Former boss of accused RCMP leaker praises Ortis's work, says it wasn't his job to contact targets

Cameron Ortis's former boss spoke glowingly of the work he did leading a secretive intelligence unit within the RCMP but said the civilian member — now on trial accused of leaking information — was never meant to go undercover or reach out to police targets. 

"I'm not going to lie, I was a fan of Cam," said retired assistant commissioner Todd Shean during testimony Monday afternoon.

"He was a person who was going to rise within our organization." 

Ortis, 51, is charged with multiple counts of sharing special operational information "intentionally and without authority" under the Security of Information Act, the law meant to protect Canada's secrets. 

The defence team has said Ortis, who has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him, has a "compelling story" to tell and that he had the "authority" to do everything he did.

The Crown disputes that.

Ortis reported to Shean when he was in charge of the RCMP's operations research branch (OR), which had access not just to RCMP operations but also intelligence gathered by Canada's spy agencies and by its Five Eyes allies.

Shean said the branch was set up to be an intelligence arm of the RCMP, not an operational arm.

"Would they engage with targets of investigation?" asked Crown prosecutor Judy Kliewer

"Absolutely not," Shean said.

No records suggesting Ortis went undercover: witness

The jury already has heard that the RCMP has policies on undercover operations, including specific training and an operational plan.

Undercover agents are also given a special number.

Earlier on Monday, the jury heard from Insp. Christine Lange, who works in RCMP undercover operations.

She said she searched the unit's database and did not find any records suggesting Ortis was an undercover officer or an officer who supervised an undercover agent. 

The jury also heard from the Mountie who once ran the RCMP's national undercover program, who said he never spoke with Ortis about a covert operation in early 2015. According to the charge sheet, Ortis is accused of leaking between Feb. 1 and May 31, 2015.

Kevin Lamontagne, who became the "officer in charge" of the RCMP's national undercover program that year, said it's rare for a civilian member to go undercover and such an operation would require special designation. 

"Undercover positions are finite positions. They take a great deal of time, financial investment. Whenever we do develop someone, we want to ensure that they're there to contribute for a lengthier period of time," he told the jury Monday morning. 

"So if someone at his level, his rank had been trained … I would have remembered that because it would have been highly unusual."

Under cross-examination, Lamontagne said the RCMP had to write specific policies around 2015 to cover online undercover operations.

"When you're dealing with computers sort of operations, it's a little more blurry than somebody dressing up as a UPS delivery man and delivering a package of cocaine to someone's house, which is a face-to-face obvious deception type of thing," said defence lawyer Mark Ertel.

"But on computers, there's sort of stages and it kind of blurred, or people weren't clear maybe until this policy came up about what exactly could be done."

Lamontagne agreed that going undercover online is "more nuanced."

Shean said that while undercover plans need approval from the chain of command, there's "never an absolute in police work."

The retired senior Mountie offered a hypothetical example of a situation that needs to be acted on immediately before a window of opportunity closes.

"But that is our rarity. It would be a one-off and anything subsequent to that would have to have the proper operational planning," he said.

Ortis like a 'proud father' in briefings: former boss

The jury has heard about the work operations research did. Former employees said one of the unit's main goals was to get a better handle on emerging threats and opportunities, but in a way that wouldn't expose top-secret information in open court.

The new team, largely put together by Ortis, had access to top-secret information and was separate from criminal investigations, the jury has heard.

Shean said intelligence shared with the OR came with the caveat that it must not be disseminated further or duplicated without permission. 

"If you don't respect those caveats then, know what? You're going to be essentially dead in the water because nobody is going to share with you," said Shean.

As assistant commissioner, Shean said he received "meticulous" briefings by Ortis's team.

"They were extraordinary at what they did," he said.

"He sat back like a proud father," Shean said of Ortis in those meetings. "He just sat back like somebody was very proud of his unit of work."

Shean later played a role in moving Ortis to the position of director general of the RCMP's National Intelligence Co-ordination Centre in April 2016.

"I spoke of the quality of the work that Cam performed," he said. "I felt that Cam could enter that environment and take us to the next level." 

Ortis was arrested in the fall of 2019.

Ortis is accused of sharing special operational information "intentionally and without authority" with Salim Henareh and Muhammad Ashraf. He also faces one count of attempting to share special operational information with Farzam Mehdizadeh.

RCMP intelligence reports entered into evidence during the trial show the RCMP was investigating those three men and their money services businesses for potential links to Altaf Khanani, a convicted money-launderer.

Ortis is also accused of leaking special operational information to Vincent Ramos, the head of a company that was accused of selling encrypted phones to criminals, including the Khanani network and drug cartels.

Shean will continue his testimony Tuesday. 

Ortis is expected to take the stand later this week.