Jeffrey Delisle: The naval officer accused of revealing state secrets
Details of officer's life and his alleged offences are sketchy
CBC News
Posted: Jan 20, 2012 12:01 PM ET
Last Updated: May 8, 2012 9:49 AM ET
Canadian naval officer and Halifax native Jeffrey Paul Delisle, seen in this 1990 high school yearbook photo, is accused of violating the Security of Information Act.
Related
Related Stories
External Links
(Note:CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external links.)
Canadian naval intelligence officer Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Delisle is at the centre of what's being called Canada's biggest spy scandal in more than half a century.
The RCMP arrested Delisle on the weekend of Jan. 14 and charged him with violating the Security of Information Act. The charges against him include breach of trust and communicating information to a foreign entity without lawful authority that the government of Canada or a province has taken measures to safeguard. None of the charges against him have been proven.
Details about his life and the allegations are still sketchy, but he is known to be divorced and has custody of three of his four children. One source is an old MySpace page that Delisle seems to have neglected for a few years. He listed his interests as computers, reading, firearms, gardening, Monday Night Football, fishing, camping and canoeing.
March 30, 1971
Jeffrey Paul Delisle born.
June 1990
Delisle graduates from Sackville High School in Lower Sackville, N.S. "Jeff was a sort of person who just blended into the background," high school chum Greg Auton told The Globe and Mail.
January 1996
Delisle joins the reserves as an intelligence operator, serving with 3 Intelligence Company in Halifax. The company conducts intelligence gathering.
May 3, 1997
Delisle marries Jennifer Lee Janes in Lower Sackville, N.S.
Feb. 17, 1998
Delisle files for bankruptcy. Records show he declared liabilities of $18,587 and assets of $1,000. His listed address was on Beaver Bank Road, near his old high school.
March 2001
Delisle enrols as a regular member of the Canadian Forces. According to former neighbours, around this time, the Delisles move into a co-op in Lower Sackville for low-to-moderate-income households.
October 2001
Delisle completes a junior leadership course, obtains the rank of corporal.
2004
At some point in this year, the Delisles' two young daughters are hit by a vehicle a block away from their home. One of them ends up in hospital, and for years, Delisle would pursue the offending driver for money.
November 2006
Delisle is promoted to sergeant.
2006
Delisle begins working at the chief of defence intelligence office in Ottawa. The family takes up residence near the suburb of Orleans, Ont.
2007
Delisle starts a stint at the strategic joint staff division in Ottawa.
A former neighbour of the Delisles later recalls a day in 2007 when she saw Delisle hiding behind a hedge to see what his wife was doing at the home of another man in the neighbourhood.
July 6, 2007
According to the RCMP, Delisle first breaches a trust or communicates safeguarded information. The Mounties have yet to elaborate on the details of this breach.
2008
Delisle enrols in the faculty of arts at Royal Military College in Kingston, majoring in politics. This is part of a university training plan for non-commissioned members of the Canadian Forces.
June 2008
Delisle and his wife sign a separation agreement, which stipulates that Delisle assumes the couple’s debts on three credit cards and a consolidated loan. The Delisles' eldest daughter, Angelica, stays in Gloucester, Ont. with her mother, while Delisle takes custody of the remaining children – daughter Victoria and sons Noah and Jonah – and moves with them to Kingston, Ont.
July 2008
Delisle receives a commission, becomes a naval officer.
May 3, 2010
The Delisles file for divorce. According to the National Post, a number of residents in the Delisles' condo complex said it was an affair that brought their marriage to an end.
September 2010
After graduating with a BA from RMC, Delisle joins the Land Forces Atlantic Area Headquarters in Halifax. Delisle's youngest daughter and two sons accompany him to Nova Scotia.
August 2011
Delisle joins HMCS Trinity, an intelligence facility at the naval dockyard in Halifax that tracks vessels entering and exiting Canadian waters via satellites, drones and underwater devices. The centre is a multinational base with access to secret data from NATO countries.
Jan. 13, 2012
According to the RCMP, this is the date that Delisle last breached a trust or communicated safeguarded information.
Jan. 14-15, 2012
Delisle is arrested by the RCMP. He is charged with breach of trust and communicating safeguarded information to a foreign entity without lawful authority. Delisle is the first person charged under Section 16(1) of the Security of Information Act.
Delisle is led out of a Halifax court on Jan. 16. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)Delisle's neighbours in the Halifax suburb of Bedford told the Halifax Chronicle Herald that after his arrest, the woman and three children he was living with moved out of the family home.
"On Wednesday [Jan. 18], no cars were in the driveway, and blinds covered the windows," reported the Herald's Selena Ross. "Three bed frames and mattresses, including two single-sized children's beds, leaned against the side of the house."
Jan. 17, 2012
Delisle's lawyer, Cameron Keen, attends Delisle's bail hearing in Halifax and requests a delay in order to have more time to prepare, but Delisle does not appear. A hearing is set for Jan. 25. He is being held at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth, N.S.
At an Ottawa news conference, Defence Minister Peter MacKay says the case is a matter of national security because of the charges involved.
Jan. 23, 2012
The military evacuates HMCS Trinity in order to search the naval communications and surveillance centre for evidence of espionage or devices meant to leak information to the outside.
In a separate development, Delisle’s lawyer, Cameron MacKeen, quits the case. He does not explain why, or whether his ties to the Conservative Party and Peter MacKay influenced his decision. Delisle retains his new lawyer, Mike Taylor, on Feb. 27.
March 30, 2012
Judge Barbara Beach denies Delisle bail after hearing evidence from three defence witnesses and one witness for the Crown two days earlier. A publication ban on evidence is in effect.
May 8, 2012
Delisle's case — but not Delisle — has another court date but the case is put over until June 13. Delisle's lawyer said he does yet have full disclosure from the Crown.
Delisle faces two charges of violating a section of the Security of Information Act and one charge of breach of trust under the Criminal Code. The Criminal Code charge can net a five-year prison sentence, and convictions under the Security of Information Act can lead to life in prison.
Share Tools
Top News Headlines
- 'Engine shutdown' forced Air Canada jet to land
- A Japan-bound Air Canada Boeing 777 jet had to make an emergency landing at Toronto's Pearson airport on Monday, after one of its engines failed. more »
- CP Rail union, Tories battle over collective bargaining
- The federal Conservatives defended their plan to force striking Canadian Pacific Railway employees back to work as a way to keep the economy on track, while the union representing 4,800 workers said their collective bargaining rights are under attack. more »
- Bullyproof: One classroom confession
- Chadia became physically scarred after incessant teasing. Her story is one of 150 gathered in a video confessional booth at a Quebec school. more »
- Missing Winnipeg kids found in Mexico are back with mom

- Two Winnipeg children who had been missing for nearly four years are back home, reunited with their mother, after they were located in Mexico late last week. more »
Latest Canada News Headlines
- Wacky weather mix across Canada
- Canadians expecting a lovely spring day are getting more than they bargained for in many parts of the country today as weather forecasts look more like the dog days of summer or, in some cases, a winter freeze. more »
- Family of disabled mom killed in blast relieved at arrest
- The family of a disabled Alberta woman killed by an exploding package say they are relieved someone has been charged in her death. more »
- Missing Winnipeg kids found in Mexico are back with mom

- Two Winnipeg children who had been missing for nearly four years are back home, reunited with their mother, after they were located in Mexico late last week. more »
- Quebec resumes talks with student leaders
- Negotiations between student leaders and Quebec's Liberal government resumed this afternoon in a third attempt to resolve the tuition crisis. more »
The National
The Current
- The Hour Between Dog and Wolf: John Coates May. 28, 2012 4:04 PM A stock-market trader turned neuroscientist maps the biological origins of booms and busts.
- Missing Winnipeg kids found in Mexico are back with mom
- 'Engine shutdown' forced Air Canada jet to land
- Canadian Everest climber's body recovered
- Thunder Bay flooding causes state of emergency
- Vatican denies cardinal suspected in leaks scandal
- Evolution skeptics will soon be silenced by science: Richard Leakey
- CP Rail union, Tories battle over collective bargaining
- Man, woman shot dead in Burnaby restaurant
- Wacky weather mix across Canada

