Up to the events of last October and November in Hungary, exchanges of official and unofficial visits between Canada and the Soviet bloc had been taking place at an increasing rate. In common with other NATO countries, we decided, after the Soviet intervention in Hungary, to suspend exchanges of visits with the Soviet Union, and to examine any proposed with the satellites on their merits. Since then, only one Soviet visit has been received.

2. Your predecessor in office agreed to a suggestion in a memorandum of April 17¹⁰ to him that we might, again in concert with other NATO countries, give thought to a slow and cautious resumption of exchanges of visits with the Soviet Union. It was proposed that the first exchanges should be as small and inconspicuous as possible, and that we should give careful thought to accepting only the most advantageous, from our point of view, of a large range of Soviet proposals. I think that, apart from other more obvious advantages to be gained from them, visits between East and West provide us with our best means of encouraging in the Soviet Union and satellites the kind of public opinion which might eventually modify the régimes of those countries, and of exploiting the strains which are now evident in Eastern Europe.

3. After the former Minister indicated his agreement to a cautious resumption of visits, the Interdepartmental Panel on the Exchange of Visits with Communist Countries met on June 5. This Panel, of which the Under-Secretary is Chairman, and of which the members are Deputy Ministers of government departments interested in exchanges of visits, discussed the visits which have been proposed by both sides, and concluded that we should give priority to a Soviet agricultural visit this summer, and, next year, to a visit to the Soviet Union of Canadian delegations interested in ice-breakers and meteorology. The Panel agreed that we should grant the Soviet request to send nine men to study wheat and other agricultural subjects for forty-five days, and the Department of Agriculture considers that for technical reasons this delegation should arrive at the end of July or early August. The Department of Transport does not wish to arrange visits to the Soviet Union concerning ice-breakers and meteorology until 1958, although a visit by ice-breaker specialists might be possible this autumn.

4. The Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources wishes to arrange an official visit to the U.S.S.R. of a delegation interested in northern administration and development. Several other departments and agencies of Government may wish to participate in such a visit. The Panel agreed to set up a sub-committee, consisting of interested members, to draw up detailed plans. The object of such a visit would be to further the exchange of visits and information concerning the North through a formal governmental approach to the Soviet authorities. The Panel thought that the delegation might be headed by a cabinet minister, that it would go to Moscow in the spring of 1958, and that after its arrival it would present to the Soviet Government a suitable communication on further exchanges of visits and information concerning the Arctic regions.

5. The Panel agreed that we should recognize the special status of Poland among the satellites, and that we should, in principle, be relatively forthcoming in our policy of exchanges with that country. We are giving thought to a Polish request to send a number of professors and students to study forestry in Canada.

6. I would appreciate your comments on these proposed arrangements. The only proposal that calls for early decision is set forth in paragraph 3. Indeed, if we are to receive a Soviet agricultural delegation this summer, action must be taken without delay.¹¹

J.W. Holmes

¹⁰Voir/See Volume 23, Document 519.

¹¹Le Cabinet a approuvé la visite de la délégation agricole soviétique le 31 juillet 1957. Cette délégation est arrivée au Canada en septembre 1957.
Cabinet approved the visit of the Soviet agricultural delegation on July 31, 1957. This delegation arrived in Canada in September 1957.