OTTAWA – A timeline of events in the case of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s illegal data analysis:

2005: A CSIS task force recommends the spy service retain all data collected from investigations and warrants in order to exploit that information in ongoing and future investigations through a technological program.

April 2006: CSIS sets up the Operational Data Analysis Centre (ODAC), a powerful program that processes metadata — the data trails associated with calls and messages, but not the actual content — to glean otherwise unknowable insights.

2008: The CSIS annual public report for 2007-08 says the ODAC provides “support to the service’s operational branches by performing advanced analysis of data that is collected on subjects of investigation.”

December 2011: Counsel for CSIS make an indirect allusion to the program, but do not name or describe it, during a Federal Court proceeding.

January 2016: Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale tables the 2014-15 annual report of the Security Intelligence Review Committee, the watchdog over CSIS. In reading it, Federal Court Justice Simon Noel understands for the first time that the service is retaining information collected through judicial warrants about people who were not actual targets of investigations. Noel directs CSIS to provide information at coming hearings concerning CSIS retention and use of metadata gathered through warrants.

October 2016: In his ruling, Noel says CSIS violated the law by keeping potentially revealing metadata about people who were not under investigation over a 10-year period. Goodale receives a preliminary copy of the highly critical ruling. He immediately asks the intelligence review committee to supervise management of the data and ensure full compliance with the judgment.

November 2016: A redacted version of the ruling is made public. CSIS says it has halted all access to, and analysis of, the data in question while it thoroughly reviews the court decision. Goodale says he expects CSIS to follow the court ruling.

(Sources: Federal Court of Canada, CSIS)