In my time at CSIS, although now dated—it's been almost six years since I left—when I was responsible for the counterterrorism operations team, a number of charges were difficult in this even more complex choreography around intel-into-evidence. In other words, we were proceeding against certain targets that met the CSIS threshold of reason to suspect, versus then transferring some information protecting sources. Of course, Bill C-59 provides new tools to assist with that in some respects.
However, many operational opportunities were left wanting, first because we had difficulty transitioning information from intelligence into usable evidence, and secondly because, quite often, I found the perspective of crown prosecutors was always extremely cautious. As a Canadian, I think that's very important, because it adds one more check and balance, definitional things, so that we essentially have a prosecutorial system that is inclined to ensure that there is very little chance this prosecution could not proceed successfully. More often than not, cases ended up dropping below the threshold, even though perhaps in another jurisdiction—south of the border, as one example—they would have proceeded full guns.