Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.
OTTAWA – The former deputy public safety minister says there was nothing “particularly exceptional” struck him in early 2021 about a week-long delay in approving a minister’s spy service warrant.
Rob Stewart told a public inquiry Tuesday that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s tracking of warrant requests may have been better in retrospect.
But Stewart, the department’s deputy minister between late 2019 and October 2022, said things often take time to get done, especially during the disruptive time of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I would have treated it as, on the whole … a function of the circumstances, which were challenging.”
The inquiry into foreign interference has heard that it took as many as 54 days for a CSIS warrant application to be approved by Bill Blair, then public safety minister.
The average processing time for such requests is four to 10 days.
Michelle Tessier, the deputy director of CSIS operations at the time, has told the inquiry that there was frustration with the delay, although there was no concern about interference of any kind or push back from the minister’s office.
Blair has said he signed the warrant shortly after it was brought to his attention.
Commission counsel asked Stewart on Tuesday about the delay in signing the warrant, wondering if he had brought it to the attention of Blair’s chief of staff.
Stewart said it would have been “at the top of the list of action items we are seeking from the minister,” given the importance of guarantees.
“I have no specific recollection of flagging this warrant. I would have highlighted every guarantee.”
Stewart says she did not raise the issue with Blair herself, in part because they usually spoke during the pandemic on an unsecured phone line.
A newly released summary of testimony from Stewart’s earlier closed-door investigation notes that he said “it would have taken some time for CSIS to get the minister and his staff comfortable with this particular warrant.”
“Mr. Stewart was surprised that questions would likely have been asked about some processes involved in executing the warrant,” the summary said.
Gib van Ert, a lawyer for Conservative MP Michael Chong, pressed Stewart during cross-examination on Tuesday about the warrant delay.
Stewart could not explain the time taken, nor was he able to discuss the substance of the guarantee.
Zita Astravas, Blair’s chief of staff in 2021, is due to appear at the inquiry on Wednesday.
Blair, now defense minister, is due to testify on Friday.
Shawn Tupper, who became deputy minister of public safety at the end of 2022, said that as a result of a new process, “we’re tracking these things a little more aggressively now than maybe we used to.”
“So we certainly have a tracking system that ensures that a document is processed. If he’s sitting, we’ll know that, and we’ll be able to figure out why he’s sitting,” Tupper said.
CSIS may still have its own discussion with the minister, he added.
“But certainly, I think, between CSIS and us, we have a coordinated process now that ensures we have a higher level of awareness of the status of a particular warrant.”
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on October 8, 2024.
Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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