Why the history-making Ortis espionage trial left prosecutors ‘walking on eggshells’

When jurors convicted former RCMP official Cameron Ortis of leaking secret information to police targets earlier this week, they didn’t just seal his fate — they made history. Ortis’s trial was the first to test charges under the 20-year-old Security of Information Act in court. “We learned that offences can be contested and successfully prosecuted, which we did not know before, which is great. We also learned that it takes a lot of creativity and flexibility,” said Leah West, who teaches national security law at Carleton University. “I think there’s a couple of things about this trial that also make…