How Canada's Prime Minister once visited Soviet Norilsk

Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and his wife Margaret landed in Norilsk on May 24, 1971. They were accompanied by 35 other members of the Canadian delegation, including members of parliament, deputy ministers and journalists. It was -15°C (+5°F) in the city, with snow covering the streets, but nearly the entire town turned out to greet the guests – it was the first foreign delegation of such high level to visit a closed city during the height of the Cold War.

At the time, Canada was dissatisfied with U.S. economic policy and was seeking new allies. Like Russia, it also has vast Arctic territories. However, only the Soviet Union was building full-fledged cities on permafrost and Trudeau was very keen to see it.

"The Canadians were interested in absolutely everything: how multi-story buildings were constructed on piles, how ore was mined. They visited a workers' health resort, in the lobby of which the most exotic live plants hung from the ceiling. The guests were simply astonished. They also marveled at the Ice Sports Palace, where they saw boys in full hockey gear playing the game that originated in Canada," wrote Viktor Sukhodrev, the delegation's interpreter, in his book.

Local residents also recalled that Trudeau handed out maple leaf pins, Canada's symbol, to almost everyone he met.

The Canadians spent two days in Norilsk, with the delegation's stay in the USSR lasting 11 days in total. That same fall, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Alexei Kosygin paid a return visit to Canada, after which the sides signed agreements on cooperation in various fields of the economy.