A recent decision of the Federal Court has confirmed that, under its existing legislation, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service cannot obtain warrants to collect information or intelligence if the requested warrant has extraterritorial effect.
In a ruling released on July 19, Justice Simon Noël held that existing s. 16 of the CSIS Act, which deals with the authority of CSIS to assist the Minister of National Defence or the Minister of Foreign Affairs to collect information or intelligence relating to the capabilities, intentions or activities of "any foreign states or group of foreign states" in defence of Canada or the conduct of the international affairs of Canada, was limited to acting "within Canada" (or, in French, "dans les limites du Canada").
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