A number of radicals from Canada -- fewer than 10 -- have slipped across borders to join the fighting in Iraq, CSIS director Jim Judd said during a break at an annual gathering of intelligence experts in Montreal yesterday.
"We know of others who may be planning to," he added. "I don't think there's anything we can do legally to prevent this."
Judd, who said CSIS had informed the U.S. government, made the comments at a conference of the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies.
Contacted by Sun Media last night, a spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office directed inquiries to Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan even though CBC-TV had reported that Prime Minister Paul Martin's first reaction was one of anger when informed of Judd's comments.
Alex Swann, a spokesman for McLellan played down the comments by the spy agency boss, saying Judd alluded to the participation of Canadian radicals in the Iraqi insurgency when he appeared before a special Senate committee reviewing terrorism last March 7.
Judds remarks prompted an immediate response from Conservative foreign affairs critic Stockwell Day, who said the Martin government "must do everything possible to condemn and discourage" such activity. |