Canadian mass spectrometrists have made significant contributions to the development of new instrumentation since the earliest days of the discipline. Arthur Dempster designed and constructed a direction‐focusing magnetic sector instrument in 1918 (Physical Review 11, 316), and this early tradition was continued by people like Harry Duckworth, Larkin Kerwin, Harry Thode, Charles McDowell, Harold Schiff, Fred Lossing, and Peter Dawson. This is the second of four issues planned for Mass Spectrometry Reviews that will highlight more recent Canadian contributions to the development and application of mass spectrometry, within the larger context of advances originating with our international colleagues. The first of these issues described work on fundamental studies of the physico‐chemical properties of gaseous ions, and has already been published. Future issues will address environmental, biological, and medical applications. This second issue is devoted to contributions to ionization techniques and mass analysis, as well as accurate and precise determination of isotopic abundance ratios.