TORONTO SUN, November 21, 2010 3:10pm

Dozens of Toronto-area informants are being paid by the Canadian security service to spy on mosques in the GTA, a well-known Arab community leader says.

Khaled Mouammar, the national president of the Canadian Arab Federation, said he has received at least a dozen community complaints about Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) spies who target worshippers and offer cash for information.

He accused agents of flashing wads of cash in front of worshippers who are paid to pass on “sensitive information” obtained at mosques.

“There are CSIS informants in all the main mosques in the Toronto area,” Mouammar said. “People in our community are unemployed and need the money.”

He said operatives are paid in cash based on the sensitivity of the information they provide their CSIS handlers, who are Middle Eastern and fluent in Arabic.

“The information they provide leads to a lot of baseless investigations,” Mouammar said. “Families have been ruined by their allegations.”

He said agents target Muslim scholars who frequent attend mosques, the unemployed or young men with questionable immigration status.

“They are given money and forced to bring back information,” Mouammar said. “People were interviewed by agents two days after something was said at one mosque.”

Federation members said men, who do not have immigration status in Canada, are told their situation can be rectified if they agree to work as spies.

“This activity has been going on for some time,” Mouammar said. “The amount of activity has increased dramatically in the last few months.”

He said the spying by CSIS against Arabs has gone overboard and must be stopped.

“People can’t talk freely at their mosques and are cautious to speak out,” Mouammar said. “People are concerned and worried.”

He said complaints range from agents showing up during work hours to interview Muslim women without their husbands and young people pressured by agents to report on their friends or co-workers.

CSIS spokesman Tahera Mufti said the agency’s mandate is to advise the government of potential security threats.

“CSIS works with various communities in Canada via outreach and liaison programs,” Mufti said in a statement. “We receive useful information from all segments of Canadian society.”

Mufti said “the agency does not publicly discuss its activities, interests or methodologies.”