CSIS can’t collect foreign intelligence

OTTAWA — A court has put the brakes on a CSIS request to collect foreign information, ruling a proposed technique would stray beyond the spy service’s legal mandate.

The service was seeking court warrants so it could gather intelligence in other countries, from a location inside Canada, to help an unnamed federal minister.

The spy service is allowed to collect information about threats to national security anywhere in the world, but there are limitations on gathering intelligence unrelated to security outside Canada.

The redactions mean the proposed CSIS method in question, the information sought and the specific foreign countries are not publicly known.