A Canadian team has created a searchable database of all the publicly released classified documents leaked by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden in hopes it'll help citizens better understand the complex files trickling out around the world. 

The Canadian Journalists for Free Expression and the Politics of Surveillance Project at University of Toronto's faculty of information revealed the archive on Wednesday before hosting a live Q&A with Snowden, the U.S. whistleblower and subject of the Oscar-winning documentary Citizenfour.

"What we're hoping this database can do is start to piece together the bigger picture," said Laura Tribe, CJFE's national and digital programs lead.

The Snowden Archive is particularly important here in Canada, says Tribe, where citizens have learned only bits and pieces about the Communications Security Establishment, their electronic eavesdropping equivalent of the NSA, from the U.S. leak.