Legislation tabled last Friday would give the Canadian Security Intelligence Service powers to actively disrupt threats, not just collect information about them.

Snowden, who remains in Russia after leaking U.S. National Security Agency documents, says citizens of any country should have concerns about this type of legislation.

"I would say we should always be extraordinarily cautious when we see governments trying to set up a new secret police within their own countries," Snowden said Monday night during a video conference organized by Upper Canada College in Toronto.

Intelligence powers used by governments in ways related to political ideologies, radicalization, influence of governments and how people develop their politics are cause for concern, the former NSA analyst added.

"We need to be very careful about this because this is a process that is very, very easy to begin. It always happens in time of fear and panic — emergency legislation — they say we're facing extraordinary threats and again if you look at the statistics while the threats are there, they're typically not as significant as presented."