Canada intelligence operation put diplomats in legal ‘grey zone’ – report

Program - under scrutiny after imprisonment of Canadians in China - said to lack safeguards to protect officers overseas

A controversial intelligence-gathering program run by Canada's foreign affairs ministry operates in a distinctly grey zone", puts its officers at risk and breaches global diplomatic conventions, says a damning watchdog report.

Canada's global security reporting program (GSRP), a critical part of the foreign ministry's security and intelligence footprint overseas, places officers in countries with poor human rights records" including Ethiopia, India, Egypt, Turkey, Israel and China.