N-16.6 National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians Act

The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians is established, consisting of a Chair and up to 10 other members, each of whom must be a member of either House of Parliament other than a minister of the Crown, a minister of state or a parliamentary secretary.

The Committee is to consist of not more than three members who are members of the Senate and not more than eight members who are members of the House of Commons. Not more than five Committee members who are members of the House of Commons may be members of the government party.

The Committee is not a committee of either House of Parliament or of both Houses.

The members of the Committee are to be appointed by the Governor in Council, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, to hold office during pleasure until the dissolution of Parliament following their appointment.

After a general election, the members of the Committee are to be appointed within 60 days after the day on which Parliament is summoned to sit.

A member of the Senate may be appointed to the Committee only after the Prime Minister has consulted with the Leader of the Government in the Senate or Government Representative in the Senate, the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and the Leader or Facilitator of every other recognized party or parliamentary group in the Senate.

A member of the House of Commons who belongs to a party that is not the government party and that has a recognized membership of 12 or more persons in that House may be appointed to the Committee only after the Prime Minister has consulted with the leader of that party.

A member of the Committee ceases to be a member on being appointed a minister of the Crown, a minister of state or a parliamentary secretary or on ceasing to be a member of the Senate or the House of Commons.

A member may resign by notifying the Prime Minister in writing of their intention to resign and the member ceases to be a member on the day on which the Prime Minister receives the notification or on the date specified in the notification, whichever is later.

The Governor in Council is to designate the Chair of the Committee from among the members of the Committee, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.

If the Chair is absent or incapacitated or the office of Chair is vacant, the Committee may designate one of its other members to act as Chair, but the member must not be so designated for more than 90 days without the Governor in Council’s approval.

The mandate of the Committee is to review

If the appropriate Minister determines that a review would be injurious to national security, he or she must inform the Committee of his or her determination and the reasons for it.

If the appropriate Minister determines that the review would no longer be injurious to national security or if the appropriate Minister is informed that the activity is no longer ongoing, he or she must inform the Committee that the review may be conducted.

Subject to subsection (2), a member or former member of the Committee, the executive director or a former executive director of the Secretariat or a person who is or was engaged by the Secretariat must not knowingly disclose any information that they obtained, or to which they had access, in the course of exercising their powers or performing their duties or functions under this Act and that a department is taking measures to protect.

A person referred to in subsection (1) may disclose information referred to in that subsection for the purpose of exercising their powers or performing their duties or functions under this Act or as required by any other law.

Despite any other law, no member or former member of the Committee may claim immunity based on parliamentary privilege in a proceeding against them in relation to a contravention of subsection 11(1) or of a provision of the Foreign Interference and Security of Information Act or in relation to any other proceeding arising from any disclosure of information that is prohibited under that subsection.

A statement made by a member or former member of the Committee before either House of Parliament or a committee of the Senate, of the House of Commons or of both Houses of Parliament is admissible in evidence against them in a proceeding referred to in subsection (1).

Despite any other Act of Parliament but subject to sections 14 and 16, the Committee is entitled to have access to any information that is under the control of a department and that is related to the fulfilment of the Committee’s mandate.

The information includes information that is protected by litigation privilege or by solicitor-client privilege or the professional secrecy of advocates and notaries.

For greater certainty, the disclosure to the Committee under this section of any information that is subject to solicitor-client privilege or the professional secrecy of advocates and notaries or to litigation privilege does not constitute a waiver of those privileges or that secrecy.

In the event of any inconsistency or conflict between subsection (1) and any provision of an Act of Parliament other than this Act, subsection (1) prevails to the extent of the inconsistency or conflict.

If the Committee is entitled to have access to information that is under the control of a department, the Committee may make a request to the appropriate Minister for that department that the information be provided to the Committee.

If the Committee requests information that is in respect of an identifiable person or entity, that has been received or collected by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act and that has been disclosed to a department under subsection 55(3), 55.1(1), 65(1), 65.01(1) or 65.02(1) of that Act, the Committee may make the request only to the appropriate Minister for that department.

If the requested information is under the control of a department that is a parent Crown corporation, the department must, at the request of the appropriate Minister, provide the information to that Minister.

Compliance by a department with subsection (2.1) is deemed to be in the best interests of the department.

After the appropriate Minister receives the request, he or she must provide or cause to be provided to the Committee, in a timely manner, the requested information to which it is entitled to have access.

The appropriate Minister or officials of the department may appear before the Committee to provide the information orally.

The appropriate Minister for a department may refuse to provide information to which the Committee would, but for this section, otherwise be entitled to have access and that is under the control of that department, but only if he or she is of the opinion that

If the appropriate Minister refuses to provide information under subsection (1), he or she must inform the Committee of his or her decision and the reasons for the decision.

The appropriate Minister must provide the decision and reasons to the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency and, in the case of information under the control of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Each year the Committee must submit to the Prime Minister a report of the reviews it conducted during the preceding year. The report must contain

If, in the Committee’s opinion, a special report on any matter related to its mandate is necessary, it may, at any time, submit such a report to the Prime Minister and the minister concerned.

The Committee may prepare a summary of a special report and, on submitting the report, must notify the Prime Minister of its intention to do so.

Subsection (5) does not apply to a special report that is the subject of a notification under subsection (3) and that report is not to be laid before either House of Parliament.

If, after consulting the Chair of the Committee, the Prime Minister is of the opinion that information in an annual or special report is information the disclosure of which would be injurious to national security, national defence or international relations or is information that is protected by litigation privilege or by solicitor-client privilege or the professional secrecy of advocates and notaries, the Prime Minister may direct the Committee to submit to the Prime Minister a revised version of the annual or special report that does not contain that information.

If the Committee is directed by the Prime Minister to submit a revised version, the revised version must be clearly identified as a revised version and must indicate the extent of, and the reasons for, the revisions.

Subject to subsection (4), the Prime Minister must cause to be laid before each House of Parliament, on any of the first 30 days on which that House is sitting after a report is submitted under subsection (1) or (2), a copy of the report or, if the Committee was directed to submit a revised version, a copy of the revised version.

After it is tabled, the annual or special report stands referred to

Despite any provision of any other Act of Parliament — including section 45.47 of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act — but subject to subsection (2), a review body may provide to the Committee information that is under its control and that is related to the fulfilment of the Committee’s mandate.

The review body must not provide to the Committee

The Secretariat of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians is established.

The Secretariat is to assist the Committee in fulfilling its mandate.

The head office of the Secretariat is to be in the National Capital Region as described in the schedule to the National Capital Act.

There is to be an executive director of the Secretariat, who is to be appointed by the Governor in Council to hold office during pleasure for a term of up to five years. The executive director is eligible to be reappointed on the expiry of a first or subsequent term of office.

The executive director has the rank and all the powers of a deputy head of a department.

The executive director is to be paid the remuneration that is fixed by the Governor in Council and is entitled to be paid reasonable travel and living expenses incurred in the exercise of their powers or the performance of their duties or functions while absent from their ordinary place of work.

The executive director is deemed to be a person employed in the public service for the purposes of the Public Service Superannuation Act and to be employed in the federal public administration for the purposes of the Government Employees Compensation Act and any regulations made under section 9 of the Aeronautics Act.

The appropriate Minister’s determination that a review referred to in paragraph 8(1)(b) would be injurious to national security or the appropriate Minister’s decision to refuse to provide information under subsection 16(1) is final.

If the Committee is dissatisfied with the determination or the decision, the Committee is not to bring the matter before the courts, but it may note its dissatisfaction in a report referred to in section 21.