Strahl resignation underlines need for total overhaul of spy agency oversight

“However Canadians should never have been put in this situation in the first place. Today’s announcement reinforces the need for a total overhaul of our spy agency oversight mechanisms. Canadians deserve strong, genuinely independent oversight to rein in spy agencies that have grown increasinglysecretive, expensive, and out-of-control. Our current oversight mechanisms are ridiculously inadequate and have completely failed to prevent the kind of reckless behaviour and rampant online spying that’s been revealed recently.”

“We’re spending billions on spy agencies that are undermining democracy here at home, while damaging important relationships overseas. So far the government has refused to answer basic questions about how many Canadians are caught up in their dragnet spying, what information they are storing on us, and which governments they are sharing that information with. The government must come clean so that Canadians can have an informed, democratic debate about how to ensure robust, truly independent oversight of CSEC and CSIS.”

Media Contacts

David Christopher
Communications Manager, OpenMedia.ca
1-778-232-1858
[email protected]

About OpenMedia.ca

OpenMedia.ca is a network of people and organizations working to safeguard the possibilities of the open Internet. We work toward informed and participatory digital policy.

OpenMedia.ca led the successful StopSpying.ca campaign that forced the government to back down on its plans to introduce a costly, invasive, and warrantless online spying law (Bill C-30). Nearly 150,000 Canadians took part in the campaign. To learn more, see this infographic.

On October 10, 2013 OpenMedia.ca collaborated with over 45 major organizations and over a dozen academic experts to form the Protect Our Privacy Coalition, which is the largest pro-privacy coalition in Canadian history. The Coalition is calling for effective legal measures to protect the privacy of every resident of Canada against intrusion by government entities.

OpenMedia.ca has launched a national campaign encouraging Canadians to support a BC Civil Liberties Association legal action which aims to stop illegal spying by challenging the constitutionality of the government’s warrantless collection of data on Canadians’ everyday Internet use.