OTTAWA—The federal watchdog of Canada’s top-secret electronic spy agency has given the Communications Security Establishment a clean report card with a few recommendations for improvement.

In his first report, Jean-Pierre Plouffe, the retired military judge who currently serves as Commissioner of the Communications Security Establishment, sets out to allay Canadian fears following the Edward Snowden leaks about the global activities of the National Security Agency, CSEC’s partner in the U.S.

Plouffe says he was “concerned” media coverage raised unfounded fears that Canada’s foreign signals-gathering agency was illegally intercepting the communications of Canadian citizens, either directly or through the NSA.

CSEC is legally mandated to tap into all kinds of electronic communications world-wide to protect Canadian interests against terrorism, espionage, cyber attacks, kidnappings of Canadians abroad, or attacks on Canadian embassies — but barred from directly targeting Canadians here or abroad.

“In collecting this intelligence, it is unavoidable that CSEC will obtain some information about Canadians,” Plouffe says

But he rebutted the agency’s critics, saying he and a staff of 11 had concluded that “all of the activities of CSEC reviewed in 2013-14 complied with the law.”

Defence Minister Rob Nicholson, the minister responsible for CSEC, used the report to signal that the Conservative government has rejected any notion of giving Parliament more oversight powers over CSEC.

He said the report “confirms the benefits of having an independent watchdog provide comprehensive and impartial oversight of CSEC, as is currently the case, as opposed to giving politicians greater involvement in matters of national security operations.”

Nicholson said the government agrees with “each of his recommendations and CSEC is currently working to implement them.”

Since 2001 the office of the watchdog has repeatedly asked for legislative clarifications of CSEC’s powers. The government agreed in 2007 to make the legislative changes but has yet to do so.

Nevertheless, he made 10 more recommendations “to promote compliance, strengthen privacy protection & support” government in decision-making and control of CSEC.

He called for a new ministerial directive to boost the protection of information about Canadians that is shared with Canada’s “Five Eyes” partners — the U.S., U.K., Australia and New Zealand.

In addition, Plouffe wants CSEC to report regularly to the government on information it acquires about Canadians from its partners, though in theory none is supposed to be spying on each other’s respective citizens or on each other’s respective territories.

Better reporting would better safeguard Canadians’ privacy and “support the minister of national defence in his decision-making and control of CSEC,” said Plouffe.

Plouffe says CSEC’s use of the “metadata” — currently authorized by ministerial directive — “remains fundamental to CSEC’s mandated activities.” Metadata includes such information as a telephone number, an email or an IP (Internet protocol) address, network and location information, but excludes the actual content of a phone call or email.

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As early as 2008, metadata was an issue. Plouffe says CSEC had to suspend “certain activities involving information about Canadians and made significant changes to policies and practices before restarting those activities,” and the watchdog office was reviewing its use of metadata even before the Snowden leaks in June 2013.

He said he will report the findings next year.

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