Backgrounder No. 5

A Historical Perspective on CSIS

Revised January 2001

The establishment of the civilian Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the disbanding of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Security Service by an Act of Parliament in 1984 recognized the differences between security intelligence activities and law enforcement work. The 120-year old interlocking of Canada's security intelligence service with the federal police force was brought to a close.

The evolution towards the Canadian Security Intelligence Service began when Sir John A. Macdonald created the Western Frontier Constabulary in 1864. This was to be a "...detective and preventive police force, for the purpose of watching and patrolling the whole frontier from Toronto to Sarnia." The Constabulary operated along the Upper Canada borders and rail lines, reporting on activities related first to the American Civil War, then to Fenians whose goal was to overthrow English rule in Ireland. Eastern Canada was looked after by the Montreal Water Police, a federal agency like the Constabulary which was set up originally under William Ermatinger. He was later replaced by Joseph Coursol. Both forces reported to Macdonald.

In 1868 the government, responding to a perceived need, set up a 12-member Dominion Police force in charge of guarding public buildings and carrying out the previous responsibilities of the Western Frontier Constabulary. This force, under Gilbert McMicken and Coursol, assigned people to a security intelligence function when it was necessary, returning them to regular duties afterwards. By the beginning of the First World War, there were 140 members.

The Dominion Police, with Canada's developing security intelligence function, was amalgamated with the 2,500 members of the Royal North West Mounted Police in 1920 to form the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Between the wars, the security intelligence function remained small and inconspicuous. At the headquarters in 1939, it employed only three members and two stenographers, with field units in the larger cities investigating threats such as the fascist movement. The espionage activity related to the Second World War, and the subsequent defection of Soviet cypher clerk Igor Gouzenko in September 1945, removed any thoughts the government might have had about reducing the security intelligence function to pre-war levels.

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Gouzenko's revelations of a number of elaborate Soviet espionage networks operating in Canada ushered in the modern era of Canadian security intelligence. Previously, the "communist menace" had been viewed by authorities in terms of its threat to the labour movement. Gouzenko's information showed that the Soviets of the day were interested in more than cultivating disaffected workers: they were intent on acquiring military, scientific and technological information by whatever means available to them. Such knowledge had become the key to advancement, and the Soviets intended to progress. Thus, as the post-war period gave way to the Cold War, Canadian security intelligence operations grew in response to this new threat.

Espionage, however, soon became only one aspect of the complex world facing those involved in Canadian intelligence work. The 1960s provided challenges of an entirely different and unprecedented order. In Quebec, members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) emerged and used assassination, kidnapping, bombing and other acts of terrorism in attempting to achieve their political goal. Other events, such as the debate over the deployment of nuclear weapons on Canadian soil, the escalating involvement of the United States in Vietnam, and the evolution of a vigorous peace movement carried a potential for politically motivated violence, foreign-influenced activities and subversion. It was necessary to identify potential threats, but in order to fully maintain the democratic way of life of Canadians, it was also necessary to scrupulously protect the right to exercise legitimate political dissent.

These tasks were made all the more complex by the conflicting combination of priorities and responsibilities of security intelligence investigations as compared to police work. Two different Commissions chaired by Justice Mackenzie in 1969 and Justice McDonald in 1977 recommended that the security intelligence functions be separated from the RCMP and that a civilian service be formed to carry out those functions. Both commissions recognized that the problem of balancing the need for accurate and effective security intelligence with the need to respect democratic rights and freedoms could not be adequately resolved as long as security intelligence responsibilities remained part of the Federal police force.

In 1970, following the report of the MacKenzie Commission, John Starnes, a foreign service officer with the Department of External Affairs, became the first civilian Director General of the RCMP Security Service. Institutional links between the Security Service and the main body of the RCMP became more flexible, but problems, due to the different natures of security intelligence work and police work, remained. The establishment of a civilian security intelligence service came with the findings and recommendations of the McDonald Commission. In August 1981, the federal government announced that a security intelligence service, separate from the RCMP, would be created. A Security Intelligence Transition Group task force was formed to plan and oversee the establishment of the new organization.

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The first legislation to establish the security intelligence service, Bill C-157 , "an Act to Establish the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS)", was introduced in Parliament in May 1983. In response to public concern about the legislation, a special committee of the Senate was established to examine the Bill. Chaired by Senator Michael Pitfield, it produced findings and recommendations in November 1983. Acting on suggestions in this report, the federal government tabled amended legislation, Bill C-9, in the House of Commons in January 1984. It was passed by both Houses of Parliament and given Royal Assent in June 1984. CSIS began its formal existence on July 16, 1984 with Ted Finn as Director. In addition to creating a civilian security intelligence service, the Act also created SIRC, to review the activities of CSIS.

In 1987, then Solicitor General of Canada James Kelleher directed former Clerk of the Privy Council Gordon Osbaldeston to review concerns raised by SIRC and present a plan of action. Osbaldeston's report recommended changes to the executive, proposed a new support infrastructure, and suggested elimination of the Counter-Subversion Branch. By 1988 the Service had a new Director, Reid Morden, and significant internal changes had been enacted, not the least of which had been the dismantling of the Counter-Subversion Branch as had been suggested.

The Act that created CSIS also sought to ensure that the Service would continue to develop as an effective and responsible organization. To this end, section 56 called for a comprehensive review of the provisions and operations of the CSIS Act to be undertaken after July 1989. As required, the five-year review called for in the CSIS Act was completed by a Special Committee of the House of Commons under Chairman Blaine Thacker. The Committee's report, In Flux But Not In Crisis, completed in September of 1990, declared that the Service and the Act were essentially on course, but provided recommendations for improvement nonetheless. The then Solicitor General of Canada, Pierre Cadieux, responded to these recommendations in On Course, a study detailing the mandate and role of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the national security requirements and milieu in Canada.

A third review of the dynamics of national security was completed during 1992. In view of the changed geo-political circumstances brought about by the end of the Cold War, the Solicitor General asked then Director of CSIS, Ray Protti, to review the changing security intelligence environment to determine if the Service should restructure and what resources would be necessary to respond to the changing environment. The review concluded that the Service was essentially well-structured to respond to the changing security intelligence environment. Detailed results of this review were incorporated in the 1992 CSIS Public Report.

In 1994, Ward Elcock was appointed the new Director of CSIS.

Date modified: 2005-11-14

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