The following is a brief chronology of the events surrounding the defection of Igor Gouzenko and the subsequent royal commission on espionage.
- Japan surrenders and the war in Asia ends. The War Measures Act is expected to expire on 31 December 1945.
- Igor Gouzenko defects.
- The Cold War begins.
- Mackenzie King and two other cabinet members enact P.C.6444 under the authority of the War Measures Act.
- For the first time since the war began in 1939, the War Measures Act is no longer operable in Canada. When asked in Parliament about any outstanding orders-in-council passed under the War Measures Act, Louis St. Laurent (future Prime Minister) states before Parliament that the only remaining orders are those passed to deport Japanese-Canadians. He 'forgets' to tell Parliament about P.C. 6444.
- An editorial appears in the Evening Citizen opposing the incorporation of parts of the Wartime Measures Act into the Emergency Powers Act. Many Canadians are concerned about extending war-powers into peacetime, albeit in a much more limited fashion with the new emergency powers legislation.
- Drew Pearson, a popular American radio talk-show host, reveals that he has uncovered evidence that the Canadian government is holding a defector who has provided information on a spy ring operating in Canada and the United States.
- Mackenzie King and the cabinet approve order-in-council P.C.411. The order creates a Royal Commission under the Inquiries Act to investigate violations of the Official Secrets Act. Supreme Court of Canada justices Roy Lindsay Kellock and Robert Taschereau are appointed to lead the commission.
- The Commission begins debriefing Gouzenko.
- Mackenzie King makes his first public admission about the existence of a spy ring and a defector, although King refuses to name the defector or the country he comes from.
- First series of arrests by RCMP Twelve people are detained in the RCMP's Rockliffe Barracks in Ottawa.
- The government of the USSR admits to spying on Canada.
- Lawyers for the wives of the men incarcerated write to the press complaining that both lawyers and wives are not allowed to see the detainees.
- The public is informed about the orders-in-council which were enacted under the War Measures Act to empower the RCMP to investigate Gouzenko's allegations.
- The suspects being held in the Rockliffe Barracks in Ottawa, however, are not given this information.
- The commission completes its first interim report.
- Winston Churchill delivers his famous 'iron curtain' speech in Fulton, Missouri.
- Fred Rose, Member of Parliament, is arrested.
- An unnamed wife of one of the men still held by the Commission makes a public statement accusing the Commission of mistreating her husband.
- The commission completes its second interim report.
- King makes a speech to the House of Commons justifying the Commission's tactics and the powers under PC6444.
- King makes his first speech detailing the Commission's findings.
- Fred W. Poland's wife initiates habeas corpus proceedings to have him released.
- John Bracken, leader of the Conservative opposition party, makes public a letter by Israel Halperin in which Halperin protests his arrest and demands to know why he is incarcerated without charge and denied access to counsel.
- Judge James C. McRuer sets a key precedent for the spy trials in his ruling in Gordon Lunan's case. McRuer rules that the Commission's evidence is admissible and his testimony can be used against him.
- The Commission's third interim report is released.
- Alan Nunn May is sentenced by the British courts to ten years in prison for espionage.
- Fred Rose is sentenced to six years in prison.
- The Commission's final report is released.
- Sam Carr is convicted and the last of the spy trials is completed.
- Igor Gouzenko dies in Canada, near Toronto. He spent his entire life since the defection under police protection.
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