Thursday, December 03, 2009

New CSE Commissioner appointed

Former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada Peter Cory has been appointed to the position of Communications Security Establishment Commissioner, effective 14 December 2009. (Official news release here.)

Cory will replace former judge Charles Gonthier, who died on 17 July while still serving as CSE Commissioner. The appointment will thus bring to a close a nearly five-month period during which there has been no CSE Commissioner.

Cory served in the RCAF during the Second World War. He is past chairman of the Ontario Civil Liberties Section of the Canadian Bar Association and past National Director of the Canadian Bar Association. He served on the Supreme Court from 1989 to 1999. Following his retirement, he served as head of an independent inquiry—the Cory Collusion Inquiry—into possible security force collusion in murders during the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Globe reports Cory to depart:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/commissioner-leaving-cyber-spy-agency/article1492191/

Wondering if you or any readers can confirm? Any thoughts? Three months into a seven year appointment seems like a red flag.

March 10, 2010 1:23 pm  
Blogger Bill Robinson said...

Holy crap!

I'm glad somebody tells me these things!

At a first guess, it seems pretty likely that the longstanding dispute between successive CSE Commissioners and the Justice Department over the legality of unspecified CSE activities is at the bottom of this in some way or another. Could be the specific issue or possibly just the likelihood that such disputes will arise from time to time, although you'd think the latter question should have been resolved before he accepted the job.

March 10, 2010 1:55 pm  

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