Starved of government records requested from Ottawa, a watchdog probing Canada’s Afghan detainee transfers is facing the prospect its investigation may be derailed, and hearings suspended.
The Military Police Complaints Commission, irked that the flow of documents has slowed to “a trickle,” has summoned a Canadian general and a deputy minister to answer for delays – and to address its suspicion that Ottawa is holding back vital information.
Facing allegations military police knowingly turned over prisoners to torture in Afghanistan, the federal government has handed over thousands of pages of heavily censored reports, memos and e-mails written by soldiers, corrections officials and diplomats.
We’ve only received 460-odd pages in two months.— Glenn Stannard, acting commission chairman
But since mid-February, disclosure to the commission has nearly dried up, even though thousands of more documents remain.
“We’ve only received 460-odd pages in two months,” acting commission chair Glenn Stannard said yesterday.
As a result, the commission may have to cancel up to eight days of hearings that were supposed to start next week. It also may have to suspend proceedings for months after mid-May.
The federal government says the problem is that the official censors are having a hard time keeping on top of all the documents requested.
The Harper government has refused to grant the complaints commission clearance to review confidential documents – a privilege afforded to other bodies – and consequently, each record the watchdog requests must first be scrubbed of secret information.
Tension over these delays reached a boiling point Tuesday when government lawyer Alain Préfontaine snapped at Mr. Stannard that “the documents will be given to your counsel when they are good and ready.” He later apologized.
Wednesday, the lead lawyer for the Military Police Complaints Commission raised another major beef with Ottawa. Ron Lunau told the commission there appears to be a “weeding out of material” even before packages of documents are handed over to censors for scrutiny.
“What is being screened out so that we never become aware of its existence?”
Mr. Préfontaine warned that going back and adding in all the documents that officials removed will only add to the backlog. “The only impact this will have is to lengthen the queue.”
Mr. Lunau’s concern has been sparked in part by letters obtained for The Globe and Mail under access to information law that formed the basis for a March 31 story.
The watchdog’s lawyer said these records, which detail a crucial point in the history of detainee transfers, were never given to the Military Police Complaints Commission even though they are clearly relevant to its inquiry.
The letters say that Canadian commanders complained that the Department of Foreign Affairs was keeping them in the dark on the well-being of detainees handed over to Afghan jailers. They wrote that this dearth of information contributed to their decision to halt detainee transfers in November, 2007.
Mr. Lunau said the government’s proposed schedule for releasing all remaining documents could force a suspension of hearings until the fall. “You may be looking at July or August or even September before we can say that we’re going to be able to hear all the witnesses.”
Len Edwards, deputy minister at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Brigadier-General Richard Blanchette are appearing before the Military Police Complaints Commission Tuesday to explain document delays and how Ottawa decides what to divulge to the watchdog.
The commission is trying to investigate allegations that Canadians aided and abetted torture by knowingly handing prisoners over to abuse at the hands of Afghan officials.
Under the Geneva Conventions it is a war crime to do so.
