This website offers information about serving in Ukraine. Some activists say it's 'illegal recruitment'

When Russia attacked Ukraine in late February, Hamilton philanthropist Chris Ecklund took action, launching a website he says is aimed at providing education for those who want to help, including by fighting against the invaders.

But, as the conflict continues, some anti-war activists are raising concerns about FightForUkraine.ca, and argue it runs afoul of an 85-year-old law meant to stop Canadians from being recruited to enlist in a foreign military.

That's because the site includes a direct link to a separate website where people can enlist in the International Legion of Defence of Ukraine, a force of volunteer, foreign fighters.

Ken Stone, treasurer of the Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War, said that violates Canada's Foreign Enlistment Act.

He described Ecklund's site as a tool for "illegal recruitment" and said he believes the government should tell him to take it down.

"We're upset that the Canadian government is turning a blind eye to this illegal action," Stone said. "If they don't cease and desist, they should be charged."

Ecklund said the website is not a recruiting tool.

It simply provides information and is there to "educate and inform not just Canadians, but anybody around the world that wants to go over, about the true realities of warfare," he said.

After the Russian invasion began, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky put out a worldwide call for volunteers to help defend his country. He created the International Defence Legion, opened borders to visa-free entry, set up an application process at embassies and launched a website — which Ecklund's page links to.

Ecklund estimated about 500 people have reached out through FightForUkraine.ca since it was set up.

That includes those wanting to provide humanitarian aid and others who have been interested in military service, Ecklund said. 

Ecklund emphasized however that the point of his site is to "try to weed out those people who want to show up at the border [in] jeans and a t-shirt and say, 'Give me a gun.'"

Canada's Foreign Enlistment Act was passed in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. It makes it an offence to recruit anyone "to enlist... in the armed forces of any foreign state or other armed forces operating in that state," though consular and diplomatic officers are allowed to do so.

The act also bars Canadians from joining the army of a foreign country that is "at war with a friendly state," such as Ukraine.