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Annual Report 2007-2008 - An Operational Review of CSIS Activities
Members' Statement
For more than two decades, the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC) has served to reassure Parliament and through it, Canadians, that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) is exercising its mandate to protect Canada’s national security effectively and appropriately. In recent years, amidst dramatic changes to the nature and scope of the security intelligence landscape, SIRC’s accountability function has taken on increasing significance. Unlike the Cold War era when there was a clear demarcation of interests between Western and Communist states, threats to national security today are much more diffuse and complex—transcending traditional state, political and geographic boundaries. The phenomena of transnational and homegrown terrorism are two such examples of this changing security environment. In response to this still-evolving context, most western nations, including Canada, have implemented fundamental changes to the ways in which they approach terrorism issues.
This transition has underscored the importance of independent, expert and informed review of CSIS. Whether in response to new legislative measures, changes to the security certificate process, various court decisions, findings from public inquiries or increased demands from government for security intelligence assessments, CSIS has implemented significant adjustments to its intelligence collection priorities and methods. SIRC has worked diligently to understand and evaluate these transformations, while ensuring that CSIS acts appropriately, effectively and in accordance with the law. Our reviews and complaint decisions provide an important means to reassure Canadians that CSIS continues to investigate new and evolving threats to national security in a manner that respects Canada’s core democratic values. We accept this responsibility with an enormous sense of pride and probity.
With virtually unlimited access to all information under the control of CSIS—Cabinet confidences being the sole exception—SIRC is also uniquely situated to provide context to the debates about the nature and scope of the threat environment, and how these are addressed. Although SIRC does not promote any particular viewpoint or policy perspective, our reviews and complaint decisions provide important snapshots of CSIS’s work—offering examinations of the nature and extent of the threat environment, and whether the Service addresses these threats appropriately and effectively and in a manner that respects its powers and authorities.
It is our hope that the declassified review summaries and complaints decisions that are published in our annual reports can help to inform ongoing public debate about the role of CSIS in protecting Canada’s national security.
“With the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms coming into play more often in matters of national security, and the advent of the newly created special advocate process, the guidance of the courts is both important and necessary if we, as a nation, are to find and preserve the right balance between national security and individual rights.”
Readers of this year’s annual report will note that in two of SIRC’s decisions in complaints during 2007–08, SIRC recommended that CSIS amend its policy of destroying operational notes and, instead, retain those notes. These recommendations echoed our earlier recommendations and were aimed at ensuring that complainants and SIRC, as a quasi-judicial body, would have full access to all information relevant to matters brought before the Committee for a determination.
We are pleased that the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent decision in Charkaoui vs. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2008 SCC 38, has brought clarity to this issue and that the court’s decision reflects SIRC’s oft-stated views on the matter. With the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms coming into play more often in matters of national security, and the advent of the newly created special advocate process, the guidance of the courts is both important and necessary if we, as a nation, are to find and preserve the right balance between national security and individual rights.
SIRC strives to bring a fair and balanced perspective to our examinations of CSIS’s performance. Although the Committee recognizes the increasing complexity and challenges in CSIS’s work, we are always mindful of the high standards of accountability that are essential for the legitimacy of a security intelligence agency in a democratic society. This means that, at times, SIRC will be critical of how CSIS performs, but it also means we will applaud, when warranted, the Service’s contributions to protecting Canada’s security. At all times we will endeavour to stay true to our commitment to earn and maintain the trust of the Canadian public in fulfilling the role that Parliament has entrusted to us.