INSTRUCTIONS ON ANTI-TERROR LAWS KEPT SECRET
ANTI-TERROR LAWS
OTTAWA • The federal government has issued guidance to Canada’s spy agency on using contentious new anti-terrorism laws — but most of the instructions won’t be made public.
Many passages of the ministerial direction to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, issued last July, were withheld from release due to provisions of the Access to Information Act concerning security, internal deliberations and cabinet confidences.
The office of Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said ministerial offices are not involved in the processing of access requests, nor should they be.
But the federal decision to keep much of the ministerial direction under wraps did nothing to reassure those with concerns about C-51, the omnibus security bill that received royal assent early last summer.
The legislation gave CSIS the power to actively disrupt suspected terrorist plots, even allowing the spy service to take actions that breach the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as long as a judge approves.
“One of our greatest concerns with C-51 is that CSIS has been given extraordinary new powers, including the power to break the law and violate the Constitution,” said Josh Paterson, executive director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association.
“While some details need to remain secret, it’s troubling that so much of the minister’s high- level, general direction to CSIS on how the agency should interpret its new powers is blacked out. The government should be more transparent about the direction it is giving our spy agencies as to how they should be accountable.”
Elements of the direction that were released to The Canadian Press mention fundamental principles CSIS must follow, including respect for the rule of law and the use of operational methods “reasonable and proportional” to the threat.
The direction also stresses the fair treatment of human sources who help CSIS and says the spy service’s activities abroad must respect Canada’s foreign policy interests.
However, the details on how all this must be done have been stripped out of the direction.