By Canadian Press

Case of alleged RCMP secret-leaker could head behind closed doors

Feb 19, 2020 | 11:42 AM

OTTAWA — Federal prosecutors are signalling they want to move the national-secrets case against a senior RCMP official behind closed doors — at least temporarily — while a key issue is sorted out.

Prosecutor Judy Kliewer says the Crown intends to ask that the public and media be excluded from a March 17 pre-trial hearing in the case of Cameron Jay Ortis, contrary to the usual principle that courts operate in the open.

Ortis, 47, is accused of Security of Information Act violations, breach of trust and a computer-related offence.

The director general of the RCMP’s National Intelligence Co-ordination Centre was arrested Sept. 12 for allegedly revealing secrets to an unnamed recipient and planning to give additional classified information to an unspecified foreign entity.

The March hearing is intended to address how Ortis’s lawyer, Ian Carter, can communicate with his client about the case without fear of violating the secrets law himself.

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Kliewer says the hearing may touch on the very nature of the secrets at issue, meaning it should be held behind closed doors.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 19, 2020.

The Canadian Press