RCMP official accused of leaking secrets goes to trial in September 2022
Cameron Jay Ortis accused of breaching the secrets act
The senior RCMP intelligence official accused of leaking secrets will head to trial in September 2022, three years after his arrest.
Cameron Jay Ortis, who led the force's national intelligence co-ordination centre, was arrested on Sept. 12, 2019 in Ottawa and accused of revealing secrets to an unnamed recipient and planning to give additional classified information to an unspecified foreign entity or terrorist group.
He is charged with multiple Security of Information Act violations, breach of trust and a computer-related offence
In Superior Court today, Ortis's lawyer Ian Carter and the Crown announced plans for an eight-week jury trial starting Sept. 6, 2022.
According to documents viewed in the immediate aftermath of his arrest, the classified intelligence material Ortis is accused of preparing to share included some of Canada's most closely held national security assets, and its dissemination would have threatened Canada's relations with its allies.
That assessment, completed in the immediate aftermath of his arrest by CSIS and the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), concluded that the "information is among the most highly protected of national security assets, by any government standard, and goes to the heart of Canada's sovereignty and security."
Given the nature of the secret information involved, Ortis's case has been tied up in Federal Court as officials work out how the trial can proceed while protecting classified intelligence.
That hearing is slated to begin in January.