Cameron Ortis, a former RCMP intelligence director accused of disclosing classified information, returns to the Ottawa courthouse during a break in proceedings in Ottawa, on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby
OTTAWA – A lawyer for Cameron Jay Ortis, a former RCMP intelligence official accused of leaking classified material, says Ortis was acting largely on secret information passed to him by a foreign agency.
Lawyer Mark Ertel told a jury in Ontario Superior Court on Thursday that Ortis would testify about what he did and why he did it.
“He protected Canada from serious and imminent threats,” he said.
But Ertel cautioned that Ortis would be limited in what he could say, as he has a problem that defendants in other criminal cases do not face.
“His actions were in large part a result of secret information communicated to him by a foreign agency,” Ertel said.
“And he’s going to be forbidden from telling you what the information was or what the foreign agency was. So he’s defending himself with one hand tied behind his back.”
Following Ertel’s remarks, reporters and the general public were excluded from the courtroom for Ortis’s appearance in the witness box. Transcripts of his testimony, with possible redactions, are to be made available later.
The Crown alleges that Ortis anonymously sent classified material in 2015 to people who were of investigative interest to the national police force.
Ortis, 51, has pleaded not guilty to violating the Security of Information Act by allegedly revealing secrets to three individuals and trying to do so in a fourth instance.
The Crown has tried to make the case that Ortis lacked authority to disclose classified material and that he was not doing so as part of some sort of undercover operation.
Ertel said Ortis has a compelling story to tell.
“And within the limits that he faces, he’ll tell you everything he’s allowed to say and subject himself to cross-examination,” Ertel said.
He told jury members they would be satisfied Ortis is “no enemy of Canada and did not act at any time without authority or lose sight of his mission.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 2, 2023.
