NCJ Number
81032
Date Published
1981
Length
510 pages
Annotation
This report examines official knowledge of and specific incidents of activities of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) that may not have been authorized or provided for by law.
Abstract
A general introduction portrays the goals of the Commission of Inquiry. The second section examines the extent to which senior Government officials and Ministers, in the context of Cabinet committees and interdepartmental committees, were made generally aware that the RCMP were committing acts 'not authorized or provided for by law.' The Commission concludes that although the submissions made to Ministers and senior Government officials cannot relieve the RCMP of responsibility for subsequent illegal acts, senior members of the RCMP did attempt to have aspects of the issue of illegal RCMP acts discussed at the highest levels of the Government, both as to what had happened in the past and as to what might occur in the future. The next part focuses on official knowledge of illegal RCMP activities in the following areas: surreptitious entry, electronic surveillance, mail check operations, access to and use of confidential information held by the Federal Government, 'countering' (action taken in response to intelligence information gathered), and physical surveillance. The remaining sections of the report contain descriptions of particular incidents examined by the Commisssion, along with Commission conclusions concerning the culpability of the participants. Recommendations are also made as to factors that should be considered by appropriate authorities in deciding what, if any, action ought to be taken against those persons whose conduct is considered to be in breach of the general statute law or the RCMP Act. Recommendations for the publication of this report are also included.