For years, in Canada as elsewhere, the direction of security policy has been the aggressive expansion of the surveillance state without counterbalancing protections of our civil liberties. As new technologies have made it possible for the state to dredge and analyze endless streams of personal information, the message from government has been consistent: trust us, we won’t abuse our growing power.
The recent Federal Court ruling that for a decade the Canadian Security Intelligence Service illegally spied on people suspected of no wrongdoing is the latest indication that we ought to be wary. This case is particularly troubling. Data on innocent people collected in the course of the agency’s investigations were kept indefinitely and analyzed, according the federal judge, to draw “specific, intimate insights into [citizens’] lifestyle and personal choices.”
Moreover, beyond the illicit spying itself, CSIS failed to tell the courts of its activities, as is required by law – the second time in three years the agency has been found in violation of its duty of candour to the judiciary. “Trust us” is becoming a tough sell.
Yet that’s essentially what the Liberal government is saying in response to the ruling. In an interview with the Star last week, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said the government is taking the court decision “very seriously.” As proof, he pointed to two government reviews currently underway, one by the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC), a watchdog agency, and the other an internal investigation of the public safety and justice departments’ role in the illegal program. Asked whether he would publicly release the results of this work, Goodale said, “When we’ve completed it, we’ll have something further to say.” In other words, trust us.
That’s not good enough, especially in these fraught times. With the threat of terrorism in the news almost daily, internal and external pressures on government to make security a priority are unabating. The relentless build-up of the surveillance state has become the path of least resistance, while anything that limits its powers has come to be seen as politically risky.
The fear that a future tragedy might be blamed on a government perceived as soft on terror too often leads to security overreach. No wonder, then, that Goodale refuses to rule out the possibility that, rather than clamping down on CSIS’s illegal spying, the law may be changed to allow it.
We’ve already seen these pressures at work. In opposition, the Liberals supported Bill C-51, the Tories’ draconian security legislation, but promised to undo its most egregious elements. More than a year into its mandate, however, the government has not changed a word of the law, even absent evidence it makes us any safer and despite expert consensus that aspects are unconstitutional.
Instead, the government launched a public consultation – as if Ottawa needs permission to do as it promised and the constitution demands – and published a discussion paper dedicated largely to rehearsing arguments in favour of expanded security powers. Balance on security, it seems, is a casualty of the political moment.
The recent revelations about illegal spying reinforce the need, greater today than ever, for robust, independent oversight of the security establishment. Something better, that is, than ad-hoc internal investigations. Yet in Canada our sprawling security apparatus is monitored by three meagre watchdogs, including SIRC, each tightly leashed to its own jurisdiction. Critics have long argued that these bodies have neither the mandate nor the resources to do their job.
Last year, the Liberals tabled legislation to finally give to Canada what most of our allies already have: a parliamentary committee that provides democratic oversight of our security establishment. This is exactly what is needed to ensure that agencies like CSIS can’t wield their powers with impunity.
But establishing the committee won’t be enough. Critics have raised concerns that, as designed, it will have access neither to the information nor the expert support necessary for success. If Goodale wants Canadians to trust our expanding security apparatus, it will not be enough simply to ask. He should establish the committee as quickly as possible and give it the clout it needs.
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