Canadian Press, 10 March 2010: If Louis Riel had been hanged in 1885 because of an informer among his Metis rebels, Canada’s spy agency might still be blocking release of that history-changing revelation 125 years later. That hypothetical scenario was put to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service last week as part of a legal battle over the government’s refusal to fully disclose decades-old intelligence gathered on socialist icon Tommy Douglas.

The agency couldn’t say for certain whether it would release the identity of Riel’s hypothetical betrayer or withhold the information on the basis of national security. The equivocal response offers a glimpse into the lengths CSIS will go to protect the secrets of the spy trade, no matter how old or historically significant.

Nicole Jalbert, Access to Information co-ordinator for CSIS, testified she routinely nixes disclosure of intelligence files that would reveal confidential sources or intelligence agents, even if they’re long dead and the information gathered decades ago. She said that rule applies to “more contemporary times” – including the files on Douglas, gathered as far back as the 1930s. Such files must remain secret “perhaps not forever” but “maybe longer” than 100 years. . . .