David Moffat Johnson and the Purge of Homosexuals from the Department of External Affairs

This paper reports on an investigation into David Moffat Johnson's experience during the purge of homosexuals from the federal civil service in the late 1950s and 1960s. David Johnson served as Canada's permanent representative at the United Nations from 1951 to 1956, and was ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1956 to 1960. Other Department of External Affairs officers were affected by the purge, but little is known about the circumstances surrounding Johnson's release from the DEA. The research for this paper is based on primary sources that are no longer available from Library and Archives Canada, and on Johnson's personnel file, which is available from the LAC, but not easily findable. Documents made available through the LGBT Purge Fund in 2018 also shed light on RCMP efforts to identify homosexuals and remove them from sensitive positions. The findings reveal that senior DEA staff felt compassion towards their colleagues who were affected by the purge and resisted the efforts of the RCMP to identify and remove them.