OTTAWA—Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s assertion that Canadian security agencies don’t collect “metadata” has some cybersecurity experts scratching their heads.

That’s because the Communications Security Establishment of Canada (CSEC) is not only legally mandated to collect metadata — data that details the circumstances around electronic communications — but has repeatedly confirmed that they do.

“Unfortunately we live in a ‘black hole’ around CSEC’s activities,” Ron Diebert, director of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, said in an email.

“(It’s) a situation in which secret interpretations of secret laws are the standard, thus leaving citizens with no recourse but to . . . wonder just what is the real meaning of the phrases ‘targeting,’ ‘collection,’ or, in this case, ‘we don’t do that.’ ”

Speaking to a business audience in New York on Wednesday, Harper delivered some of his most detailed comments on CSEC’s activities and electronic surveillance since the agency was thrust into the spotlight in 2013.

Saying he’s not “a big believer” in wide-net electronic surveillance, Harper said Canada doesn’t use metadata for domestic surveillance on homegrown terrorists.

“I’m not a big believer in those kinds of systems, not just because they have a potential to infringe on civil liberty but usually (they) overwhelm you with data in a way that you can’t actually process,” Harper said.

“So the real challenge, I think, is using these tools and using them in a way that you can focus on the people you know are actually going down the wrong path.”

CSEC is , but not to track Canadians — at least not “intentionally” or without authorization from the minister of national defence. As recently as February, Harper’s own national security director defended the practice.

CSEC has been under increased public scrutiny since revelations from whistleblower Edward Snowden about pervasive domestic and foreign spying by the U.S. National Security Agency.

CSEC and the NSA are part of the “Five Eyes” group. The group, including agencies in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia, co-operate closely in monitoring world-wide electronic communications.

Until the talk in New York, Harper had said little about CSEC’s operations and electronic spying; limiting his comments to the fact he’s satisfied the agency is following Canadian laws.

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