For years, Sylvia Gelman’s relatives were kept in the dark about what she did for a living in the early 1940s.
But in a mansion that once stood on Laurier Avenue East, Gelman and her colleagues — many of them women — had a top-secret mission: breaking codes and ciphers used in secret and diplomatic communications during World War II.
“No one outside knew what we were doing,” the 101-year-old told CBC Ottawa on Saturday.
“You were so aware that this was a secret mission. And he didn’t tell anyone. And I followed this very closely. I didn’t even tell my family.’
On Saturday morning, a plaque commemorating the Examinations Division, Canada’s first cryptographic bureau, was unveiled at the Laurier House National Historic Site, next door to where Gelman once worked.
The house was also the residence of William Lyon Mackenzie King, Prime Minister of Canada during the Second World War.
Gelman said that while those close to her knew she had top-secret work, they hardly understood the scope of her work. These duties included writing decoded Japanese messages before they were rushed to what was then called the Foreign Office.
Intelligence was also shared with the British government’s Bletchley Park, an Allied code-breaking center where names like Alan Turing walked the corridors.
Sylvia Gelman said that although her family knew she had an important job during World War II, she kept its exact nature a closely guarded secret. (Joseph Tunney/CBC)
Officially marking the department’s contribution to Canada with a plaque was something of a pandemic project for Diana Peppal, who has been researching the bureau since 2014.
It’s no surprise that so few people know about Gelman and her colleagues’ efforts, Peppal said.
“When they left, they all got a note that said, ‘Just because the war’s over and you’re not working here anymore, you don’t get to talk about it for the rest of your life,'” she said. “I saw the real note.”
One woman Pepall found during her research said two years of her mother’s life were always unaccounted for — until they were filled in by the researcher’s efforts.
“The mother was right there and then she gave a 20-minute speech that no one had heard before about her work in the Examinations Department,” Peppal said.
Researcher Diana Peppal said the Examinations Department helped the nation become more independent from Britain. She looks at the desk from 2014 (Joseph Tunney/CBC )
Helped strengthen Canada’s independence
The unit’s success also marks an important milestone in Canada’s independence within the intelligence community.
Somehow, the Examinations Division grew into the Communications Security Office (CSE): the national cryptographic agency that provides the federal government with information technology security and foreign signals intelligence. Many employees moved from one secret organization to another, said Eric Waddle, who also works for CSE.
“The code-breaking work they did during the war proved not only to our allies but to Canadian government officials and ministers and the prime minister that there was indeed value in Canada having its own independent collection capabilities of intelligence,” he said.
“[It also proved] that it is worth maintaining this capacity after the war’.
The work of Gelman and others, Waddell said, also “helped build, foster and maintain” partnerships with his allies, something that was critical to the creation of Five Eyes, a key intelligence-sharing alliance on today’s world stage.
For Gelman, the review department was more than just a workplace: it was a second home, where she met two lifelong friends.
After losing his brother in the war, Gelman said he understands the importance of his work and is proud to work in the cryptographic bureau.
“I felt like everything was amazing, what was happening,” she said. “Indeed I did.”
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