Intelligence in Canada
Encyclopedia
The decades following the rebellions of the Canadas marked the beginning of intelligence services in Canada. Defeat in the failed uprising caused the restoration of colonial regimes and the reform of imperialism. As a result, informal intelligence services were formed to conduct certain activities. 1864 marked the formation of two secret police forces and the formal intelligence service in Canada. Created to protect the Canada-United States border
, these organization were under the control of a Montreal police commander and political alley. In response to a number of raid and attacks connected with Irish nationalism
, Prime Minister
John A Macdonald merged the two forces to form the Dominion Police
(DP). The DP was subsequently merged with the North-West Mounted Police to form the Royal Northwest Mounted Police in 1904 and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP) in 1920.
During the World War II
period, ties with allied intelligence strengthened. Canadian intelligence services, usually following in the way that the British collect information, began to follow the ways of the United States' system; new governmental committee were established and Canadians served in a variety of intelligence capacities, both home and abroad. Camp X
, a secret training facility in Ontario, in an example of such joint activities. The camp lead to the establishment of the Canadian Security Establishment, scientific cooperation in the Manhattan Project and the establishment of the first biological germ warfare station. The 1945 defection of Soviet cipher clerk, Igor Gouzenko
served as the catalyst of major structural reform to the security and intelligence system and lead to the formation of one of several royal commissions to investigate the activities of foreign intelligence networks in Canada. Recognition came to the RCMP's Intelligence Section when it was elevated to branch status and then re-established as the Directorate if Security and Intelligence or the "I" Directorate. Following a 1969 report, the DSI became the RCMP Security Service
and was further elevated from regional-level division to national-level division giving the director even more power.
In 1984, the RCMP Security Service
was disbanded to make way for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service
. This reform was caused by a report released by the MacDonald Commission in 1981. The Department of National Defence
and the Canadian Forces
have two main agency responsible for providing intelligence: the Communications Security Establishment
, which is responsible for the signals intelligence aspects of military intelligence and the Intelligence Branch
which is the main intelligence service of the Canadian Forces. The Int Branch, as it is sometimes referred as, conduct operations both home and abroad to provide correct and up-to-date information to defense operation planners and commanders.
(now Ontario
) and Lower
(now Quebec
) Canada. With republicanism defeated in the failed uprisings, the colonial regimes in the Canadas were reconstituted and imperial rule was reformed. Stipendiary Magistrates were encouraged to form informal intelligence services to intercept mails, police taverns, and suppress political discussions.
In September 1864, John A. Macdonald
, the premier of the United Provinces (and eventually the first prime minister of Canada), formed two secret police forces to guard the Canada-United States border
, and to prevent U.S. infringement on Canadian neutrality during the U.S. Civil War. William Ermatinger, a Montreal police administrator with some anti-labor experience, was placed in charge of the secret police service in eastern Canada. In Ontario, Gilbert McMicken
, a political ally, was chosen to form an organization which would later become the Western Frontier Constabulary.
The formative period in the institutional development of Canadian intelligence agencies is unique in the sense that the birth of the fledgling services predated confederation in 1867 by several years. The Fenians, an Irish nationalist movement that operated in North America, whose goal was to liberate Ireland from British rule, got these two intelligence services preoccupied. Between the period of 1865 to 1870, Irish nationalists launched a number of raids to strike back at the British Empire. A "lone wolf" believed to be, who was a sympathizer for Irish nationalism
, assassinated Canadian politician
Thomas D'Arcy McGee. In response to these events, Prime Minister
Macdonald, in 1868, merged the two police forces to form the Dominion Police
(DP) which was headquartered
in Ottawa
.
In 1873, the Ottawa-based DP was joined in western Canada by the creation of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) which led to the creation of the Royal North-West Mounted Police (RNWMP) in 1904. The RNWMP later became the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
in 1920. Early reports of an intelligence nature were provided in addition to the main responsibilities of the force, which were to provide law and order or pacifying the west depending on one's politics.
, a representative of the British Home Office, the India Office
and the Canadian government
between 1909 and 1914 through the Immigration Department and the DP, gave special attention to the Sikh and Hindu nationalists. Paid a substantial monthly stipend by the Indian, British, and Canadian governments, Hopkinson was assassinated in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1914 by a Sikh nationalist named Mewa Singh. The network, which had depended so much upon Hopkinson's mercenary style, fell apart shortly thereafter under his successors Robert Nathan
, Malcolm J. Reid, and A. F. Jolliffe.
World War I
and the 1917–1920 Labor revolt were the main reasons for the reform of the institutional framework of the Canadian security and intelligence service. Coordination of the decentralized Canadian wartime security effort was the responsibility of the DP. However, Other agencies such as the RNWMP, the Department of Immigration and provincial and municipal authorities also conducted investigations. each of these agencies reported to a different ministers, this caused considerable overlapping in responsibilities and active investigations. Thus, the system proved an unworkable amalgam and it was only a matter of time before a clearer system would be worked out, or it would be scrapped altogether.
With the fear of the consequences of increased labor and industrial unrest in early 1918, the Criminal Investigations Branch (CIB) was formed in the RNWMP in Regina
. An overheated and reactionary federal government felt Canada was headed toward a Bolshevik-style revolution after the number of strikes dramatically increased. Prime Minister Robert Borden
called a meeting with A. B. Perry, the commissioner of the RNWMP, in August 1919 to discus the unworkable intelligence system in Canada and find a solution to it. Perry supplied a blueprint with several options days later. A decision was come upon and, in 1920, the RNWMP was dissolved to make way for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The RCMP's headquarters was to be set up in Ottawa, in order to make the agency national in scope. The RCMP would become the sole agency for security and intelligence matters in Canada.
At the Ottawa RCMP headquarters, Facilitation of this newly centralized security and intelligence apparatus called for a number of new sections and positions to be established. This task was, for the most part, carried out by the CIB, which was also responsible for more menial tasks such as enforcing federal statutes. The liaison and intelligence officer (LIC) position was on of the positions which were created. This position was first held by Colonel C. F. Hamilton. Hamilton subsequently with various levels in the Canadian government and consulted similar police and intelligence agencies abroad, as well as oversaw the generation of weekly and biweekly intelligence bulletins. A Central Registry (CR) was also established for filing and indexing intelligence materials sent directly to Ottawa from the outlying divisions.
The Canadian left-wing
became a major priority for intelligence services in the RCMP during the period between the two world wars, particularity focusing on the Communist Party of Canada
(CPC). As the prospects of the second world increased in 1938, some attention shifted to fascist movements in Canada. In these years, at divisions and in the field, the amount of persons involved intelligence work varied enormously. Although, on balance, not often did this number exceed 10 to 20 officers in major cities and most work was done on a part-time basis. Likewise, the full-time Ottawa intelligence staff never exceeded more than a handful of personnel in the inter-war period. However, the efforts of Ottawa and out-lying divisions produced hundreds of thousands of pages of material in the period alone.
, while the government cracked down on suspected subversives in Canada, links strengthened with Allied intelligence agencies. The Canadian services, originally much more closely aligned with the British, became increasingly similar with the United States' system; new governmental department committees were created and Canadians served in a variety of intelligence capacities at home and abroad.
One example of joint intelligence activity was establishing Camp X
, a secret allied training facility in Ontario involved in the eventual creation of the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), through Bill Stephenson's U.S.-based British Security Coordination (BSC), and through scientific cooperation in the Manhattan Project, and also the creation of the first biological germ warfare stations.
In 1945, Igor Gouzenko
, a cipher clerk from the Soviet Union
, defected to Ottawa. This event served as the catalyst for major reform to the security and intelligence system in Canada. It also caused the formation of the first of several royal commission
s to investigate the activities of foreign intelligence networks operating on Canadian soil, and the failures and illegal activities of the Canadian service since its inception.
A security panel was established in 1946 to supervise and advise on security policy and the RCMP's Intelligence Section, although still within the CIB, was elevated to branch status. Further recognition of the RCMP's intelligence apparatus came in 1950 when the officer in charge of the Intelligence Section became directly responsible to the commissioner, and, in 1956, when the branch was elevated once again and re-established as the Directorate of Security and Intelligence (DSI) or RCMP “I” Directorate. Following the 1969 report of the Mackenzie Commission, the DSI became the RCMP Security Service
and the branch was elevated from regional-division level to national-division level giving the Director-General even more responsibility.
, commonly referred to as the MacDonald Commission released a scathing report. This report included a recommendation that the RCMP's Security Service be completely removed and a new civilian agency be formed. This recommendation came after revelations of the illegal activities that were carried out by the service's officers. A group called the Security Intelligence Transition Group (SITG) was formed to implement these policy decisions and on 16 July 1984, the Security Service was disbanded in order to make way for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service
(CSIS)
A number of major and minor intelligence units have proliferated since World War II. They are spread across governments department. Major units include: the Bureau of Intelligence Analysis and Security and Bureau of Economic Intelligence within the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and the Communications Security Establishment Canada and Intelligence and Security in the Department of National Defence
(DND); and a Police and Security Branch was established in the solicitor general's office
.
A foreign intelligence service, similar to the Central Intelligence Agency
of the United States and MI-6
of the United Kingdom, has never been established in Canada. However, through a number of agencies and through its Foreign Affairs postings, it has provided considerable political and economic intelligence to Ottawa decision makers. Whether most Canadians recognize it or not, this has very much blurred the boundaries as to what is required before a foreign intelligence service (FIS) is said to exist. For better or for worse, the debate of this topic has not received as much attention in Canada as it has around the world.
A notable British/American operative was Thomas Beach
(aka Henri Le Caron) an Englishman first recruited in 1867 to work for British intelligence services, but who eventually negotiated a healthy monthly stipend to provide the DP with regular intelligence, and who published his own memoir in 1893.
When the perceived threat of Irish nationalist receded, focus of the Canadian intelligence system shifted. Limited intelligence was collected between the 1884-85 Red River Rebellion
, and anarchists also caught the attention of the Canadian service a decade later. Then, after a lock at the Welland Canal was dynamited in 1900 by Irish nationalists prompting renewed state interest in the organization, and between 1901 and 1903 another group, the Order of the Midnight Sun, a U.S. annexation movement, was the target of Canadian intelligence. During the Yukon Gold Rush, the NWMP provided the federal government with considerable intelligence, and for the next two decades RNWMP and DP attention turned to other immigrants
, political organizations, and unions, such as the Socialist Party of Canada
(SPC), the Industrial Workers of the World
(IWW), and the One Big Union
(OBU).
is the Intelligence Branch
. The Intelligence Branch is a Personnel branch
with the mandate to provide correct and up-to-date information to Defence policymakers and commanders. In order for them to comply with this mandate, they conduct operations, covert or overt, at home or abroad. In such conditions and environments abroad such as Haiti
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
and Afghanistan
or environments in Canada such as the Quebec
ice storms
or the British Columbia
n wildfires.
The interception of foreign radio and communications, commonly referred to as signals intelligence or SIGINT
, is in the mandate of the Communications Security Establishment
(CSE), an agency that is located within the portfolio of the Department of National Defence
. The agency is also responsible for providing technical advice and guidance to the federal government and the ensure the security of Canadian government communications. The CSE was establish as the Examinations Unit of the National Research Council on June 1941 and was headquartered at the Laurier Avenue residence
or the Prime Minister. The government had chosen this headquarters because they felt it wouldn't draw undue public attention. At its establishment, the Examinations Unit had been mandated to intercept communications of Vichy France
and Germany
. When Japan entered the Second World War, the unit's mandate expanded to include the interception of Japanese communications. In a 1944 estimation, the unit had 45 staff members. It was later rename to the Communications Branch.
The Military of Canada has had intelligence operatives on the ground in Afghanistan
since Canada started contributing to Operation Enduring Freedom. This was confirmed by Brigadier General
Denis Thompson, on the same day that it was revealed that the Canadian Forces
had established a new, specialized unit, called the Human Intelligence Company, to conduct intelligence operations in Afghanistan. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
obtained documents saying that the Canadian Forces spent over $20 million on the new unit, which was reported in 2008 to be actively recruiting new soldiers.
Canada-United States border
The Canada–United States border, officially known as the International Boundary, is the longest border in the world. The terrestrial boundary is 8,891 kilometers long, including 2,475 kilometres shared with Alaska...
, these organization were under the control of a Montreal police commander and political alley. In response to a number of raid and attacks connected with Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
, Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
John A Macdonald merged the two forces to form the Dominion Police
Dominion Police
In 1868 the Dominion Police began as a police force protecting the Parliament Buildings on Parliament Hill in Ottawa and by 1911 it served as Canada's eastern police force .In May 1918, the 969...
(DP). The DP was subsequently merged with the North-West Mounted Police to form the Royal Northwest Mounted Police in 1904 and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
(RCMP) in 1920.
During the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
period, ties with allied intelligence strengthened. Canadian intelligence services, usually following in the way that the British collect information, began to follow the ways of the United States' system; new governmental committee were established and Canadians served in a variety of intelligence capacities, both home and abroad. Camp X
Camp X
Camp X was the unofficial name of a Second World War paramilitary and commando training installation, on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario between Whitby and Oshawa in Ontario, Canada...
, a secret training facility in Ontario, in an example of such joint activities. The camp lead to the establishment of the Canadian Security Establishment, scientific cooperation in the Manhattan Project and the establishment of the first biological germ warfare station. The 1945 defection of Soviet cipher clerk, Igor Gouzenko
Igor Gouzenko
Igor Sergeyevich Gouzenko was a cipher clerk for the Soviet Embassy to Canada in Ottawa, Ontario. He defected on September 5, 1945, with 109 documents on Soviet espionage activities in the West...
served as the catalyst of major structural reform to the security and intelligence system and lead to the formation of one of several royal commissions to investigate the activities of foreign intelligence networks in Canada. Recognition came to the RCMP's Intelligence Section when it was elevated to branch status and then re-established as the Directorate if Security and Intelligence or the "I" Directorate. Following a 1969 report, the DSI became the RCMP Security Service
RCMP Security Service
The RCMP Security Service is the former branch of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police which had responsibilities of domestic intelligence and security for Canada...
and was further elevated from regional-level division to national-level division giving the director even more power.
In 1984, the RCMP Security Service
RCMP Security Service
The RCMP Security Service is the former branch of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police which had responsibilities of domestic intelligence and security for Canada...
was disbanded to make way for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Canadian Security Intelligence Service
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is Canada's national intelligence service. It is responsible for collecting, analyzing, reporting and disseminating intelligence on threats to Canada's national security, and conducting operations, covert and overt, within Canada and abroad.Its...
. This reform was caused by a report released by the MacDonald Commission in 1981. The Department of National Defence
Department of National Defence (Canada)
The Department of National Defence , frequently referred to by its acronym DND, is the department within the government of Canada with responsibility for all matters concerning the defence of Canada...
and the Canadian Forces
Canadian Forces
The Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...
have two main agency responsible for providing intelligence: the Communications Security Establishment
Communications Security Establishment
The Communications Security Establishment Canada is the Canadian government's national cryptologic agency. Administered under the Department of National Defence , it is charged with the duty of keeping track of foreign signals intelligence , and protecting Canadian government electronic...
, which is responsible for the signals intelligence aspects of military intelligence and the Intelligence Branch
Intelligence Branch (Canadian Forces)
The Intelligence Branch is a personnel branch of the Canadian Forces that is concerned with providing relevant and correct information to enable commanders to make decisions.-Information:...
which is the main intelligence service of the Canadian Forces. The Int Branch, as it is sometimes referred as, conduct operations both home and abroad to provide correct and up-to-date information to defense operation planners and commanders.
Early days
Canadian intelligence got its start decades after the 19th century rebellions of UpperUpper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
(now Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
) and Lower
Lower Canada
The Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...
(now Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
) Canada. With republicanism defeated in the failed uprisings, the colonial regimes in the Canadas were reconstituted and imperial rule was reformed. Stipendiary Magistrates were encouraged to form informal intelligence services to intercept mails, police taverns, and suppress political discussions.
In September 1864, John A. Macdonald
John A. Macdonald
Sir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC, PC , QC was the first Prime Minister of Canada. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, his political career spanned almost half a century...
, the premier of the United Provinces (and eventually the first prime minister of Canada), formed two secret police forces to guard the Canada-United States border
Canada-United States border
The Canada–United States border, officially known as the International Boundary, is the longest border in the world. The terrestrial boundary is 8,891 kilometers long, including 2,475 kilometres shared with Alaska...
, and to prevent U.S. infringement on Canadian neutrality during the U.S. Civil War. William Ermatinger, a Montreal police administrator with some anti-labor experience, was placed in charge of the secret police service in eastern Canada. In Ontario, Gilbert McMicken
Gilbert McMicken
Gilbert McMicken was a Canadian businessman and political figure. He served on the Council of Keewatin the governing body of the District of Keewatin from 1876 to 1877....
, a political ally, was chosen to form an organization which would later become the Western Frontier Constabulary.
The formative period in the institutional development of Canadian intelligence agencies is unique in the sense that the birth of the fledgling services predated confederation in 1867 by several years. The Fenians, an Irish nationalist movement that operated in North America, whose goal was to liberate Ireland from British rule, got these two intelligence services preoccupied. Between the period of 1865 to 1870, Irish nationalists launched a number of raids to strike back at the British Empire. A "lone wolf" believed to be, who was a sympathizer for Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
, assassinated Canadian politician
Politics of Canada
The politics of Canada function within a framework of parliamentary democracy and a federal system of parliamentary government with strong democratic traditions. Canada is a constitutional monarchy, in which the Monarch is head of state...
Thomas D'Arcy McGee. In response to these events, Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Macdonald, in 1868, merged the two police forces to form the Dominion Police
Dominion Police
In 1868 the Dominion Police began as a police force protecting the Parliament Buildings on Parliament Hill in Ottawa and by 1911 it served as Canada's eastern police force .In May 1918, the 969...
(DP) which was headquartered
Headquarters
Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...
in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
.
In 1873, the Ottawa-based DP was joined in western Canada by the creation of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) which led to the creation of the Royal North-West Mounted Police (RNWMP) in 1904. The RNWMP later became the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
in 1920. Early reports of an intelligence nature were provided in addition to the main responsibilities of the force, which were to provide law and order or pacifying the west depending on one's politics.
Early 1900s
The fledgling intelligence services in Canada grew in the 1900s and its network of officers expanded. W. C. HopkinsonW. C. Hopkinson
William Charles Hopkinson was an Indian Police officer and later an immigration inspector in the Canadian Immigration Branch in Vancouver, B.C., who is noted for his role in infiltration and intelligence on the Ghadarite movement in North America in the early 1900s.-Early life:Hopkinson was born...
, a representative of the British Home Office, the India Office
India Office
The India Office was a British government department created in 1858 to oversee the colonial administration of India, i.e. the modern-day nations of Bangladesh, Burma, India, and Pakistan, as well as territories in South-east and Central Asia, the Middle East, and parts of the east coast of Africa...
and the Canadian government
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
between 1909 and 1914 through the Immigration Department and the DP, gave special attention to the Sikh and Hindu nationalists. Paid a substantial monthly stipend by the Indian, British, and Canadian governments, Hopkinson was assassinated in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1914 by a Sikh nationalist named Mewa Singh. The network, which had depended so much upon Hopkinson's mercenary style, fell apart shortly thereafter under his successors Robert Nathan
Robert Nathan (Indian civil servant)
Sir Robert Nathan, KCSI, CIE was an Indian Police Officer notable for his works against the Indian revolutionaries in Bengal, Britain and North America.-Early career in India:...
, Malcolm J. Reid, and A. F. Jolliffe.
World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and the 1917–1920 Labor revolt were the main reasons for the reform of the institutional framework of the Canadian security and intelligence service. Coordination of the decentralized Canadian wartime security effort was the responsibility of the DP. However, Other agencies such as the RNWMP, the Department of Immigration and provincial and municipal authorities also conducted investigations. each of these agencies reported to a different ministers, this caused considerable overlapping in responsibilities and active investigations. Thus, the system proved an unworkable amalgam and it was only a matter of time before a clearer system would be worked out, or it would be scrapped altogether.
With the fear of the consequences of increased labor and industrial unrest in early 1918, the Criminal Investigations Branch (CIB) was formed in the RNWMP in Regina
Regina, Saskatchewan
Regina is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province and a cultural and commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. It is governed by Regina City Council. Regina is the cathedral city of the Roman Catholic and Romanian Orthodox...
. An overheated and reactionary federal government felt Canada was headed toward a Bolshevik-style revolution after the number of strikes dramatically increased. Prime Minister Robert Borden
Robert Borden
Sir Robert Laird Borden, PC, GCMG, KC was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the eighth Prime Minister of Canada from October 10, 1911 to July 10, 1920, and was the third Nova Scotian to hold this office...
called a meeting with A. B. Perry, the commissioner of the RNWMP, in August 1919 to discus the unworkable intelligence system in Canada and find a solution to it. Perry supplied a blueprint with several options days later. A decision was come upon and, in 1920, the RNWMP was dissolved to make way for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The RCMP's headquarters was to be set up in Ottawa, in order to make the agency national in scope. The RCMP would become the sole agency for security and intelligence matters in Canada.
At the Ottawa RCMP headquarters, Facilitation of this newly centralized security and intelligence apparatus called for a number of new sections and positions to be established. This task was, for the most part, carried out by the CIB, which was also responsible for more menial tasks such as enforcing federal statutes. The liaison and intelligence officer (LIC) position was on of the positions which were created. This position was first held by Colonel C. F. Hamilton. Hamilton subsequently with various levels in the Canadian government and consulted similar police and intelligence agencies abroad, as well as oversaw the generation of weekly and biweekly intelligence bulletins. A Central Registry (CR) was also established for filing and indexing intelligence materials sent directly to Ottawa from the outlying divisions.
The Canadian left-wing
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
became a major priority for intelligence services in the RCMP during the period between the two world wars, particularity focusing on the Communist Party of Canada
Communist Party of Canada
The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...
(CPC). As the prospects of the second world increased in 1938, some attention shifted to fascist movements in Canada. In these years, at divisions and in the field, the amount of persons involved intelligence work varied enormously. Although, on balance, not often did this number exceed 10 to 20 officers in major cities and most work was done on a part-time basis. Likewise, the full-time Ottawa intelligence staff never exceeded more than a handful of personnel in the inter-war period. However, the efforts of Ottawa and out-lying divisions produced hundreds of thousands of pages of material in the period alone.
World War II
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, while the government cracked down on suspected subversives in Canada, links strengthened with Allied intelligence agencies. The Canadian services, originally much more closely aligned with the British, became increasingly similar with the United States' system; new governmental department committees were created and Canadians served in a variety of intelligence capacities at home and abroad.
One example of joint intelligence activity was establishing Camp X
Camp X
Camp X was the unofficial name of a Second World War paramilitary and commando training installation, on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario between Whitby and Oshawa in Ontario, Canada...
, a secret allied training facility in Ontario involved in the eventual creation of the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), through Bill Stephenson's U.S.-based British Security Coordination (BSC), and through scientific cooperation in the Manhattan Project, and also the creation of the first biological germ warfare stations.
In 1945, Igor Gouzenko
Igor Gouzenko
Igor Sergeyevich Gouzenko was a cipher clerk for the Soviet Embassy to Canada in Ottawa, Ontario. He defected on September 5, 1945, with 109 documents on Soviet espionage activities in the West...
, a cipher clerk from the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, defected to Ottawa. This event served as the catalyst for major reform to the security and intelligence system in Canada. It also caused the formation of the first of several royal commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
s to investigate the activities of foreign intelligence networks operating on Canadian soil, and the failures and illegal activities of the Canadian service since its inception.
A security panel was established in 1946 to supervise and advise on security policy and the RCMP's Intelligence Section, although still within the CIB, was elevated to branch status. Further recognition of the RCMP's intelligence apparatus came in 1950 when the officer in charge of the Intelligence Section became directly responsible to the commissioner, and, in 1956, when the branch was elevated once again and re-established as the Directorate of Security and Intelligence (DSI) or RCMP “I” Directorate. Following the 1969 report of the Mackenzie Commission, the DSI became the RCMP Security Service
RCMP Security Service
The RCMP Security Service is the former branch of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police which had responsibilities of domestic intelligence and security for Canada...
and the branch was elevated from regional-division level to national-division level giving the Director-General even more responsibility.
Modern intelligence
In 1981, Royal Commission of Inquiry into Certain Activities of the Royal Canadian Mounted PoliceRoyal Commission of Inquiry into Certain Activities of the RCMP
The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Certain Activities of the RCMP, better known as the McDonald Commission, was a Royal Commission called by the Canadian government of Pierre Trudeau to investigate the Royal Canadian Mounted Police after a number of illegal activities by the RCMP Security Service...
, commonly referred to as the MacDonald Commission released a scathing report. This report included a recommendation that the RCMP's Security Service be completely removed and a new civilian agency be formed. This recommendation came after revelations of the illegal activities that were carried out by the service's officers. A group called the Security Intelligence Transition Group (SITG) was formed to implement these policy decisions and on 16 July 1984, the Security Service was disbanded in order to make way for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Canadian Security Intelligence Service
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is Canada's national intelligence service. It is responsible for collecting, analyzing, reporting and disseminating intelligence on threats to Canada's national security, and conducting operations, covert and overt, within Canada and abroad.Its...
(CSIS)
A number of major and minor intelligence units have proliferated since World War II. They are spread across governments department. Major units include: the Bureau of Intelligence Analysis and Security and Bureau of Economic Intelligence within the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and the Communications Security Establishment Canada and Intelligence and Security in the Department of National Defence
Department of National Defence (Canada)
The Department of National Defence , frequently referred to by its acronym DND, is the department within the government of Canada with responsibility for all matters concerning the defence of Canada...
(DND); and a Police and Security Branch was established in the solicitor general's office
Solicitor General of Canada
The Solicitor General of Canada was a position in the Canadian ministry from 1892 to 2005. The position was based on the Solicitor General in the British system and was originally designated as an officer to assist the Minister of Justice...
.
A foreign intelligence service, similar to the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
of the United States and MI-6
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
of the United Kingdom, has never been established in Canada. However, through a number of agencies and through its Foreign Affairs postings, it has provided considerable political and economic intelligence to Ottawa decision makers. Whether most Canadians recognize it or not, this has very much blurred the boundaries as to what is required before a foreign intelligence service (FIS) is said to exist. For better or for worse, the debate of this topic has not received as much attention in Canada as it has around the world.
Intelligence networks
The attention that fledgling intelligence services paid over time evolved. However, immigrants, labor, and political organizations earned more coverage than most other groups. The preoccupation with Irish nationalists in the 1860s and 1870s saw expanded networks which peaked with a combined total of approximately 60 agents and operatives, and on more than one occasion these agents slipped south of the Canadian border to infiltrate US branches of the Fenian movement in cities such as New York, Buffalo, Chicago, and Kansas City.A notable British/American operative was Thomas Beach
Thomas Miller Beach
Thomas Miller Beach was an English spy.His services enabled the British Government to take measures which led to the fiasco of the Canadian invasion of 1870 and Kiel's surrender in 1871, and he supplied full details concerning the various Irish-American associations, in which he himself was a...
(aka Henri Le Caron) an Englishman first recruited in 1867 to work for British intelligence services, but who eventually negotiated a healthy monthly stipend to provide the DP with regular intelligence, and who published his own memoir in 1893.
When the perceived threat of Irish nationalist receded, focus of the Canadian intelligence system shifted. Limited intelligence was collected between the 1884-85 Red River Rebellion
Red River Rebellion
The Red River Rebellion or Red River Resistance was the sequence of events related to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by the Métis leader Louis Riel and his followers at the Red River Settlement, in what is now the Canadian province of Manitoba.The Rebellion was the first crisis...
, and anarchists also caught the attention of the Canadian service a decade later. Then, after a lock at the Welland Canal was dynamited in 1900 by Irish nationalists prompting renewed state interest in the organization, and between 1901 and 1903 another group, the Order of the Midnight Sun, a U.S. annexation movement, was the target of Canadian intelligence. During the Yukon Gold Rush, the NWMP provided the federal government with considerable intelligence, and for the next two decades RNWMP and DP attention turned to other immigrants
Immigration to Canada
Immigration to Canada is the process by which people migrate to Canada to reside permanently in the country. The majority of these individuals become Canadian citizens. After 1947, domestic immigration law and policy went through major changes, most notably with the Immigration Act, 1976, and the...
, political organizations, and unions, such as the Socialist Party of Canada
Socialist Party of Canada
There have been two different but related political parties in Canada that called themselves the Socialist Party of Canada . The current Socialist Party is an electorally inactive and unregistered federal political party in Canada...
(SPC), the Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
(IWW), and the One Big Union
One Big Union (Canada)
The One Big Union was a Canadian syndicalist trade union active primarily in the Western part of the country. It was formally founded in Calgary on June 4, 1919 but lost most members by 1922. It finally merged into the Canadian Labour Congress in 1956.-Background:Towards the end of World War I, a...
(OBU).
Military intelligence
The main intelligence service of the Department of National Defence and the Canadian ForcesCanadian Forces
The Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...
is the Intelligence Branch
Intelligence Branch (Canadian Forces)
The Intelligence Branch is a personnel branch of the Canadian Forces that is concerned with providing relevant and correct information to enable commanders to make decisions.-Information:...
. The Intelligence Branch is a Personnel branch
Personnel branch
Personnel branch, in the Canadian Forces , refers to a grouping of related military occupations.Personnel branches were officially established at unification in 1968 to amalgamate the old Canadian Army Corps and similar occupational groupings in the Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air...
with the mandate to provide correct and up-to-date information to Defence policymakers and commanders. In order for them to comply with this mandate, they conduct operations, covert or overt, at home or abroad. In such conditions and environments abroad such as Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
or environments in Canada such as the Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
ice storms
Blizzard
A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong winds. By definition, the difference between blizzard and a snowstorm is the strength of the wind. To be a blizzard, a snow storm must have winds in excess of with blowing or drifting snow which reduces visibility to 400 meters or ¼ mile or...
or the British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
n wildfires.
The interception of foreign radio and communications, commonly referred to as signals intelligence or SIGINT
SIGINT
Signals intelligence is intelligence-gathering by interception of signals, whether between people , whether involving electronic signals not directly used in communication , or combinations of the two...
, is in the mandate of the Communications Security Establishment
Communications Security Establishment
The Communications Security Establishment Canada is the Canadian government's national cryptologic agency. Administered under the Department of National Defence , it is charged with the duty of keeping track of foreign signals intelligence , and protecting Canadian government electronic...
(CSE), an agency that is located within the portfolio of the Department of National Defence
Department of National Defence (Canada)
The Department of National Defence , frequently referred to by its acronym DND, is the department within the government of Canada with responsibility for all matters concerning the defence of Canada...
. The agency is also responsible for providing technical advice and guidance to the federal government and the ensure the security of Canadian government communications. The CSE was establish as the Examinations Unit of the National Research Council on June 1941 and was headquartered at the Laurier Avenue residence
Laurier House
Laurier House is a National Historic Site of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, located at 335 Laurier Avenue East . It was formerly the residence of two Canadian Prime Ministers, Sir Wilfrid Laurier and William Lyon Mackenzie King. The house was built in 1878, but had significant later alterations...
or the Prime Minister. The government had chosen this headquarters because they felt it wouldn't draw undue public attention. At its establishment, the Examinations Unit had been mandated to intercept communications of Vichy France
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. When Japan entered the Second World War, the unit's mandate expanded to include the interception of Japanese communications. In a 1944 estimation, the unit had 45 staff members. It was later rename to the Communications Branch.
The Military of Canada has had intelligence operatives on the ground in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
since Canada started contributing to Operation Enduring Freedom. This was confirmed by Brigadier General
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
Denis Thompson, on the same day that it was revealed that the Canadian Forces
Canadian Forces
The Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...
had established a new, specialized unit, called the Human Intelligence Company, to conduct intelligence operations in Afghanistan. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
obtained documents saying that the Canadian Forces spent over $20 million on the new unit, which was reported in 2008 to be actively recruiting new soldiers.