Former Supreme Court justice Frank IacobucciTOM HANSON
The Conservative government gave a former Supreme Court justice guidelines Saturday for a review of whether MPs can see uncensored Afghan detainee documents, but critics were quick to call the decision a "stalling exercise" that wastes time and money.
Frank Iacobucci was given a mandate to review relevant documents that were produced after 2005, as well as others that date back to 2001, when the Liberals were in power.
"Iacobucci will provide our government with valuable advice for fulfilling our responsibilities to parliamentarians, Canadians and the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan," Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said in a news release.
The terms of reference ask Mr. Iacobucci to determine whether the contents of the documents could pose a risk to Canada's international relations, national defence or national security, and to examine the question of whether the dangers in releasing them would be outweighed by the public interest.
The opposition was quick to criticize the latest delay in releasing information about the Afghan detainee issue.
"We're disappointed that the government has told Mr. Iacobucci to basically decide which documents to withhold from Parliament and the Canadian people," Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said after an event in Scarborough, Ont. on Saturday.
"He's been given an impossible job and we don't believe we're going to get to the bottom of the Afghan detainee scandal this way," he said.
The government did not give Mr. Iacobucci a specific timeline to complete his work, stipulating only that it be "completed expeditiously," but Mr. Ignatieff said he fears this means the government is "playing politics."
The documents Mr. Iacobucci will be reviewing also date back to when the Liberals were in power, but Ignatieff said "let the chips fall where they may."
Opposition MPs have been demanding to see the paper trail.
Late last year, they voted to demand that the Tories release documents said to detail what the government knew about the risk of torture for prisoners captured by Canadian soldiers and handed over to Afghan authorities.
The government has rebuffed that request, citing national security concerns; most of the documents that have been released to date have been heavily censored. The opposition parties have accused the Tories of defying the will of Parliament.
Liberal MP Derek Lee has threatened to introduce a motion to hold the Conservatives in contempt of Parliament, while the NDP has given the government until Friday to comply with the parliamentary vote before bringing its own contempt motion.
New Democrat MP Jack Harris accused the government of trying to hide documents from the opposition parties and prevent them from holding the government to account. He called the Iacobucci review a wasteful exercise that won't delay a New Democrat contempt motion.
"I think this is an expensive waste of time, but it really seems to be designed to delay political consideration for a long time, well into the possibility of an election happening," NDP defence critic Jack Harris said in an interview Saturday.
Paul Champ, a lawyer who represents Amnesty International, also said Mr. Iacobucci's review will only boil down to a second opinion, as government officials and lawyers would have already vetted the documents for national security concerns.
"I think it's nothing more than a stalling and delay exercise. They're trying to divert the public's attention," said Champ.
"He's going over the documents and deciding what should be disclosed and what should be withheld pursuant to national security, well that has already been done," said Mr. Champ. "They're basically asking for the most expensive second opinion."
Last week, a report by The Canadian Press said the Canadian Security Intelligence Service had been interrogating captured Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, prompting critics to wonder publicly whether Canada has been complicit in the torture of battlefield combatants by less trustworthy Afghan authorities.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper faced calls for a full public inquiry after new revelations that CSIS has been questioning Afghan detainees since 2006, and in some cases recommending which prisoners be transferred to the National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan's notorious intelligence service, which has a dismal human rights record.