During the "red scare" of the 1950s, according to an article in "On and Off the Record" in the Montreal Gazette dated April 24, 1956, page 4: "The Park Extension district is currently a hot-bed of Communist activity; much or all of which is known to anti-communist authorities and groups, who are keeping it under surveillance." This reflected both the suspicion of new immigrants in general, and the fact that many of these immigrants left their homelands because of political persecution.