The National Intelligence Coordination Centre is a branch of the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

that deals with online threats. It was created in 2013 and deals with online crimes at home and abroad. It also monitors terrorist groups or protestors who might sabotage infrastructure. Information is gathered by RCMP officers, merged with information from other intelligence arms such as

Canadian Security Intelligence Service The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS, ; french: Service canadien du renseignement de sécurité, ''SCRS'') is Canada's primary national intelligence agency. It is responsible for collecting, analysing, reporting and disseminating int ...

Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC; french: Centre d'analyse des opérations et déclarations financières du Canada) is the national financial intelligence agency of Canada. FINTRAC was established in 2000 ...

. From this the NICC produces reports for the RCMP. It also produces reports for international partners in the

Five Eyes The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These countries are parties to the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in sign ...

intelligence alliance.

Origins

October Crisis

Historically intelligence gathering had been done by the RCMP through their branch the

RCMP Security Service The RCMP Security Service (french: Service de sécurité de la GRC) was a branch of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) that had responsibility for domestic intelligence and security in Canada. It was replaced by the Canadian Security Intellige ...

. The

October Crisis The October Crisis (french: Crise d'Octobre) refers to a chain of events that started in October 1970 when members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped the provincial Labour Minister Pierre Laporte and British diplomat James C ...

led to the RCMP collecting intelligence by stealing documents and planting dynamite on suspected radicals. Government investigations of this led to a new agency - the

being formed in 1984.

Maher Arar scandal

After the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

the RCMP had a renewed interest in intelligence work. The

Communications Security Establishment The Communications Security Establishment (CSE; french: Centre de la sécurité des télécommunications, ''CST''), formerly (from 2008-2014) called the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC), is the Government of Canada's national c ...

dealt with

signals intelligence Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ( ...

and the CSIS with

Human intelligence Human intelligence is the intellectual capability of humans, which is marked by complex cognitive feats and high levels of motivation and self-awareness. High intelligence is associated with better outcomes in life. Through intelligence, humans ...

. The RCMP had been frozen out of intelligence gathering and skills had atrophied.

Maher Arar Maher Arar ( ar, ماهر عرار) (born 1970) is a telecommunications engineer with dual Syrian and Canadian citizenship who has resided in Canada since 1987. Arar was detained during a layover at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Septem ...

was arrested, rendered to

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and

tortured Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

as the result of unfounded conclusions that had been shared with the FBI. A 2006 review found no evidence that he was linked to terrorist organisations and concluded the RCMP "lacked the expertise to conduct national security investigations".

Director General arrested

In September 2019 the RCMP arrested Cameron Ortis, who was director general of the National Intelligence Coordination Centre, who had been running the NICC since 2016. He had joined the RCMP in 2007 from an academic background in technology and crime, after completing a PhD at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

before he joined. He was hired as a strategic analyst - a position described as a "jack of all trades". In November 2023, a jury found Ortis guilty of multiple counts under the ''

Security of Information Act The ''Security of Information Act'' (R.S.C. 1985, c. O-5), formerly known as the ''Official Secrets Act'', is an Act of the Parliament of Canada that addresses national security concerns, including threats of espionage by foreign powers and terr ...

''. Ortis was sentenced to 14 years in prison in February 2024.

References

{{Reflist Canadian intelligence agencies