OTTAWA - The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) has called for an independent public inquiry into illegal activities by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and Canada Post Corporation’s Security and Investigation Branch. The Union was responding to the revelations contained in the new book Covert Entry: Spies, Lies and Crimes inside Canada’s Secret Service published today.

"This new information confirms longstanding allegations of appalling violations of rights and freedoms by a powerful and apparently unaccountable agency," said Deborah Bourque, CUPW National President. "All Canadians should be concerned that their civil liberties and democratic rights are at risk."

Covert Entry details illegal interception of mail, planting of a listening device and theft of crown keys by an agent on the CSIS payroll. The book also provides chapter and verse on illegal spying by Canada Post Corporation’s own Security operatives. As part of a full-fledged espionage operation approved by top management, they gathered information on the "past, present and future" of union leaders through illicitly obtained school and banking records and personal information such as divorce proceedings and accusations of infidelity.

John Farrell, a former Canada Post security employee, admits to breaking into union leaders’ cars and going through their garbage in search of embarrassing personal information. He is now a Toronto teacher.

The author notes that "Canada Post’s quest for intelligence about union leaders was simply insatiable" leading agents to open mail, search through garbage bags and break into private cars - all activities in violation of the Privacy Act.

"These revelations are not a huge surprise," said Bourque. Evidence of illegal RCMP, CSIS and Canada Post activities has accumulated over more than twenty years. This includes the MacDonald Commission’s report on the dirty tricks employed by the Mounties in the 1970s, an independent security firm’s confirmation of electronic surveillance of CUPW offices during the 1986 postal strike and the media exposé of the Grant Bristow affair in 1994. But, she added, "we are stunned by the extensive evidence of collusion between Canada Post Corporation and CSIS".

"If these agencies can employ illegal tactics against CUPW it is only a matter of time before they use them against other lawful organizations. Nothing short of a full independent public inquiry can put to rest people’s legitimate fears about the threat posed to their fundamental democratic rights," concluded Jean-Claude Parrot, former Vice-President of the Canadian Labour Congress.