Thomas D'Arcy "Ted" Finn (July 5, 1939 – December 20, 2007)
was the first director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), serving from 1984 until 1987. He resigned after it was revealed that CSIS had filed an "inaccurate and misleading" affidavit to acquire a warrant for a wiretap.Mitrovica, Andrew. "Covert Entry", 2002. pp. 131 Born in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, raised in the Sandy Hill neighbourhood and attended

Lisgar Collegiate Institute Lisgar Collegiate Institute is an Ottawa-Carleton District School Board secondary school in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The school is located in downtown Ottawa by the Rideau Canal. History In 1843, a grammar school with 40 paying students was ...

, he later received a law degree from the University of Ottawa. Finn was called to the bar in 1967, working as a criminal lawyer and assistant Crown prosecutor before serving as assistant secretary to the federal cabinet for security and intelligence matters during the 1970s. Finn was Director when 156 wiretaps related to the

Air India bombing Air India Flight 182 was an Air India flight operating on the Montréal–Mirabel International Airport, Montreal–Heathrow Airport, London–Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi–Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Bom ...

were erased. Justice

Ian Josephson A Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Ian Bruce Josephson gained national attention overseeing the trial of two persons accused of bombing Air India Flight 182, the largest mass-murder in Canadian history. Josephson articled at the ...

described the erasures as "unacceptable negligence". Of the 210 related wiretaps that were recorded by CSIS, 156 were erased. These tapes continued to be erased according to CSIS policy even after the alleged terrorists had become the primary suspects in the bombing. CSIS claims the wiretaps contained no relevant information. A memo from 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 ...

(RCMP) disputes this, stating that "There is a strong likelihood that had CSIS retained the tapes between March and August 1985, that a successful prosecution of at least some of the principals in both bombings could have been undertaken."CBC News In Depth: Air India
/ref> Finn resigned as Director of CSIS in 1987, accepting responsibility for the court-filing of an error-ridden and unsubstantiated affidavit in support of a wiretap in relation to the attempted murder of

Malkiat Singh Sidhu Malkiat Singh Sidhu (died 27 April 1991) was the former Planning Minister of Punjab, India. He was a member of the Akali Dal political party. In 1986, he was named Minister of State. On 25 May 1986, he was ambushed by four Sikhs who learned h ...

.Farson, Anthony Stuart. "Security and intelligence in a changing world: new perspectives for the 1990s", p. 191 After his resignation, he returned to private practice.

References

1930s births 2007 deaths Directors of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service 20th-century Canadian lawyers University of Ottawa alumni Air India Flight 182 Lisgar Collegiate Institute {{Canada-gov-bio-stub