OTTAWA — Canadian members of Parliament plan to study when and why the national police force uses spyware to hack mobile devices as part of its surveillance operations.
The House of Commons ethics committee voted on Tuesday to hear from Royal Canadian Mounted Police officials, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino and the current and former privacy commissioners about the RCMP’s use of the powerful software.
“This spyware … has huge, sweeping impacts upon the privacy of Canadians, and we want to ensure that Charter rights have been protected,” Conservative ethics critic James Bezan told the committee.
The MPs also want to know whether the RCMP is using controversial Pegasus spyware, which has been used to hack smartphones belonging to journalists and human rights activists. Committee hearings will take place over two days in August.
Last month, POLITICO reported that the RCMP had described for the first time how it uses spyware to infiltrate mobile devices. The police force can use the software to collect text messages, emails, photos, videos and financial records and can remotely turn on a device’s camera and microphone.
The RCMP says the technology is used only in the most serious cases, including national security and organized crime investigations, and always with a warrant. It acknowledges using spyware in 10 investigations from 2018 to 2020.
The information was contained in documents tabled in the House of Commons in June.
Critics say there needs to be a public discussion about the use of spyware by law enforcement, including whether and how it should be limited. When the information was made public, the RCMP had not consulted the federal privacy commissioner about spyware, despite already having used it for several years.
“I believe the RCMP has a really problematic culture that doesn't respect civilian oversight,” NDP ethics critic Matthew Green told POLITICO in a recent interview. “They cannot be allowed to operate rogue.”
The motion passed by the ethics committee Tuesday, proposed by Bloc Québécois ethics critic René Villemure, asks the RCMP to provide a list of warrants authorizing the use of spyware, “as well as the scope of the warrants and the reasons for the monitoring.”
The committee is also keen to know who provides the technology the RCMP is using. Last year, a collaborative investigation called the Pegasus Project revealed that spyware licensed by Israeli firm NSO Group to governments for tracking criminals was also used to hack smartphones belonging to journalists and human rights activists.
Last November, NSO Group was placed on a blacklist by the U.S. Commerce Department for “engaging in activities that are contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.”
The ethics committee wants to know the name of the spyware being used by the RCMP and the terms and conditions of its use.
Responding to questions from POLITICO, the police force refused to confirm or deny whether it uses Pegasus spyware. Instead, a spokesperson said the RCMP “engages in strategic partnerships with other law enforcement entities, domestically and internationally.”
“Before entering into a partnership with any external body, be it domestic or international law enforcement, other government agency, or corporate entity, the RCMP carefully considers and ensures that such partnerships are in line with fundamental Canadian values and interests,” the spokesperson said.
The Liberals tried to limit the scope of the committee’s study on Tuesday, including by removing Mendicino from the witness list. But Villemure argued it was important to hear what the minister knows about the program.
In response to questions from POLITICO last month about whether the minister believes the use of spyware requires specific government regulation, a spokesperson for Mendicino said the government is “committed to ensuring that any new tools and technologies are only implemented in [a] manner that never compromises the rights of Canadians.”
In an interview with POLITICO, Bezan said he also wants to know how widespread the use of spyware is in Canada, whether by law enforcement or national security agencies.
POLITICO has asked nine major police agencies across Canada about whether they use spyware, but most either failed to respond or refused to answer. Only the Ottawa Police Service confirmed that it does not use such technology.
The Montreal police, in contrast, said they could not answer the question “in order not to publicize information that could benefit criminal organizations and individuals.”
