OTTAWA – Outgoing NDP MP Murray Rankin has been appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to chair the newly-created National Security and Intelligence Review Agency.

He and law professor and national security expert Craig Forcese will join the four existing members of the Security Intelligence Review Committee, to form this new oversight body, known as NSIRA.

The agency will review any activity carried out by CSIS, or the Communications Security Establishment, as well as any national security or intelligence-related activities other federal bodies conduct such as those undertaken by the RCMP, CBSA, the Department of National Defence, and Global Affairs Canada.

The NSIRA will be given full access to classified and sensitive government information in order to conduct its work, and will report annually to the prime minister. Likely redacted versions of the agency’s reports will be tabled in the House of Commons and Senate as well.

This new agency will take on the review and complaint functions of the Security Intelligence Review Committee. It was created under the Liberals Bill C-59, a wide-spanning piece of legislation that passed in June, making considerable national security and oversight reforms.

The NSIRA is meant to “compliment” the work of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, which Rankin has been a member of since it was formed in 2017. That committee mirrors committees set up in the other "Five Eyes" alliance countries and members include MPs and Senators, who must have “top secret” security clearance.

Rankin announced in February that he would not be running for reelection in his Victoria, B.C. riding, saying he was keen to do other things after being an MP since 2012. During his time on Parliament Hill, Rankin has sat on the House Finance Committee, House Health Committee, the special committee tasked with physician-assisted dying, and was a part of the House Justice Committee that is probed the SNC-Lavalin scandal.

Forcese, a University of Ottawa professor, regularly appears before parliamentary committees to offer his perspective on national security matters. He was one of the academics who was prominently opposed to aspects of the previous Conservative government’s Bill C-51, much of which the Liberals repealed in the same bill that allowed the NSIRA to be formed.

“The members of the new National Security and Intelligence Review Agency will play an important role protecting Canadians and their rights and freedoms, while keeping our country’s national security and intelligence agencies accountable to the citizens they protect,” said Trudeau in a statement.

In a statement, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh congratulated Rankin on his “pivotal” new position.

“His appointment is apt after his distinguished career in the law and as a Member of Parliament…. We are pleased that an aspect of our nation’s security will be in his capable hands,” Singh said.