The prosecution in the case of former RCMP intelligence official Cameron Ortis is asking the court to hand down a severe sentence to send a message to the public and foreign partners.
Mr. Ortis was convicted by jurors in late November on three counts of breaching the Security of Information Act and on one count of attempting to do so. Each conviction can result in a maximum of 14 years of incarceration.
The Ontario Superior Court heard the Crown’s arguments on Jan. 11, with prosecutor Judy Kliewer asking Justice Robert Maranger to sentence Mr. Ortis to 28 years. This is the equivalent of two consecutive sentences on the first two counts, while convictions for the other offences would be served concurrently.
“His conduct betrayed the RCMP,” said Ms. Kliewer. “It jeopardized the safety of Canadians.” She added that the system meant to protect sensitive information must demonstrate it “has teeth.”
The jury had also found Mr. Ortis guilty of breach of trust and of using a computer system fraudulently.
Mr. Ortis, 51, had led the federal police force’s Operations Research group and its National Intelligence Co-ordination Centre, entities with access to sensitive information from domestic and international partners.
He was convicted of disclosing secrets to subjects of police interest, including criminals and money launderers involved with terrorist organizations.
Mr. Ortis had pleaded not guilty on all counts and said he didn’t betray the RCMP. The former official instead said his actions related to an undercover operation he was leading in order to set up a sting against the criminal organizations.
The Crown countered that he had no authority to disclose classified information and that there were no such undercover operations approved.
The court will next hear from the defence, which will seek a lighter sentence. Mr. Ortis has also already spent time behind bars and this will play a role.
The Crown says that in applying a pre-sentence credit formula, Mr. Ortis should be credited with five years and four months.
CTSN can be accessed from connected terminals and provides access to reports from a vast array of agencies from the Five Eyes intelligence alliance. Mr. Ortis was in possession of 400 classified documents taken off the network.
It was also feared he was about to provide the information to a foreign entity. An RCMP officer wrote in a 2020 application for a search warrant that he believed Mr. Ortis planned to pass it to Chinese officials.
Mr. Ortis was not charged in relation to these activities in order to protect national security information.
Mr. Ortis is the first person to be convicted under the Security of Information Act in a trial.
In a prior case, Jeffrey Delisle, a former Halifax-based naval officer who was also charged under the Security of Information Act, pleaded guilty to passing information to Russia in 2012 and was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. He was released on full parole in 2018.
