The Attorney General of Canada filed a Notice of Intent to Defend in the CSIS action, the Crown’s first filing in the case. Under Rule 18.01 that filing extended the Defence deadline to 30 days from service of the claim, which occurred on 12 August 2020. The Statement of Defence was delivered nearly a year later, on 1 October 2021.
Related: Statement of Claim Against CSIS · Statement of Defence
This filing marked the Government of Canada’s formal entry into the legal proceedings and confirmed that it would not default on the action, but would instead contest the serious allegations made against Canada’s intelligence agency.
The 26 October 2020 Notice
Read the full Notice of Intent to Defend here:
Place in the Equibit Lawsuit
The Notice of Intent to Defend is the first Crown filing in Court File No. CV-20-00645492-0000. It is not a defence. The defence, and the year-plus gap that followed this notice, is Attorney General of Canada Finally Files Statement of Defence. The claim is Statement of Claim Against CSIS.
The filing came approximately two months after Equibit served its Statement of Claim. In it, the Attorney General signaled its intention to defend the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) against allegations of unlawful surveillance, technical sabotage, use of human intelligence assets, and coordinated interference targeting a legitimate Canadian technology company.
This response was expected, but its timing and content set the tone for what has become a protracted and procedurally complex legal battle. Since then, the case has seen significant delays, periods of default by the government, and unusual procedural developments — all of which are documented on this site.
The Broader Picture
The Attorney General’s decision to defend CSIS raises important questions:
- Will Canada’s intelligence agencies be held accountable for alleged overreach and unlawful targeting of Canadian citizens and innovators?
- Is “national security” being used as a shield to avoid scrutiny of potentially illegal conduct?
- Does the rule of law apply equally when the state itself is the defendant?
Equibit Group maintains that the evidence will ultimately speak for itself. The public documentation campaign at equibitlawsuit.com was launched precisely to ensure the full record remains transparent and cannot be buried through procedural delays or institutional opacity.
