CSIS sets up international secret-swapping forum on “terrorist travel”

OTTAWA — A newly released memo says the Canadian Security Intelligence Service has set up a “multilateral forum of trusted partners” to share information on suspected extremists travelling abroad — a group that extends beyond the customary Five Eyes spy network.

In the memo, Canada’s spy agency also expresses concern about challenges it faces in going further to build relationships with “non-traditional partners.”

Amnesty International Canada says the September CSIS memo evokes the kind of information-sharing that led to the overseas torture of four Arab-Canadians following the 9/11 attacks.

The memo, obtained under the Access to Information Act, was drafted just weeks before a jihadi-inspired gunman fatally shot a soldier at the National War Memorial and stormed Parliament Hill.

Those events prompted introduction of sweeping new security legislation to crack down on homegrown extremists, including those intent on heading abroad to join foreign battles.

CSIS fears extremists who head to Syria or Iraq may return to Canada to wage attacks.

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The Canadian Press