U.S. spied on G-8, G-20 in Toronto, with Canada’s blessing: report

Once again, Edward Snowden documents have struck, revealing this time that the United States — with Canada’s permission — sent National Security Agency spies to the G-8 and G-20 summits in Ontario in 2010.

The documents from the former NSA contractor released late Wednesday reported the NSA used the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa as spy headquarters for almost a week — the same time period that President Obama and other leading heads of state attended crucial summit discussions in June of 2010, The Associated Press said.

What the NSA spied upon is not known.

CBC said the documents didn’t make clear the mission of the NSA, but that plans nonetheless went forth “closely coordinated with the Canadian partner.”

So far, reaction has been mild.

“We do not comment on operational matters related to national security,” said Jason MacDonald, a spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in the AP report. And a spokesman for the Canadian equivalent of the NSA, with the Communications Security Establishment Canada, declined to comment on any operational matters.

“Under the law, CSEC does not target Canadians anywhere or any person in Canada through its foreign intelligence activities,” said Lauri Sullivan, of the CSEC, in the AP report. “CSEC cannot ask our international partners to act in a way that circumvents Canadian laws.”

A spokesman for the Canadian civil rights group OpenMedia.ca, Steve Anderson, raised objections, however, saying in the AP report that the revelations were “sure to cause huge damage to Canada’s relationships with our other G20 partners.”