Cameron Ortis, RCMP official charged with breaking secrecy law, released on bail – National

A senior RCMP officer accused of breaking Canada’s secrecy laws has been released on bail after spending three years behind bars awaiting trial.

The reasons for the Ontario Superior Court judge’s decision to release Cameron Ortis at Wednesday’s bail review hearing are protected by a publication ban. The decision was confirmed to Global News by the prosecution.

Ortis, who was director general of the RCMP’s National Intelligence Coordination Centre, was arrested and charged in 2019 with multiple counts under Canada’s Security of Information Act. He was accused of being a mole in the upper ranks of the National Police and of providing sensitive police information to an anonymous foreign entity.

He was briefly released on bail in October 2019 and ordered to live with his parents in Abbotsford, British Columbia, and banned from using any device that connects to the internet. A judge revoked his bail a month later, and Ortis has been in custody ever since.

Ortis’ trial is scheduled to begin in October 2023 and will last approximately eight weeks.

He faces a total of 10 charges under various provisions, including under the Secrecy Act and the Penal Code, which date from 2015 to 2019.

— with files from Sam Cooper of Global