Summary
In the second report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar, Commissioner O’Connor makes 13 detailed recommendations with respect to the review of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s (RCMP) national security activities as well as those of other federal departments and agencies. The Commissioner recommends the creation of the Independent Complaints and National Security Review Agency for the RCMP (ICRA) with jurisdiction to review all of the RCMP’s activities, including those related to national security. The Commissioner concluded that there were significant advantages to having the RCMP’s national security activities reviewed by the same body that has jurisdiction to review the RCMP’s other law enforcement activities. The Commissioner recommends that ICRA have the authority to conduct self-initiated reviews of the RCMP’s national security activities for compliance with laws, policies, international obligations and for standards of propriety expected in Canadian society.
The Commissioner recommends that the government extend independent review, including complaint investigation and self-initiated review, to the national security activities of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), Transport Canada, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) and Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT). The Commissioner based his recommendation on the nature of the national security activities of these five departments and agencies, and the degree of integration of their national security activities with those of the RCMP, CSIS and the Communications Security Establishment (CSE). The Commissioner also recommends the creation of INSRCC – a review coordinating committee – to provide a unified intake mechanism for complaints regarding national security activities of federal entities, to help ensure that the statutory gateways are functioning as intended, and to report to the federal government on accountability issues relating to Canada's national security practices, including their effects on human rights and freedoms.