The RCMP have charged one of their own with stealing special operational information and breach of trust.

The national police force charged Cameron Ortis, 47, with three counts under the rarely-used Security of Information Act which governs how officials handle sensitive and top-secret information.

“In broad strokes, the allegations are that he obtained, stored, processed sensitive information, we believe with the intent to communicate it to people that he shouldn’t be communicating it to,” prosecutor John MacFarlane said after a brief court hearing.

“I won’t be commenting in any more detail other than that at this stage.”

Ortis has worked as an “adviser” to the government of Canada since completing his Ph.D in political science at the University of British Columbia, according to an online profile.

His position in the RCMP could not immediately be confirmed, but a 2008 academic conference schedule listed him as a “senior intelligence research specialist for national security criminal investigations” with the force. Citing unnamed sources, Global News reported Friday that Ortis was the director general of an intelligence unit at RCMP headquarters in Ottawa.

In that role, he would have access to sensitive information not just from the RCMP but other national security and intelligence agencies — and potentially allied intelligence, a senior source speaking to the Star said Friday.

The RCMP refused to comment as Ortis’ case was before the courts.

According to court documents, Ortis faces a total of seven charges under the Security of Information Act and the Criminal Code. The offences date from Jan. 1, 2015 to Thursday, when he was arrested in Ottawa.

In Longueil after a campaign stop, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau made a brief statement to reporters saying only that he was “of course made aware” of Ortis’ arrest. “I can assure you the authorities are taking this extremely seriously but you might understand I have no comment to make on this issue right now,” he said.

He did not respond to questions.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer called the charges a reminder of the “threats we face from foreign actors.” There has been no official confirmation Ortis was sharing secrets with foreign actors.

“Extremely concerning that a senior RCMP intelligence officer has been arrested for leaking national security information,” Scheer posted on Twitter.

A former RCMP officer told the Star that Ortis had been “nurtured” in his RCMP career by Bob Paulson, who served as commissioner of the force for five years until his retirement in 2017. The former officer said that Ortis was described as “pretty competent.”

Brian Job, who supervised Ortis’ doctoral thesis, told the Star his studies focused around how the internet influences states and geopolitics. Ortis has subsequently written on critical infrastructure and national security.

Job had not heard about the charges facing his former student when contacted by the Star Friday afternoon. Job said his contact with Ortis had been limited to occasional dinners or coffee dates over the last decade.

“Cameron was incredibly careful not to provide information regarding the specifics of his responsibilities within the RCMP” during those social calls, Job said.

“Nothing in my relationship with him over the years would lead to any sense … he was possibly or allegedly implicated in what you say he is.”

There are very few cases of Canadians being charged under the Security of Information Act, the successor to the country’s Official Secrets Act.

If Ortis was permanently pledged to secrecy, as suggested by the charges, that indicates he would have had access to some of the most sensitive information in the federal government. Ortis’ reported position in national security intelligence with the RCMP would mean he was “deeply plugged into” security files.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“They’re deeply connected with other elements of the Canadian security intelligence community. They have a cybercrime unit that is growing in size and resources,” according to security expert Wesley Wark.

“It’s obviously very serious. There are very few of these cases brought under the Security of Information Act,” said Wark, an instructor at the Centre for Public Policy and Management at the University of Ottawa.

Wark said the last serious espionage case in Canada involved naval officer Jeffrey Delisle who sold secrets to Russia. Delisle, who served in the communications and intelligence hub for the navy’s East Coast operations, told interrogators after his arrest that he gave away a “lot” of information between 2007 and his arrest in 2011 following a tip from the FBI. The father of four was sentenced in 2013 to 20 years in prison but was granted full parole in August.

With files from The Canadian Press and Tonda MacCharles.

Read more about: