By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA, June 16 (Reuters) - Canada will set up a committee of legislators to oversee security and intelligence agencies and ensure their work does not infringe upon civil liberties, a top official said on Thursday.
The Liberal government is acting in the wake of global concerns about the reach of security agencies. Former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden leaked details about mass surveillance by British and U.S spies in 2013.
"We need to make sure our security and intelligence agencies are doing everything that is necessary and appropriate to keep Canadians safe and ... are conducting themselves in a way that safeguards the rights and freedoms of Canadians," said Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale.
Canada is the only one of the so-called Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network to lack such a parliamentary review committee. The other members are Britain, the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
Most Canadian agencies have small individual review bodies, which critics complain are impotent and can only look at old cases. Goodale told reporters the new nine-person committee would have robust powers to probe any file it wanted, including active ones.
"If this committee makes it known in the public domain that they are unhappy with what they have seen ... (that) will quite frankly set off alarm bells right across the country," he said.
The government would be able to stop a particular review if it felt national security could be endangered.
Complaints about the flaws of Canada's existing review system spiked in 2015, when the previous Conservative government introduced tough anti-terror legislation and brushed off calls for more comprehensive oversight. who is in overall charge of law enforcement, said the new committee would have the power to monitor how the 2015 law was being implemented.
Legislation setting up the new committee should be adopted later this year, he added. The nine parliamentarians will be chosen by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and must take a life-long vow of secrecy.