Activities of the Office

Legislative Changes

The Commissioner and his officials devoted considerable effort throughout the year to examining two bills before Parliament that aim to strengthen the accountability of federal government departments and agencies involved in national security activities.

Both bills proposed important changes to Canada's intelligence and security landscape. Commissioner Plouffe met with the ministers of National Defence and Public Safety, the National Security and Intelligence Advisor to the Prime Minister, and the Chief of CSE. The Commissioner's staff held numerous meetings with officials from CSE, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Public Safety Canada, the Privy Council Office and the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC). These fruitful exchanges informed everyone's understanding and promoted further exploration of the ideas put forward in the bills.

Bill C-22

As part of the restructuring of the national security accountability framework, Bill C-22, An Act to establish the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), was tabled in the House of Commons in 2016. In his appearance before the Senate Standing Committee on National Security and Defence on June 12, 2017, Commissioner Plouffe articulated his vision for a productive working relationship with the NSICOP to help ensure the most effective and efficient use of respective resources. He also pointed out factors to consider in avoiding duplication of effort between the NSICOP and the review bodies.

The bill received Royal Assent on June 22, 2017; committee members were appointed in the fall of 2017 and the executive director of the NSICOP secretariat was appointed in January 2018.

Bill C-59

The same week that Bill C-22 was passed, the government tabled another substantial bill, C-59, An Act respecting national security matters. The bill was sent to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security (SECU) before second reading, rather than the usual practice of sending it after second reading. The government chose this process to allow, as Minister Goodale stated, new ideas and alternative suggestions to be presented before second reading.

The 10-part bill is complex and will transfer the office's review function to the proposed National Security and Intelligence Review Agency. It also provides for the CSE Commissioner to become the Intelligence Commissioner, who will be involved in the decision-making process for certain activities proposed by CSE and CSIS before the activities can be undertaken.

Commissioner Plouffe appeared before SECU, along with the office's Executive Director and Special Legal Advisor, on January 30, 2018. The Commissioner highlighted several of the proposals he had made in the written submission to SECU, including suggestions to match the new powers for CSE with a broader role for the Intelligence Commissioner.

In the latter part of the year, CSE and the Department of Justice organized information sessions to help other departments and agencies involved in national security activities better understand the implications of Bill C-59 for their operations. The Commissioner's office was pleased to participate and explain what review is, what it isn't and how it is conducted. Preparing these departments and agencies for how they may be affected helps both to ensure that expectations are realistic and to dispel concerns.

Outreach, Learning and Networking

The Commissioner and his office represent the public interest in the accountability of CSE because CSE must operate largely in secret. The office's outreach, networking and learning activities contribute to the transparency the Commissioner strives for and strengthen the office's ability to deliver on the Commissioner's mandate.

In August, the Executive Director spoke to a summer graduate course at the University of Ottawa about review past and future, describing the Commissioner's current role and how Bill C-59 could restructure the national security accountability framework.

In October, the Canadian Forces Communications and Electronics Association organized a Cyber Ops Symposium in Kingston, Ontario, that brought government and industry practitioners together with academic specialists. The Executive Director participated in a panel dealing with the proposed legislation for oversight of national security activities and its impact on cyber operations.

Two legal advisors from the Commissioner's office spoke in March to graduate students of the University of Sherbrooke about the Commissioner's authorities and activities. Representatives of SIRC and the NSICOP secretariat also spoke.

The Executive Director attended the 19th Annual Privacy and Security Conference in Victoria, British Columbia, in February 2018. This eminent event, at which the Executive Director has spoken twice before, brings together government, industry and academia to hear about and discuss the latest developments in Canada and internationally in technology, security and privacy.

Throughout the year, office staff attended conferences dealing with international affairs, information technology security, national security, privacy and cyber security. These conferences were held by such organizations as the Smart Cybersecurity Network, the Canadian Association of Security and Intelligence Studies, and various academic institutions.

Through training, office staff maintained and enhanced professional standards in various fields, including the law, access to information and privacy, and communications security.

In addition, a day and a half workshop on review – an initiative the Commissioner's office launched eight years ago – was held in February. Designed to fill a training gap for reviewers of intelligence and security agencies, particularly for personnel new to the review function, the most recent workshop was delivered to employees from the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, SIRC, and the NSICOP secretariat, in addition to employees of the Commissioner's office.

The office also continued to deliver presentations about its work to new CSE employees as part of CSE's foundational learning curriculum. Several office employees attended courses at CSE, grounding them in the same information CSE employees receive.

Meetings with Other Review Bodies

Last year, the Commissioner reported on meetings he and his colleague, the Chair of SIRC, had in Washington, D.C., in 2016 with their counterparts from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Such meetings are essential in an environment where our respective countries are seeing significant legislative changes that affect accountability structures and create new authorities for security and intelligence agencies.

Out of the Washington meeting came an agreement to establish the Five Eyes Intelligence Oversight and Review Council. The first in-person meeting of this Council was held over two days in October, co-hosted by the CSE Commissioner and the Chair of SIRC. All participants agreed that the discussions were very productive and will help strengthen the overall accountability of security and intelligence activities in our respective countries. The Council established that an in-person meeting will be held annually, with video-teleconferences between these meetings.

One impetus for creating the Council was the demise of the International Intelligence Review Agencies Conference. While the Council allows the Commissioner to enhance closer ties with his Five Eyes counterparts, the Commissioner also strives to maintain contact with a number of his other international counterparts that had participated in the conference.

Other meetings in Canada with foreign officials included the Investigatory Powers Commissioner from the United Kingdom in October and the Netherlands National Coordinator for Security and Counter-Terrorism in March. The office also participated in a meeting focused on intelligence oversight, organized by SIRC, which was held with the Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Italian Republic in November.