OTTAWA — Canada’s spy chief identified a French hostage released in Mali as a “secret agent” even though the man steadfastly denied working for France’s foreign intelligence service.
Canadian Security Intelligence Service director Dick Fadden’s remarks to a gathering of military and security officials could raise new questions about his judgment following a firestorm of controversy surrounding his allegations of foreign influence over Canadian politicians.
Though he doesn’t mention him by name, Fadden clearly refers to kidnapped aid worker Pierre Camatte during the speech to the Royal Canadian Military Institute.
A north African offshoot of al-Qaida released Camatte, 61, in late February when Mali freed four members of the militant organization.
Camatte, who worked for a group that fights malaria, was snatched from his hotel in the Sahel region of Mali the previous November and passed to Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.
Shortly after his release, media reports claimed Camatte worked for DGSE, the country’s foreign spy service — reports that were denied by both the French government and Camatte himself.
However, almost a month later, Fadden twice called the Frenchman an “agent” during the March 24 speech to the military institute in Toronto.
“You’ll have heard in the newspapers recently, a French secret agent was released from somewhere in the Sahel, when Mali agreed to release four terrorists,” Fadden said.
“They’ve now lost track of them entirely, and we now have four very dangerous people who will continue to do damage in that part of the world for years and years to come.”
Fadden told the audience such swaps are a “difficult call for governments to make.”
“But in this particular case, the French government and Mali made the call that it was worth it to release that agent.”
In a written response to questions from The Canadian Press, CSIS spokeswoman Isabelle Scott said Thursday that Fadden was “not confirming or claiming in any way that Mr. Camatte was an ’agent’ as alleged in some media reports, but rather simply referring to what media reports had stated at the time.”
“Indeed, the French government had subsequently clearly stated that Mr. Camatte was not an ’agent’ and we certainly don’t dispute that in any way.”
However, she did not explain why Fadden continued to call Camatte an agent almost a month after France’s statement. Nor would Scott say whether she asked Fadden himself as to what he meant.
The French Embassy in Ottawa had no immediate comment.
Fadden’s remarks come to light after a Commons committee grilled Fadden over his comments — initially made at the same Toronto event and later repeated to CBC — that some Canadian politicians are being unduly influenced by a foreign government.
In the March speech, Fadden spoke at some length about CSIS’s global presence, noting an increasing number of operations in the Middle East and elsewhere.
“We’re also proud to have worked alongside our Canadian Forces, RCMP and other government colleagues on several high-profile cases involving the kidnapping of Canadians abroad,” he said.
“Both we and the United States, and the United Kingdom, are of the view that kidnappings are going to continue.
“It is an extremely profitable way for terrorist groups to collect money. And it doesn’t matter how often Foreign Affairs tells people not to go to a certain part of the world. Canadians will insist on going.
“Large ransoms are paid — not by government, but large ransoms are paid — or worse, terrorists are released from prisons to go out and to continue their work around the world.”
Fadden said kidnapping was profitable financially and because it “sows discord” among countries with conflicting views on whether to free prisoners in exchange for hostages.
“And already the counter-terrorism efforts in that part of the world, in the Maghreb and the Sahel, are suffering because governments are so annoyed with the decision to release these terrorists that they’ve stopped talking and stopped sharing intelligence.”
Robert Fowler, a Canadian diplomat, and his assistant Louis Guay were freed by al-Qaida in December 2008 in Mali after being kidnapped in nearby Niger more than four months earlier.
At the time, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada did not pay money for their release.
“What efforts or initiatives may have been undertaken by other governments are questions you’ll have to put to those governments.”