Commission of Inquiry Concerning Certain Activities of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Second Report: “Freedom and Security under the Law”
| Published date | 01 March 1985 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1985.tb00835.x |
| Date | 01 March 1985 |
| Author | Iain Cameron |
REPORTS
OF
COMMITTEES
COMMISSION
OF
INQUIRY
CONCERNING CERTAIN ACWITIES
OF
THE
ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE. SECOND REPORT:
“FREEDOM
IN
July 1977 a Royal Commission was appointed by the Government
of Canada with a wide mandate to investigate allegations of
unauthorised and illegal activities by the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police (R.C.M.P.) and to make recommendations for necessary
reform in the security service of the R.C.M.P. (The first report
of
the Commission dealt with security and the protection of information
and the third report dealt with the question of governmental
knowledge of the R.C.M.P. wrongdoing.’) The second report of
the Commission was issued in August 1981 and forms the basis of
the recent Security Intelligence Act.2 The two volumes of this
report run to over
1,200
pages and provide a comprehensive
conceptual analysis of the proper role of an intelligence agency in a
liberal democracy. From a comparative point of view, those
sections dealing generally with the role, functions and methods of a
security intelligence agency (Part V), the management, personnel
and structure of the agency (Part VI) and the direction and review
of
the security intelligence system (Part VIII) are of the greatest
interest, and this note will concentrate on those parts.
It would be useful to recount briefly the misdeeds of certain
members of the security service, which led to the establishment of
the Commission, and to explain how they went unchecked. The
routine commission of illegal and unauthorised acts came to light
following the trial for arson of a former member of the force,
Robert Samson, in 1976. Samson stated at his trial that “he had
done much worse things” for the service. It transpired that certain
sections
of
the security service had conducted a campaign of
harassment against Quebec separatists and left-wing groups. Political
offices had been broken into and membership lists stolen. A false
communiquC was issued as part
of
a disinformation campaign and
property was destroyed. Associates of suspected terrorists were
kidnapped and attempts made to coerce them into becoming
informers. The security service as a whole also engaged in unlawful
mail checks and mail opening, and surreptitious entries to private
AND
SECURITY
UNDER
THE
LAW”
*
The Commission of Inquiry Concerning Certain Activities
of
the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police. First Report.
Security and Informarion.
1979. Second Report
Freedom
and Security under the Law
1981. Third Report
Certain
R.C.M.P.
Activities and the
Question
of
Governmental Knowledge.
1981. Reports published by Department
of
Supply
and Services, Ottawa.
*
Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act. Chap.
21.
Statutes
of
Canada 1983-84.
Passed by the House
oi
Commons on June 21, 1984. Commencement order in
Canada
Gazerre,
July
28,
1984. The Act follows closely the recommendations made in the
Report. Where there is a significant divergence between the two documents, this will be
noted.
201
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