Special Report on the Lawful Access to Communications by Security and Intelligence Organizations

The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians

Special Report on the Lawful Access to Communications by Security and Intelligence Organizations

September 2025

CP104-7/2025E-PDF
ISBN 978-0-660-77736-8

P.O. Box 8015, Station T, Ottawa, Canada, K1G 5A6
www.nsicop-cpsnr.ca

© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, 2025.
All rights reserved.

Patricia Lattanzio, M.P.
Chair

Submitted to the Prime Minister on March 4, 2025

Revised version tabled in Parliament in September 2025

Revisions

Consistent with subsection 21(2) of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians Act (NSICOP Act), the Committee may submit a special report to the Prime Minister and the ministers concerned on any matter related to its mandate. Consistent with subsection 21(5) of the NSICOP Act, the Prime Minister may, after consulting the Chair of the Committee, direct the Committee to submit to him or her a revised version of the report that does not contain information the Prime Minister believes the disclosure of which would be injurious to national security, national defence or international relations or is information that is protected by solicitor-client privilege.

This document is a revised version of the Special Report provided to the Prime Minister. At that time, the document was classified as “Top Secret//Special Intelligence//Canadian Eyes Only//Law Enforcement Sensitive.” Revisions were made to remove information the disclosure of which the Prime Minister believed would be injurious to national security, national defence or international relations or which constitutes solicitor-client privilege. Where information can simply be removed without affecting the readability of the document, the Committee notes the removal with three asterisks (***) in the text of this document. Where information could not simply be removed without affecting the readability of the document, the Committee revises the document to summarize the information that was removed. Those sections are marked with three asterisks at the beginning and the end of the summary, and the summary is enclosed by square brackets (see example below).

Example: [*** Revised sections are marked with three asterisks at the beginning and the end of the sentence, and the summary is enclosed by square brackets. ***]

The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians
44th Parliament

  • Ms. Patricia Lattanzio, M.P., Chair
  • Mr. Stéphane Bergeron, M.P.
  • Mr. Don Davies, M.P.
  • The Honourable Patricia Duncan, Senator
  • Mr. Darren Fisher, M.P. (member until December 20, 2024)
  • Ms. Iqra Khalid, M.P. (member until September 17, 2023)
  • The Honourable Marty Klyne, Senator
  • The Honourable Frances Lankin, P.C., C.M., Senator (member until October 20, 2024)
  • Mr. James Maloney, M.P. (member until September 17, 2023)
  • The Honourable David J. McGuinty, P.C., M.P. (Chair from November 6, 2017 to December 20, 2024)
  • Mr. Rob Morrison, M.P.
  • Mr. Alex Ruff, M.S.C., C.D., M.P.
  • Ms. Brenda Shanahan, M.P.

Table of Contents