Espionage in Canada

LIKE all good spy stories, the one involving Jeffrey Paul Delisle, the junior naval officer arrested for espionage by Canadian authorities on January 13th, is nine parts speculation to one part fact. What’s known is that the 40-year-old sub-lieutenant was charged three days later with passing sensitive information to an unnamed foreign entity over a five-year period, in breach of both Canada’s Criminal Code and the Security of Information Act. Beyond that the details are hazy.

The government, as is usual in these cases, has refused to say anything about what information Lieutenant Delisle had access to, and what foreign government he allegedly was dealing with. The media have obligingly filled this information vacuum with speculation, nominating Russia as the most likely suspect. Reporters have noted that Lieutenant Delisle worked in a naval intelligence unit on Canada’s east coast that monitors activity in the North Atlantic and Arctic regions. And on January 19th Canada removed the names of four Russian diplomats from a list of diplomatic, consular and foreign government representatives. “Russian embassy staff expelled”, trumpeted a front-page headline in the Globe and Mail. Canada’s Conservative government frequently justifies its spending on defence in the north because of the supposed threat posed by Russia.

However, that narrative appeared to unravel following reports that at least two of the four, far from being hustled out of Canada, attended farewell parties in their honour late last year. The Russian foreign ministry said all four left as part of normal diplomatic rotations, and expressed surprise at the Canadian media reports.

The speculation on what information was divulged has been equally inconclusive. “What beans would he spill? The secret ingredients in a beavertail?“ asked one pundit, referring to a sugary waffle snack. More serious commentators noted that because Canada is a member of NATO and of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), a joint American-Canadian organisation meant to detect and deter attacks on North America, it is not just Canadian secrets that are at stake.

Lieutenant Delisle, whose bail hearing was recently postponed until February 28th, has already made history as the first person to be charged under the Security of Information Act, created in December 2001 to tighten protection of official secrets. But even if he is convicted, that may be all we ever know.