TORONTO — Canada’s electronic spy agency broke privacy laws by sharing information about Canadians with foreign partners, a federal watchdog said Thursday, and the country’s defense minister said the practice will stop until protections are in place.

Commissioner Jean-Pierre Plouffe said the Communications Security Establishment passed along metadata to counterparts in the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

Metadata is information associated with a communication, such as a telephone number or e-mail address, but not the message itself.

The communications agency intercepts and analyzes foreign communications for intelligence information of interest to the federal government. The agency is legally authorized to collect and analyze metadata churning through cyberspace.

Plouffe, who keeps an eye on the highly secretive agency, said he found that it lacks clarity regarding the sharing of certain types of metadata.

Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan said the metadata “did not contain names or enough information on its own to identify individuals.’’

Associated Press