Canada PoliticsJournalist claims that Canada’s spy activity extends well beyond Brazil
Canadians will be surprised at the extent of their government's foreign spying activity.
That's the message from Glenn Greenwald, one of the journalists involved in Sunday's television report that suggested Canada's electronic eavesdropping agency, CSEC, conducted a cyber-espionage campaign against Brazil’s mines and energy ministry.
[ Related: Brazil demands explanation from Canada over spying report ]
On Monday, Greenwald participated in a series of interviews with media outlets in Canada.
In an interview with CBC Radio's As it Happens, he said that Brazil isn't Canada's only spy victim.
"There's a lot of other documents about Canadians spying on ordinary citizens, on allied governments on the world and their cooperation with the United States government and the nature of that cooperation," he said referring to data leaked by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
"I think most Canadian citizens will find [the documents] quite surprising if not shocking because it's all done in secret."
In an interview with the Globe and Mail, Greenwald said that Canada is part of the Five Eyes — a top secret spy alliance which includes Canada, the United States, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand.
"There is nothing really unique about what Canada’s doing to Brazil – it’s not like Brazil is the only target for Canada," he said.
"The reason this is so newsworthy is that the U.S. and its allies love to say the only reason they are doing this kind of mass surveillance is they want to stop terrorism and protect national security – but these documents make clear it is industrial and economic competition, it’s about mining resources and minerals."
[ Related: Brazil summons Canadian ambassador over spying allegations ]
Meanwhile, according to Reuters, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff expressed outrage at the espionage reports.
Brazil "will demand explanations from Canada," said Rousseff, via Twitter. Because many Canadian companies are active in Brazil's mining industry, the spying could be a clear case of industrial espionage, Rousseff said.
"The United States and its allies must immediately stop their spying activity once and for all," she tweeted.
Early Tuesday, at the close of APEC summit in Indonesia, Prime Minister Harper said that his government was "reaching out very proactively" to Brazilian officials over the allegations.
"Obviously I’m very concerned about this story and about some of the reports around it, very concerned," Harper said, according to the Canadian Press.
The prime minister added that Canada has checks and balances in place to ensure illegal spying isn't done.
"We do have a commissioner of the Canadian Security Establishment," he said.
"That commissioner does surveillance and audits the organization to make sure its operating within Canadian law. As I say, we are concerned and we will do appropriate followup."
(Photo courtesy of Reuters)
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