Most Centretown residents probably identify the corner of Somerset ...

Most Centretown residents probably identify the corner of Somerset and Lyon as
the location of a lonely Beer Store.
Next to the beer, though, sits an old building dating back to the 1920s. It doesn't
stand out much these days, but that wasn't always the case. That's because the
low-rise was the home of Igor Gouzenko, a Soviet defector to Canada who
helped expose an extensive spy ring in North America just after the Second
World War.
“The very first significant international incident of the Cold War was the
Gouzenko defection,” says Andrew Kavchak, an amateur historian who pushed
the city and the federal government to erect two plaques honouring Gouzenkoʼs
historical contribution to Canada.
“It did not happen in Berlin, or Moscow, or London, or Washington, or Rome, or
Paris, it happened right here in downtown Ottawa,” says Kavchak, who spent five
years lobbying both levels of government.
On June 4, 2003, Kavchak watched as the city unveiled a plaque to remember
the Gouzenko Affair in Dundonald Park, right across the street from Gouzenko's
former apartment on Somerset Street West. The next year, Heritage Canada
erected its own bronze plaque.
Today, the cityʼs plaque has faded to the point where much of it is no longer
legible. But Sally Coutts, a city planner, says the plaqueʼs top panel will be
replaced in the spring.
Evy Wilson, Gouzenkoʼs eldest daughter and the familyʼs spokesperson, says it's
important that Canadians remember the risks her parents took to protect the
freedoms we often take for granted.
“We have something here of value, something worth protecting. Never lose sight
of just how good we have it,” Wilson says.
“Thatʼs what my parents defected for. Thatʼs the reason that they warned the
West. They also had hope that people here, in North America, would take action
and save the people trapped behind the Iron Curtain.”
Gouzenko, a cipher clerk for the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa, arrived in Canada in
June 1943. In October of that year, his wife Svetlana joined him and they settled
into their apartment on Somerset.
In late 1944, Gouzenkoʼs superiors at the embassy wanted him to return to the

Soviet Union. He was able to extend his stay in Ottawa for nearly a year, but
soon realized that time was running out. He had grown fond of the freedoms he
came to enjoy in Canada, and wanted to secure a better future for his family.
On Sept. 5, 1945, Gouzenko stole 109 documents from the Soviet Embassy on
Charlotte Street. The documents included evidence of Soviet espionage in the
West and plans to develop an atomic bomb, which had just been detonated in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Gouzenko and his wife were now fugitives on the run from the NKVD, the Soviet
secret police force that later became the KGB.
“She [Svetlana] and he decided together that no matter what, they had to warn
the West, and they did not expect to survive,” Wilson says.
It was only after NKVD agents were found snooping around his apartment on
Sept. 6 that the RCMP took Gouzenko seriously and gave his documents to the
proper authorities.
On Feb. 3, 1946, an NBC reporter broke the news that there was a Soviet spy
ring operating in Canada. Later than month and again in March, authorities
arrested a number of alleged spies, including 13 in a series of raids on Feb. 15
and 16.
Meanwhile, Gouzenko and his wife were debriefed at a secret base called Camp
X and had to change their identities to protect themselves and their family.
Wilson says she only found out about her parentsʼ past when she was a
teenager.
“He was a good man,” she says about her father. “Even without the history and
the knowledge of what his background was, just as a dad he was great.”
For its part, the building on Somerset was never considered for heritage status.
“Our approach to it has been that in many ways, the story is more important than
the building,” says Coutts. “So we chose to have that interpretive panel so the
story can be known.”
Kavchak says his dream is for the building to become a spy museum, but he
admits that is not likely to happen.
“The city already has the Diefenbunker, which is Ottawaʼs Cold War museum,”
says David Flemming, the president of Heritage Ottawa.

Wilson says she hopes the building is preserved in its current state for many
years, but would not want to impose heritage status that could limit development
on the block.