Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Operational Employees: Experiences of Moral Harm, Distress, or Injury

• In Event: Crime Prevention Panel 1

Abstract

Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) operational employees are first responders who ensure national security – they protect Canadians from threats (i.e., terrorism). They are security and intelligence officers with variable and diverse occupational responsibilities and required skill sets often unimaginable. Although instrumental in national security, CSIS employees are unacknowledged and unrecognized in society—a potential source of moral harm, distress, or injury. They cannot disclose hwo they work for or what they do, which impedes recruitment clearly. We conducted 38 semi structured interviews with CSIS employees—the first of such studies ever. In our analysis, we focus primarily on responses to the questions around describing their occupational responsibilities and if they feel acknowledge for their role in public safety (and by whom). Participants overwhelming described their occupational responsibilities as the protection of the public by means of maintaining and ensuring national security. However, they felt unrecognized and unacknowledged by society for their role as they receive no positive credit, which was intensified by the restrictions on sharing details about their occupational role, their responsibilities, and even the service for which they work. The combination of their interpretation of their role and their lack of recognition for it – particularly by not being recognized as first responders – was a source of moral harm, distress, and even potential injury. Many participants, however, did feel recognized by their employer. CSIS employees experience moral harm, distress, or injury, which is in part informed by the lack of public recognition or awareness and their inability to speak to occurrences in their work.

Authors

• Rosemary Ricciardelli, Memorial University of Newfoundland

• Stanley Richard MacLellan, Durham Regional Police Service