The SIRC was established in 1984 as a result of the reorganization of Canadian intelligence agencies recommended by the McDonald Commission investigating the illegal activities of the former RCMP Security Service.
SIRC's role was to review the activities of CSIS to ensure that the extraordinary powers granted to the security service are "used legally and appropriately, in order to protect Canadians’ rights and freedoms.
[3] In January 2014, Chuck Strahl resigned his position as chair of the Security Intelligence Review Committee, the watchdog of Canada's spy agency, after it was revealed by the press that he is also registered as a lobbyist over the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines.
[4][5][6][7] Arthur Porter and his wife Pamela Mattock Porter were detained by Interpol agents in Panama on May 27, 2013, after an investigation by the Sureté du Québec, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).
[8][9][10] The fraud against the Quebec government is related to his alleged role in the handling of a $1.3-billion Montreal hospital construction and maintenance contract.
[11][12] At the time of the alleged fraud, from 2008 to 2011, Porter director general of the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, Quebec, being in charge of one of Canada's largest health-care providers.
[12] Porter claimed diplomatic immunity on the basis that he was travelling via Panama on a diplomatic mission to Antigua and Barbuda, on behalf of the government of Sierra Leone, according to his lawyer Ricardo Bilonick Paredes (formerly known as Ricardo Bilonick), a convicted cocaine smuggler with ties to Panama's former dictator, Manuel Noriega and Colombian drug cartels.
[14] In 2005, SIRC came under criticism for allegedly not giving close enough scrutiny to the activities of CSIS regarding the Air India bombing, where crucial wiretap evidence was destroyed putting the legal case against the alleged Air India bombers into jeopardy.
Paule Gauthier, PC, OC, OQ, QC (five years) Chair: Hon.
Paule Gauthier, PC, OC, OQ, QC (to June 7, 2000) Member: Hon.
Frank McKenna, PC, OC, QC, ONB (five years) Chair: Hon.
to remark[further explanation needed] that 8 months after the appointment of Arthur Porter, the CSIS Director Jim Judd announced his early resignation from his post.