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Consider this remarkable statistic: In the 31 years since the establishment of Canada’s civilian spy service in 1984, only one intelligence officer has ever been charged with breaking the law on the job. One.

There are two conceivable explanations for this improbable number. First, it’s possible that CSIS has had the remarkable good luck to hire only the most morally disciplined intelligence agents — well-behaved Boy Scouts and Girl Guides who would never, ever cross the line into illegal activity. Second, CSIS agents may be effectively untouchable — or the agency charged with keeping Canada’s secrets may be much better at keeping its own.

My money’s on the second explanation. Our spooks are accountable to absolutely no one outside the institutions that employ them — and they know it.

I know it too — in part because I met several times with the CSIS officer who was charged in late 1998 with five counts of corruption. He told me — as had many other CSIS officers I’d interviewed — that he wasn’t a Boy Scout … not by a long shot. And the charges against him were suddenly dropped on the eve of his trial — much to the chagrin of the RCMP officer who thought that he’d nailed the veteran officer. How convenient.

Justin Trudeau needs to be thinking about CSIS’s history while he ponders the changes he means to make to one of the most draconian — and dangerous — pieces of legislation Stephen Harper produced during his time in office: C-51.

Our new prime minister supported Harper’s signature “anti-terror” bill over the overwhelming objections of academics, lawyers and civil libertarians. He supported the bill despite being told by credible people that C-51 grievously undermines the Charter of Rights by giving security services new powers to thwart terror plots using tactics and methods previously considered illegal — while threatening Canadians with criminal sanctions merely for discussing terrorism. Not hyperbole. Truth.

Trudeau told Canadians he supported C-51, with caveats, because he believes that, “on balance,” the law is a prudent way to empower our security services to combat terror. He also made it plain that he didn’t want to hurt his campaign by painting a “soft on terror” target on his back. (Turns out he needn’t have worried, since C-51 never really erupted as an election issue. The corporate media was too busy tearing its hair out over niqabs and other silly stuff.)

Trudeau needs to recognize that CSIS is not made up of law-abiding saints. An intelligence service without proper civilian oversight is hazardous, plain and simple. Trudeau needs to recognize that CSIS is not made up of law-abiding saints. An intelligence service without proper civilian oversight is hazardous, plain and simple.

By this point, a responsible leader would be surveying the damage C-51 threatens to do to the rule of law in this country and making plans to kill this wretched legislation outright. He won’t, though. I’m sorry to disappoint Trudeau’s groupies, but I’m convinced he simply wants this issue to go away, so the changes he offers will be largely cosmetic — a sunset clause here or there. That’s politics.

But C-51 is not Trudeau’s bill, and he doesn’t have to worry about wearing it anymore. Short of repealing it outright — still the most sensible option — there are things the new prime minister could do that could reconcile the need to fight terrorism with the rights and protections offered by a modern, confident democracy.

For starters, Trudeau needs to recognize that CSIS is not made up of law-abiding saints. That’s a reassuring myth, one pushed on us by the bill’s supporters — the people who always say you’ve got nothing to fear if you’ve got nothing to hide. An intelligence service without proper civilian oversight is hazardous, plain and simple. CSIS officers know that they are members of an exclusive club where the “rules” don’t always apply … because no one actually enforces the “rules.”

I repeat: Canada has no “watchdogs” keeping an eye on what the spies are up to. What we have by way of oversight is a collection of inexperienced, mostly part-time political appointees who look into complaints made by the public. They’re obliged — because they don’t have the money or staff — to pick their review targets carefully every year, so they can write a top-secret report about what they’ve discovered that no one outside the upper echelons is allowed to read. And they don’t even have the power to deliver a slap on the wrist.

All of this must change. The “just trust us” line we’ve been fed for decades isn’t remotely convincing any longer. Here’s a far better one: Trust, but verify.

Step one must be to reinstate the position of CSIS Inspector-General, which belonged to Eva Plunkett before she was, in effect, sacked by Harper because she took her responsibilities too seriously for his comfort. I suspect that Plunkett may be too happy in retirement, tending to her horses, to consider coming back to the such a thankless and necessary job. But there are still scores of knowledgeable, independent-minded candidates who — armed with the money and staff — could do an equally stellar job. Abolishing the office was an idiotic act. Reversing it should be Trudeau’s priority.

Next, the prime minister should overhaul that sorry collective of sleepwalkers known as the Security Intelligence Review Committee. SIRC’s five-member executive committee must no longer be a dumping ground for part-time, well-connected political hacks looking for something more intriguing than golf to fill their days. The committee’s miniscule budget ($2.8 million) and staff (14) should be increased dramatically to allow SIRC to hire the right people with the right skills.

Finally — and this may be the most important reform of all — an all-party national security oversight committee should be established to look at what our intelligence services are up to now, not after the fact. MPs on the committee, along with a formidable corps of experienced researchers and investigators, should be granted the security clearances necessary to know where to look and what questions to ask — so that they can meaningfully hold the spies to account.

The upshot: the status quo must not prevail. I fear it will. And yet, the optimist in me is waiting for Trudeau to prove me wrong.

Andrew Mitrovica is a writer and journalism instructor. For much of his career, Andrew was an investigative reporter for a variety of news organizations and publications including the CBC’s fifth estate, CTV’s W5, CTV National News — where he was the network’s chief investigative producer — the Walrus magazine and the Globe and Mail, where he was a member of the newspaper’s investigative unit. During the course of his 23-year career, Andrew has won numerous national and international awards for his investigative work.

The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.