Canada spies on Canadians (VIDEO)

The Canadian government has been spying on its people by monitoring their telephone records and Internet data, Press TV reports.

Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail reported on June 10 that Defense Minister Peter MacKay had approved a "metadata" surveillance program in 2011 that tracks online activity and phone calls in search of suspicious activities.

However, in response to a question whether the Ottawa government was monitoring the phone and email records of the Canadian people, MacKay claimed that the "program is specifically prohibited from looking at the information of Canadians."

"This program is very much directed at activities outside the country, foreign threats in fact," he added.

The program, introduced by the former Liberal government in 2005, was put on hold on account of concerns that it could lead to warrantless surveillance of Canadians.

But according to the daily, the program was quietly reinstated in 2011, after MacKay signed a ministerial directive, which is not subject to parliamentary scrutiny.