Security and Intelligence: Investigations and Prosecutions

Overview

This course focuses on the investigation and prosecution of terrorism and espionage offences by first providing a historical perspective of these two main sources of the law. This course also illustrates the similarities between some aspects of the mandate of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) with respect to terrorism and espionage, and that of law enforcement with respect to offences in the Terrorism portion of the Criminal Code, and in the Security of Information Act. This course discusses and explains both offences on unauthorized leaking of information and espionage. Participants will be exposed to the critical issue of “intelligence into evidence”, as evidence in support of a prosecution. You will discuss strategic, practical, and legal issues, including the international perspective and its impact on Canada.

Learning Outcomes

• Understand the nature of various types of terrorism offences, as well as those relating to leaking and espionage
• Understand the notion of joint investigation involving CSIS and the RCMP, and its impact
• Understand the threshold to be met by the Attorney General to secure a conviction for those offence
• Understand the interplay between intelligence and evidence
• Analyse the offences applied to a given situation through case studies
• Analyse the basic distinctions between intelligence and evidence in a proceeding

Audience

• Anyone interested in matters of national security or working in national security.

Duration

Cost

• $1095 (plus tax)

Featured Instructor

Gérard Normand was called to the Barreau du Québec in 1982. His career as counsel at the Department of Justice lasted 28 years, 25 of those in national security law. Original founding counsel of the National Security Group (NSG) in 1993, he spent two years there before moving to the CSIS Legal Services for 7 years in 1995. He came back to NSG in January 2002, after the events of September 11, 2001, where he became the Director and General Counsel of the Group, providing legal advice to the Deputy Minister of Justice on an ongoing basis, as well as to the RCMP officers involved in investigating terrorism offences. In 2006, he spent a year as the Director of Policy and Planning, Security and Intelligence at the Privy Council Office. He then served as the national security advisor of the Assistant Deputy Attorney General responsible for national security at the Ministry of Justice between 2007 and 2010. He finally spent 8 years as General Counsel responsible for the national security section at DND/CF. Since his retirement, he was, for some years, the special legal advisor to the NSICOP Secretariat and to the Intelligence Commissioner. He is also a professor of national security law at the Faculté de droit civil de l’Université d’Ottawa. He has been directly involved in the drafting of national security laws in Canada from 1993 to 2017.

Sessions