Standard of Review

When issuing an authorization, the Minister of National Defence, the Minister of Public Safety, or the 
Director of CSIS — the decision makers — must provide conclusions to explain and justify why they 
authorized the types of activities CSE or CSIS would like to conduct. The IC reviews those conclusions 
to determine whether they are reasonable.

While the term “reasonable” is not defined in the IC Act, the CSE Act or the CSIS Act, it is a familiar 
standard in administrative law that is applied by courts when reviewing decisions made by 
governments or decision makers acting on their behalf. The IC's decisions recognize that Parliament 
intended that the IC apply the reasonableness standard as it is applied in administrative law 
jurisprudence. In essence, a reasonable decision is one that is justified, transparent and intelligible. 

In determining whether the decision maker's conclusions supporting a ministerial authorization are 
reasonable, the IC must determine whether they are justified given the facts at issue and the legal 
context. To do so, the IC takes into account the roles and responsibilities of the decision maker, their 
own role as IC, as well as the overall objectives of the IC Act, the CSE Act and the CSIS Act.

The IC focuses on the reasons on which the decision maker has based their conclusions, rather than 
on the IC's own interpretation of the law and the facts. That means the decision maker's reasons must 
not be assessed against a standard of perfection or include the outcome or details that the IC believes 
should have been included.

Applying the reasonableness standard in this way ensures that accountability for the national security 
and intelligence activities subject to IC review remains with the respective Minister or Director of CSIS. 
While the IC is responsible for determining whether the decision maker's justification supporting the 
conclusions is reasonable, the responsibility for allowing CSE or CSIS to conduct the activities in the 
first place belongs to the Minister or Director who issued the authorization.