Feds abruptly drop appeal of whether CSIS needs warrant for overseas spying
OTTAWA – The federal government has abandoned its high-profile appeal to the Supreme Court on overseas spying by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
The court agreed to take the case after federal lawyers argued for guidance on whether CSIS needed a warrant to seek allied help in spying on Canadians abroad.
They said the spy service was left in the dark as to when a judge’s approval was required to monitor suspected Canadian extremists in other countries.
In a recent letter to the Supreme Court, federal lawyer Robert Frater notes Parliament has since enacted changes to the judicial warrant scheme governing CSIS.
Frater says given the significant changes and CSIS’s “pressing need” to seek warrants, federal lawyers will instead focus their energies on the new system.
As a result, he says, it is less important to seek the Supreme Court’s guidance on the overseas spying issue at this time.
