OTTAWA -- A former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer involved in counter-intelligence was arrested on charges he passed secret information to Soviet agents more than 25 years ago, the police force said Wednesday.
The police said in a statement James Douglas Finley Morrison -- who had once used the code name 'Long Knife' in his espionage work -- was arrested Tuesday in Prince Rupert, British Columbia.
He was to appear before a justice of the peace in Ottawa Thursday for a bail hearing, an aide to Attorney General Mark MacGuigan said.
According to an order Macguigan signed June 1, Morrison, 67, spied for the Soviets between April 1, 1955, and Jan. 31, 1958.
Although the government knew about the case since 1977, an aide said 'sufficient evidence to warrant institution of proceedings first came to the attention of the minister within the last month.'
The charges alleged Morrison 'unlawfully communicated to another person, or persons, including Nicolai Ostrovsky and Rem Krassilnikov, agents of a foreign power, namely the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, secret information.'
Krassilnikov at the time was the third secretary in the Soviet Embassy. Ostrovsky was named in John Sawatsky's book 'For Services Rendered' as a Soviet spy. Sawatsky, a former journalist, is the author of several books on Canadian intelligence.
Morrison, who was recruited into the security service in 1950 and left in 1958, is also charged with passing secrets he had obtained while a member of the RCMP and with conspiring with Ostrovsky and Krassilnikov to collect state secrets.
The 'Long Knife' case came to public attention last year after publication of 'For Services Rendered.'
Solicitor General Robert Kaplan said in the House of Commons the government was first informed of the case in 1977 by the RCMP. 'At that time,' he said, 'they were advised there was insufficient evidence to found a prosecution either under the Official Secrets Act or under the Criminal Code.'
Sawatsky's book said 'Long Knife' had worked in counter-intelligence, assigned to watch activities of Soviet personnel in Canada. He was involved in the case of a Soviet spy, code-named Gideon, who was recruited by Canadian intelligence to act as a double agent.
Gideon returned to Moscow and was believed to have been executed.
Morrison was transferred from Ottawa to Winnipeg, where he was living when he left the force.
At the time of his arrest, Morrison was working as a safety coordinator for Dillingham Corp. Canada Ltd., a construction firm involved in building a new coal terminal at Ridley island near Prince Rupert.