Canadian intelligence caught spying on lawyer-client communications

CSIS logo

A Canadian Federal Court Judge has ordered the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to stop intercepting private calls between arrested terrorism suspects and their Canadian lawyers. Judge Carolyn Layden-Stevenson issued the order after a “senior [CSIS] agent” recently revealed during a closed door hearing in Ottawa that the spy agency was conducting the intercepts “on behalf of the Canada Border Services Agency”. The interception was done “to ensure the suspects don’t breach stringent bail conditions”, the CSIS agent said. Judge Layden-Stevenson did not agree with the CSIS reasoning. In calling for the wiretaps to end, she argued that “solicitor-client privilege is a fundamental principle of [Canadian] justice”. Barbara Jackman, one of the lawyers defending the arrested terrorism suspects, said “it would never have occurred to her the government would violate such an important legal principle” and added she was “not sure CSIS could now be trusted”. [IA]