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The article discusses the Canadian Foreign Enlistment Act of 1937 which prohibited recruiting and volunteering of Canadians to fight in the Spanish Civil War. It provides a historical context for the law and cities influences from British statutes. The article goes to examine the Foreign Enlistment Act's impact on future recruitment and enlistment practices in Canada.

The article looks at a case of identity theft in which Soviet intelligence agencies made illegal use of a passport belonging to Polish Canadian citizen Ignacy Witczak to secure the passage of a Soviet espionage agent into the U.S. Witczak had surrendered the document for safekeeping during his service in the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. Soviet intelligence authorities incorrectly assumed that he had been killed in action and used the passport to settle a Soviet spy and his wife in Los Angeles, California. Details related to the discovery of the identity theft and to the subsequent uncovering of a Soviet espionage ring are presented. Witczak's interrogation by Canadian authorities about the case is also discussed.