OTTAWA—New figures show Canada has turfed out five spies in the past decade from a surprising source country — its best friend and ally, the United States.

From 2004 to 2014 Ottawa sent back to the U.S. five of a total of 21 of those barred from Canada “on security grounds for engaging in an act of espionage that is against Canada or that is contrary to Canada’s interests,” according to a document produced by Canada Border Services Agency.

It’s not clear whether the espionage was by foreign government agents or whether it was industrial espionage — that is, spying to obtain state secrets or spying that targeted intellectual property or corporate secrets.

A document released under the Access to Information law shows the suspected spies were permanent residents or foreign nationals deemed inadmissible on security grounds, but does not break down them down by citizenship. Rather, it indicates the country to which the spies were sent back to.

Still, the fact that the U.S. is the origin of the most espionage cases is surprising, especially given the emphasis put by federal politicians — including two former CSIS directors, one of whom is now national security advisor to Prime Minister Stephen Harper — on China as a suspected source of espionage.

The U.S. actually tops this list, followed by China, India and Sweden with two expulsions each in 10 years.

The only two ousters of suspected spies to China are listed in 2014, with no earlier expulsion for the nine years prior.

Russia accounts for just one expulsion — in 2004 — in the decade covered by the search.

In a joint project, the Toronto Star and La Presse sought further information from CBSA, the U.S. embassy, former American ambassadors, former diplomats, and Canadian officials, but none shed any light on the specifics of any case.

Wendy Atkin, a media spokesperson for Canada’s border agency, declined to provide any details on specific cases but in a written statement clarified that Canada may not have been the sole target of the espionage.

The Canadian government acts to declare someone inadmissible on security grounds in cases where the espionage is targeting not just Canada, but its allies like the United States, in which case it is deemed contrary to Canada’s interests, Atkin said.

Spies were sent back to the United States during the previous Republican administration of then-president George W. Bush as well as under the current Democrat Administration of President Barack Obama. Evictions were ordered under the governments of then-Liberal prime minister Paul Martin and Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

“We have long been concerned with espionage,” CSIS director Michel Coulombe told a Senate committee on Feb. 3, 2014.

“Our industrial capabilities, rich natural resources and access to key allies make Canada an attractive target for hostile actors. What is new, however, is the sheer breadth of today’s targets and the use of cyber attacks, which are efficient, cost-effective and most importantly, deniable, providing anonymity for their perpetrators.”

“Canada’s economic and strategic interests and assets are also susceptible to the threat of espionage, interference and the transfer of technologies. Corporate acquisitions by foreign entities, particularly when state-owned, can also pose risks, and CSIS provides advice to the government in such cases in accordance with the CSIS Act.”

Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former senior CSIS intelligence manager and now head of the Northgate Group, said to many Canadians “these figures will hit like a sledgehammer in the forehead. People do not expect that our neighbours spying on us. These are our friends, our friends; they can not do that.”

However, Juneau-Katsuya recalled that in his time at CSIS, from 1984-2000, the agency identified three or four American spies active on Canadian soil. “FBI or CIA who had come to do operations here but without the Canadian government’s consent,” he said in an interview.

“The problem when we speak of Americans, it’s that they are also our close allies,” he said. He suggested that Canadian businesses, executives and politicians do not have their guard up when approached by Americans in the way as when approached by a Russian or Chinese national.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Juneau-Katsuya says Canada is a target for espionage from many sources, because it is “a knowledge-based economy. We do a lot of research. On top of that, we are seated at the big table of all the big international organizations like the G20, the G8, NORAD, NATO, and the United Nations. We don’t only have our secrets but we also have the secrets of our friends to protect. At the same time, the government does very little to sensitize business leaders to these dangers,” he added.

Juneau-Katsuya is convinced it is only the “tip of the iceberg for all the countries who are named” on the list. He added espionage could mean state-sponsored activity, or company-versus-company spying, organized crime-backed theft of intellectual property, hacking by activist groups like Anonymous, or by disgruntled employees within companies.

Since the 9/11 attacks against the U.S., the majority of CSIS resources have been focused on the fight against terrorism, with espionage falling down on the priority list, he suggested.

Certainly the new statistics do not reflect all known cases of foreign spying on Canadian soil. They refer specifically to section 34(1)(a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, and not other sections that allow for the eviction of alleged spies.

For example, there is no listing for the ouster of a suspected Russian spy who went by the fake name of Paul William Hampel in November 2006.

He was detained by Canadian authorities under a security certificate — a kind of special immigration deportation warrant used against individuals deemed a security threat in Canada.

The case collapsed when the man agreed not to contest his deportation back to Russia.

Nor do the statistics refer to Canadians who spy for other countries, such as Jeffrey Paul Delisle, the former Canadian naval officer who pleaded guilty in October 2012 to spying for Russia and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The figures come as news emerged that Canada on Sunday deported American Matt de Hart, the alleged Anonymous hacker, to the U.S. where he is wanted as a national security whistleblower under their espionage laws.

Paul Frazer, a Washington-based consultant and former Canadian diplomat who was posted to Washington from 1995-2001 said in an interview the overall numbers were surprising, as was the lack of public statement about any of the evictions.

He said it would be useful to know whether they were cases of industrial or government-to-government espionage, and wondered whether there were any arrests, charges or convictions. But he suggested governments may choose to keep certain suspected spying cases — such as in the diplomatic community — quiet in order to avoid a tit-for-tat escalation of evictions.

That happened when Frazer was a ministerial staffer in the late 1980s to then-External Affairs Minister Joe Clark. Canada evicted eight Soviet officials and barred nine others for allegedly seeking access to classified American naval technology here.

Frazer said the numbers of those evicted for espionage are small compared to a much larger number that Canada regularly deems inadmissible for reasons of “criminality.”

Indeed, another document provided by the CBSA shows the United States is by far and away the country to which Canada turns back the most number of people deemed inadmissible for reasons of “criminality.”

From 2004-2014, Canada turned back thousands of American criminals each year, from a high of 3,602 in 2007 to a low of 2,332 in 2014. That document does list people by citizenship.

And no other country even comes close to the Americans. Mexico is next, with numbers ranging from 19 to 145 over the decade. The United Kingdom, India, Jamaica, Phillipines, Poland, and South Korea all count only double-digit numbers of their citizens turned back as criminals in each year. (The category of those whose citizenship is “unknown” is the highest, ranging from 13,000 to 19,000 in any given year.)

Correction – March 3, 2015: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said CSIS director Michel Coulombe expressed concerns about espionage to a Senate committee last month.

Read more about: