By Canadian Press

Canada’s spy service once again admonished by court over duty of candour

Aug 31, 2021 | 1:45 PM

OTTAWA — A federal judge blames “a combination of institutional and systemic negligence” for the latest instance of Canada’s spy service failing to be sufficiently forthcoming about applications for judicial warrants to conduct investigations.

In a decision made public today, Federal Court Justice Henry Brown says the Canadian Security Intelligence Service breached the duty of candour it owed to the Court in certain 2018 warrant applications.

Brown found CSIS failed to disclose that human source information relied upon to obtain the warrants might have flowed from potentially illegal activities.

He also faulted the spy service for not revealing information that had the potential to reflect adversely on the reliability and credibility of the human sources.

Even so, the judge concluded the newly available information did not justify setting the warrants aside.

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The decision is the latest of several in recent years where the court has admonished CSIS for not disclosing important information when applying for warrants.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 31, 2021.

The Canadian Press