OTTAWA – A newly obtained document says Canada’s highly secretive electronic eavesdropping agency helped develop a federal directive that lets government agencies use and share information likely extracted through torture.

The internal RCMP memo says Communications Security Establishment Canada, known as CSEC, and its parent department, National Defence, were among several federal agencies that contributed to the information-sharing policy.

The November 2011 memo was recently disclosed to The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

The memo notes the federal framework — spearheaded by the Public Safety Department — was intended to establish a consistent approach across departments and agencies when the exchange of national-security related information puts someone at serious risk of being tortured.

The federal policy has drawn sharp criticism from human rights advocates and opposition MPs, who say it effectively condones torture, contrary to international law and Canada’s United Nations commitments.

Ottawa-based CSEC monitors foreign communications — from email and phone calls to faxes and satellite transmissions — for intelligence of interest to Canada, and shares information with key allies.