Canada’s spy agency didn’t report potentially unlawful activity to feds: watchdog

Canada’s domestic intelligence agency has failed to report their employees’ potentially unlawful activity and Charter violations, a newly-released watchdog report warns.

Of the 22 instances in which the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) admitted “non-compliance” with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 2023-24, none were formally reported to the federal public safety minister.

It is not publicly known what potential Charter violations CSIS undertook that year, or why the agency neglected the law that requires the public safety minister, attorney general and the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) to be notified of such activities.

But in a report stamped top secret and released under access to information law this week, NSIRA warned that the situation “may constitute a non-compliance with the law.”

“Reporting unlawful activity to the minister is a fundamental accountability mechanism in the CSIS Act,” NSIRA’s 2024 annual report stated.

While CSIS did provide a summary listing of “unlawful activity” to the minister in former director David Vigneault’s 2023-24 classified annual report to the minister, NSIRA said the listing “does not provide sufficient detail to allow the minister to understand the context of the unlawful activity or to assess its severity.”

“What we have with CSIS is a series of new authorities and powers, which are significant and can be very intrusive. The justification for continuing to give those sorts of powers to CSIS … was the accountability and some transparency mechanisms,” said Michael Nesbitt, an associate dean at the University of Calgary’s law school who researches national security laws.

“In this case, that seems to have collapsed.”

CSIS did not immediately respond to Global News’ questions about the review agency’s findings. But NSIRA noted that for years, CSIS took a narrow view on what kind of unlawful activity had to be reported to the government.

The CSIS Act requires the director to report to the public safety minister if they believe an employee “may … have acted unlawfully” in the performance of their duties. According to NSIRA, CSIS has for years interpreted that to mean the director only has to report an incident if, in their opinion, the employee committed a “prosecutable offence.”

Under this interpretation, CSIS could only provide NSIRA evidence of three instances of potentially unlawful activity they reported to the minister since 2017.

NSIRA’s report noted that the current CSIS director, Daniel Rogers, approved a memorandum in 2025 that stated the agency should inform the government whenever it is believed unlawful activity occurred, even if it doesn’t consider the activity a prosecutable offence.

NSIRA said it would continue to monitor the situation to ensure that’s actually being done.

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree’s office did not answer when repeatedly asked how many times CSIS had reported potentially unlawful activity to him since 2025, when Rogers issued his memorandum.

But in a statement to Global News, the minister’s office talked about the importance of transparency.

“Robust, timely, and transparent reporting is essential to ensuring that Canada’s national security agencies operate in full compliance with the law and respect the rights and freedoms of Canadians,” wrote Simon Lafortune, a spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, in a statement to Global News.

“The minister expects CSIS to fully implement NSIRA’s recommendations and to continue enhancing its reporting practices.”