Philipps disembarked in Montreal with his wife and son in June 1940, carrying letters of introduction from Lord Halifax. Used to high-living, he was furious with Thomas Cook agents for being assigned a second-class cabin and made his disgust known upon arrival. He had been sent to Canada as one of many propagandists, part of a Ministry of Information project to shape North American public opinion in favour of British war objectives. The Fall of France and a series of British reverses, leading to the evacuation of British forces from Dunkirk, made ensuring ongoing Canadian support vital. Philipps was specifically tasked with monitoring the viewpoints of minority groups in Canada, some of which were fascist in nature, and could potentially undermine the British war effort. The United Hetman Organization (UHO), a Ukrainian monarchist group led by Pavlo Skoropadskyi, was identified as the gravest concern due to its contacts in Berlin.