Skip to main content

A detainee captured by the Afghan Army on a joint patrol with Canadian troops sits by a wall at a Canadian Forward Operating Base in Howz E Madad in Zhari District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.Louie Palu/The Globe and Mail

The departing head of a commission probing the Afghan detainee controversy says Ottawa's refusal to extend his term so he could finish the job contributes to a "chilling effect" on cabinet-appointed watchdogs charged with keeping government accountable.

Peter Tinsley, whose chairmanship of the Military Police Complaints Commission expired yesterday, offered parting comments even as the Harper government signalled it would defy a parliamentary order to release uncensored versions of records on Afghan detainees.

The Tories are fighting Opposition attempts to follow the paper trail surrounding detainees after stunning military revelations on Wednesday that a Canadian-captured detainee was abused in June, 2006, after being handed over to the Afghans, contrary to Tory government assurances that there was no evidence prisoners were tortured.

The long-simmering issue was reignited in mid-November when diplomat Richard Colvin told a Parliamentary committee that all detainees captured by Canadians likely were tortured after being transferred to Afghan hands in 2006 and early 2007.

The Harper government responded with attacks on Mr. Colvin's credibility, an onslaught that this week brought a letter of protest from former ambassadors.

Friday, the number of former diplomatic heads of mission putting their names to the letter climbed to 111, a list that now includes Allan Gotlieb, who represented Canada in Washington in the 1980s.

The open letter castigates Ottawa for dismissing Mr. Colvin's 2006 and 2007 torture warnings as irrelevant and suspect - a move ex-ambassadors fear casts a chill over the foreign service's ability to report frankly from abroad.

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon played down the growing protest among ex-ambassadors, saying: "The signatories were speaking as private persons; they no longer have any responsibilities within the department that I lead. In addition, they are not familiar with the Afghanistan file."

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Mr. Tinsley said it was unprecedented for the Harper government to forgo reappointment during a significant inquiry. He said the interruption will hurt the probe's ability to do its job.

The Tories said they plan to appoint a new chair soon, but critics have raised concerns Mr. Tinsley's successor will not be as enthusiastic to press ahead.

The commission has run into a string of roadblocks federal lawyers have used to delay and severely limit the scope of its probe.

Mr. Tinsley suggested a bigger problem is the Harper government's attitude to the heads of watchdog agencies, who are appointed on the advice of cabinet. He cited the example of Linda Keen, the former head of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, who was fired in 2008.

"Lack of co-operation by the government, or resistance [to]the roles of administrative tribunals, and the effect on the [cabinet]appointees, can have nothing but a … chilling effect across the field."

He said the fear is that watchdog chairs could be cowed by "an environment where the government of the day sends signals that if you don't guess right what the government of the day wants" there will be consequences.

Separately, Trade Minister Stockwell Day rejected opposition calls for open access to records on detainees. "It would be naive to the extreme to think that that information can be given out."

With reports from Gloria Galloway and Daniel Leblanc

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe