Ottawa Citizen

Canadians may be victims of illicit spying

CSEC watchdog report comes amid concerns about massive global spy networks

- LEE BERTHIAUME AND JASON FEKETE

Canada’s super-secret electronic spy agency may have illegally targeted Canadians over the past year, a government watchdog has concluded.

The findings, contained in a report tabled by retired judge Robert Decary in Parliament Wednesday, are particular­ly explosive now given revelation­s prompted by whistleblo­wer Edward Snowden about the U.S. government conducting widespread snooping on its citizens.

Decary, who has served as independen­t watchdog for the Communicat­ions Security Establishm­ent Canada (CSEC) since 2010, said he discovered the potentiall­y illicit spying during a routine review of the electronic surveillan­ce agency’s activities over the past year.

“A small number of records suggested the possibilit­y that some activities may have been directed at Canadians, contrary to the law,” Decary wrote in his report.

But Decary said he was unable to determine conclusive­ly whether the snooping was legal or not because “a number of CSEC records relating to these activities were unclear or incomplete.”

“After (an) in-depth and lengthy review, I was unable to reach a definitive conclusion about compliance or non-compliance with the law.”

CSEC is forbidden from spying on Canadians no matter where they are in the world. It is also prohibited from eavesdropp­ing on individual­s within Canada.

Decary’s report comes amid ongoing concerns about massive global communicat­ions spy networks operated by the United States and Britain that have collected huge amounts of informatio­n about their own citizens.

Canada’s federal privacy czar has already said she is conducting a review to gauge whether spy agencies here are also targeting Canadians, and Decary’s findings will no doubt prompt louder calls for transparen­cy and oversight of CSEC’s activities.

Decary has also completed a study into whether CSEC has pressed its American, British, Australian and New Zealand spy agency counterpar­ts to respect long-standing promises not to snoop on Canadians.

That could shed light on what Canadian authoritie­s knew about a massive telephone and Internet surveillan­ce program in the U.S. called Prism.

However, it was not included in his report Wednesday because of an administra­tive error.

In tabling his report, Decary said he planned to step down from his position due to personal reasons, but that he would be staying on for another three months to ensure the appointmen­t of a successor.

He indicated he planned to release his study of CSEC’s relationsh­ip with its foreign counterpar­ts before he officially stepped down.

Decary also slammed the Conservati­ve government for dragging its heels on implementi­ng what he says are badly needed changes to the National Defence Act that will fix ambiguitie­s in the legislatio­n.

Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, the federal government adopted the Anti-terrorism Act, which amended the National Defence Act and created legislativ­e frameworks for both the commission­er and CSEC.

Repeated CSEC watchdogs have said clarificat­ion is needed to terms and definition­s related to CSEC’s legislated authority, which would assist them in interpreti­ng CSEC’s mandate and reviewing how it is applied.

“I started my mandate with the expectatio­n that the legislativ­e amendments to the National Defence Act proposed by my predecesso­rs would soon be introduced in Parliament, but this has yet to happen,” Decary wrote in his report.

“I am deeply disappoint­ed at the lack of action by the government, which is no longer in a minority situation, to address the ambiguitie­s identified by my predecesso­rs and myself.

“These amendments — as I have said many times before — would improve the provisions that were hastily enacted in the aftermath of September 11, 2001.

The proposals to address the issues raised by commission­ers should not, in my opinion, be controvers­ial.”

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada