennett Starnes, to compare notes; Starnes eventually going on to become the Director of Canada's Security Service, replacing Higgitt when Higgitt moved on from the Security Service to take the job as RCMP Commissioner.[11]

Higgitt returned to Ottawa in 1963, taking the position of RCMP Security Service Superintendent.[12] In 1967, Higgitt became RCMP Assistant Commissioner and Director of Security and Intelligence.[13] In this capacity he worked closely with counterparts in the United States and Europe to monitor communist movements. Two years later, he was promoted to Deputy RCMP Commissioner and became Director of Operations for all Criminal and Security Service matters throughout Canada, and shortly afterward, on October 1, 1969, at the height of the Cold War, he was appointed RCMP Commissioner by Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau over several of his senior officers. This was the RCMP's fourteenth commissioner. Upon his appointment, The New York Times described Higgitt as being "in the tradition of quiet‐spoken, approachable but tough headed men who hardly ever, by word or deed, draw attention to themselves".[14] Higgitt continued his duties as Commissioner on a one-year extension granted by Canada's Solicitor-General. Following his appointment as Commissioner, Higgitt was unanimously elected a vice-president of Interpol.[15] Higgitt received a tipstaff at the 65th annual conference of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, London, Ontario.

Tensions between the RCMP and the Trudeau Government regarding Maoist China continued over the course of Higgitt's career, and in May 1971, after Canada and China had agreed to exchange ambassadors, Higgitt was brought before a Commons Judicial Committee to testify about communist espionage. He was asked by MP Harold Stafford if he maintained his 1969 position on China. Higgitt deflected the question, stating that "In 1969, the obvious answer had to be yes". When Stafford pressed the point, Solicitor-General Jean-Pierre Goyer, who had authorized the wiretapping operation, Operation Cobra, against the militant Agence de Presse Libre du Quebec (APLQ),[18] intervened to say an improper picture of relations with Communist countries shouldn't be developed, as relations are excellent.[19][20] Goyer went on to defend the Mounties, maintaining that the RCMP was obliged to often engage in surveillance in order to gather intelligence on foreign and domestic subversive activity. MP Donald Stovel Macdonald asked Higgitt to define subversive activity. Higgitt's response was that this is a most difficult question that anybody could be asked to answer; that the RCMP and the Canadian Government have argued for years on what a proper definition of subversive activity is. "Generally speaking," said Higgitt, "I think probably an acceptable definition is trying to achieve some political purpose by illegal means, or improper means, and trying to destroy the institutions of the country by nondemocratic means, I suppose, if that's understandable."[21] Less than a year after Higgitt's testimony, in April 1972, the Cuba Trade Commission in Montreal was bombed, killing one Cuban and injuring seven others. Seven Cubans were detained and six were charged with weapons possession and interfering with a police investigation which saw the RCMP locate an electronic bomb-firing device as well as a Cuban code book. From Havana, an angered Cuban President, Fidel Castro, charged the police with “brutal and fascist methods” in their handling of the affair.[22] The FBI concluded that the electronic firing device was "quite similar" to that which the US Coast Guard recovered from the attempted bombing of the British deep sea freighter Lancastrian Prince three hundred miles east of Miami, Florida in 1968.[23]

Higgitt also directed RCMP operations during the FLQ Crisis in Quebec in 1970, which was the last time the War Measures Act would be invoked until Justin Trudeau declared a public order emergency in 2022. Higgitt opposed the use of the War Measures Act by the Government of Pierre Elliot Trudeau, which gave the police and military special powers to crack down on the FLQ.[24][25] According to journalist Peter C. Newman, "[u]nlike most police officers faced by persistent politicians, Higgitt proved to be very tough, very precise, and equally persistent." On October 13, 1970, Trudeau famously told CBC reporter Tim Ralfe, "Well, just watch me", after Ralfe questioned Trudeau on how far he would go in the suspension of civil liberties to maintain order. A day later, in a confidential Ottawa meeting with Trudeau, Deputy Minister of Justice Don Maxwell, and Lieutenant General Michael Dare, Higgitt argued against the Act's use; telling Trudeau it would be a heavy-handed overstep. Higgitt warned that a broad sweep and preventative detention of suspects in Quebec was not likely to lead to the abductors of the Deputy Premier, Pierre Laporte, and the British Trade Commissioner, James Cross, and that "[these events] ought not to be allowed to over-rule calmer reaction at the federal level."[26] Only Maxwell agreed with Higgitt.[27] According to security and intelligence scholar, Reg Whitaker, Trudeau and his cabinet deliberately exaggerated the crisis to obtain emergency powers to intimidate Quebec separatists. Trudeau cabinet minister, Don Jamieson, recalled that Higgitt confirmed that the War Measures Act had produced nothing of any consequence to the RCMP's investigations.[28]

Higgitt called the two kidnappings and murder "probably the most vicious and complicated crimes ever committed in Canada".[29] Many Members of Parliament came to agree, and questions were asked as to both the excessiveness of the War Measures Act and the failures in intelligence gathering that allowed such events to transpire. Simultaneously, critique was also turned toward the Mounties' increasing use of electronic surveillance in the name of 'public safety'. The conflicting interests, then, against the backdrop of ongoing socio-cultural change in Canada, demanded close analysis. The October Crisis and the use of the War Measures Act led to an official critical review of the security and intelligence situation in Canada called the Royal Commission on Security, chaired by Maxwell Mackenzie. Higgitt was questioned, in 1971, by Mackenzie and a House of Commons committee regarding what he knew about the RCMP's law-bending or law-violating methods in intelligence gathering. Higgitt denied having any knowledge of RCMP officers' wiretapping and unlawful break-ins, and the Royal Commission inquiry ultimately produced no evidence that he did know. Globe and Mail journalist Jeff Sallot drew this conclusion: "A trim man even in his fifties, he [(Higgitt)] looked every inch the policeman who had risen to the top because of his intelligence, dedication, and honest hard work. His sharp facial features betrayed no hint that he knew about skeletons in the closet. But in thirty-six years with the force he had learned a lot, especially about how to keep secrets".[30]

Upon completing its report, the Commission recommended that a new civilian non-police agency be established to perform the functions of a security service in Canada instead of the RCMP. This eventually led, in 1984, to the establishment of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), effectively creating a separation of domestic policing and foreign intelligence in Canada similar to the distinction between the FBI and the CIA in the United States.[31] In an address to the Security Panel (a senior interdepartmental committee of officials), Higgitt termed the recommendation for a separate civilian intelligence service "a travesty of justice," and added that "the Soviet Intelligence would be jubilant. They could never hope to duplicate the accomplishment".[32]

Higgitt was responsible for organizing the RCMP Centennial Celebrations in 1973. In early July of that year, in formal ceremonies marking the Centenary, Higgitt along with Queen Elizabeth met Chief David Ahenakew, leader of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, and later with Cree activist Harold Cardinal, Indian Association of Alberta. As many Canadian news media outlets of the time reported, Ahenakew went off program after presenting the Queen with a peace-pipe and affirming the Indigenous Peoples of Saskatchewan's ongoing faithfulness to her and the treaties made between Indians and the Canadian Government: Ahenakew told the Queen and Higgitt that Indigenous Peoples "have been prisoners under the yoke of dependency imposed by the Government", and that "over the years some of your representatives have not respected their commitments".[33]

In late July 1973, in Standoff, Alberta, Higgitt was honored with a Kainai Chieftainship by the Blood Indian Band. Higgitt was given the Blackfoot name "Great Chief" and was presented with a head-dress and peace pipe by Joe Chief Body, Bob Black Plume, and Blood Reserve war veteran Pat Eaglechild.[34] In turn, Higgitt and Sgt. B. Thorstad, NCO in charge of the RCMP's Cardston Detachment, presented Chief Jim Shot Both Sides with an honorary RCMP Centenary Winchester Rifle in appreciation of the one hundred years of peaceful association between the Blood Tribe and the RCMP; pledging that the RCMP would continue to work in the service of the Kainai and the Blackfoot Confederacy. Centennial neck medallions were also given to other present-day Chiefs of the tribes involved in the signing of Treaty 7: Chief Leo Pretty Young Man of the Blackfoot Band, Chief Gordon Crowchild of the Sarcee Band, Chief John Snow of the Wesley Band, and Chief Frank Kaquitts of the Chiniquay Band.[35] In her address to Higgitt and the assembled Chiefs, Alberta Indian Princess Jenny Fox said: "I'm very happy to see so many people down here to honor the RCMP and new members of the Kainai Chieftainship. In spite of all the criticism and unfairness that some people give to the RCMP, we have to admit one thing, and that is that they have given us one of the most important things in our society today, that which is law and order".[36] During his career, Higgitt was also appointed Commander of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (Order of St. John) in 1973, and was awarded the Canadian Centennial Medal and the RCMP Long Service Medal.