Activities of the Commissioner's Office

Appearance before the Standing Committee on National Defence

As I mentioned in my introduction, in November 2010 I appeared for the first time before the House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence, which examined my nomination. I was thankful for the opportunity to meet with the Committee so early in my mandate, to describe my experiences, and to provide an overview of the legislative framework for CSEC and my role and activities. My remarks to the Committee are available on my office's website at www.ocsec-bccst.gc.ca. I look forward to other opportunities to appear before this or other committees of Parliament to discuss my activities and findings or to discuss the importance of review generally.

British Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliamentarians

I met with the British Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliamentarians during the Committee's visit to Ottawa in March 2011. Committee members and my officials and I exchanged information on challenges and best practices in review methodologies and compared differences in respective models for the review of security and intelligence agencies.

Review Agencies Forum

Since 2005, the Review Agencies Forum has brought together officials from my office, the Security and Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC), the Office of the Inspector General of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Commission for Public Complaints against the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (CPC) and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. The Forum met in January 2011 to discuss issues of common interest.

Training

During 2010, my office developed, and in November delivered, a review workshop for personnel of organizations dedicated to the review of law enforcement and security and intelligence agencies. This workshop contributed to training individuals in these review bodies. The purpose is to enhance the effectiveness of independent review. Another workshop will be held in the fall of 2011.

Several of my staff received training from CSEC in the use of a specific CSEC foreign intelligence database. I would like to express appreciation to CSEC for this training.

Other activities

In October 2010, my office participated in the annual Canadian Association of Security and Intelligence Studies conference in Ottawa. The theme of the conference was Understanding National Security. Leading experts from Canada and abroad provided perspectives on issues of importance to the security and intelligence and review communities.

In December 2010, my office's Executive Director and I met with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and the Assistant Privacy Commissioner to discuss our respective roles and responsibilities. The Executive Director also participated in a workshop and provided input into the development of an Office of the Privacy Commissioner reference guide for government policy makers.

In March 2011, my office's Executive Director, along with the former Chair of the CPC and the Executive Director of SIRC, participated in a training day for Justice Canada counsel working in the field of national security. The panel made presentations on the importance of review of law enforcement and security and intelligence agencies, including discussion of the findings and recommendations made in the inquiries led by the Honourable Justices O'Connor, Iacobucci and Major.