Key figures associated with the Gouzenko Affair.

The entire operation – including the investigation, arrests, interrogations and prosecutions – involved only a handful of people. Three of the lawyers were later appointed to the bench: E.K. Williams, who recommended the use of a royal commission and was also its advisor, became a justice of the Supreme Court of Manitoba. J.R. Cartwright the lead prosecutor, and Gérald Fauteux, one of the commission’s three legal advisors, were appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. James C. McRuer, the Ontario High Court judge who presided over four of the trials and who determined that the commission’s transcripts to be used in court, was later appointed Chief Justice of Ontario. D.W. Mundell, the commission’s third legal advisor, served as assistant to the attorney general of Ontario and was later appointed to McRuer’s Civil Rights royal commission in 1967. All five men also belonged to the Canadian Bar Association and had served on its executive board.

The lead RCMP investigator, C.W. Harvison, was appointed RCMP commissioner in 1960.

Biographical information on other key figures, such as Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent, is available on sites such as First among Equals: The Prime Ministers in Canadian Life and Politics or in the publications listed on this site.