Date of Publishing:
Notification Letter
Dear Ministers,
I am writing on behalf of the Members of the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) to inform you that NSIRA has initiated its annual review of Government of Canada institutions’ disclosures of information under the Security of Canada Information Disclosure Act (SCIDA) for 2024.
This review is being conducted pursuant to paragraph 8(1)(b) and subsection 39(1) of the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency Act (NSIRA Act). The NSIRA Act grants NSIRA full and timely access to all information held by reviewed departments and agencies, including classified and privileged information, with the exception of cabinet confidences.
NSIRA will engage with your officials regarding this review. As the review progresses, NSIRA’s review team will be in regular contact with them with requests for information. Such requests may involve documents, system access, written explanations, briefings, interviews, surveys, and any other information that NSIRA determines to be of relevance to this review. This review may also include independent inspections of some technical systems. NSIRA’s expectations for responsiveness are available online at https://nsira-ossnr.gc.ca.
We would also like to take this opportunity to remind departments of their obligation, under subsection 9(3) of the SCIDA, to provide NSIRA with copies of records prepared under subsections 9(1) or 9(2) of that Act to NSIRA within 30 days after the end of the calendar year; that is, by January 30, 2025.
We request that these records be provided to the attention of The Honourable Marie Deschamps, NSIRA’s Chair, via the NSIRA Leadership Mailbox (leadership@nsira-ossnr.gc.ca) or CTSN.
I thank you in advance for your cooperation and support to the independent review process, which is key to transparency and democratic accountability.
Sincerely,
The Honourable Marie Deschamps, C.C.
Chair // National Security and Intelligence Review Agency
