Saturday, August 25, 2012

Canada and Torture

In a CBC story it came to light that Public Safety Minister had authorized CSIS to make use information gained from torture.
In 2010 Public Safety Minister issued a directive to CSIS regarding the use of torture. 

"Public Safety Minister Vic Toews quietly told CSIS the government now expects the spy service to "make the protection of life and property its overriding priority" and may under exceptional circumstances share information based on intelligence that may have been derived from the use of torture. " 
In February of2012 he answered for it in the House of Commons,

"Information obtained by torture is always discounted. But the problem is, can one safely ignore it when Canadian lives and property are at stake?" Toews said in question period"

The policy remained in place despite its questionable value and possible violation of International agreements Canada is signatory of.


In both cases the Harper governments cites the Exceptional Circumstances as the qualifier for use of information gained from torture. There is also this portion which states,

""The objective is to establish a coherent and consistent approach across the government of Canada in deciding whether or not to send information to, or solicit information from, a foreign entity when doing so may give rise to substantial risk of mistreatment of an individual," says the four-page framework.""

This indicates that the Harper government is willing to allow requests for information, under Exceptional Circumstances, that they know will result in torture. The Harper government has made it possible for Canadian agencies to contract out torture. In effect, if they need information on a possible bombing and have a name and a place, they can send a request to that jurisdiction, with the result of detention and torture or if all ready detained just the torture of a foreign citizen. 

It is not a free-for-all. The Harper government has proposed a mechanism for requests, considerations that must be made, chains of responsibility that can if needed end at the Minister of Public safety's desk. The end result with all the precautions and procedures and checks is that Torture has become an investigatory tool of the the Harper Government. It is for both Canada and Harper a low point, that I had never anticipated.

The Harper government is taking the position that the safety of citizens and property, let's not forget property, is paramount. So any Agency that feels danger is imminent, has the incentive to make use of torture. This presupposes that the person who has the information you really need is or can be detained and that through torture, has already divulged the details needs to prevent the danger or can be made to. The ticking time bomb scenario. And so the rot sets in.

This is fiction intruding on real life. Is it possible that the information you need to prevent disaster is a few cigarette burns and broken fingers away? Anything is possible. It is however, highly unlikely. 

Torture has a long history; its use as a tool of oppression on persons, peoples and movements; the use of torture in criminal proceedings to extract confessions, and prove guilt are well documented. As well  is the essential truth, that under torture a person will say whatever you like to make it stop. 

Authoritarian regimes use of  torture as a matter of policy, should be a red flag for us. Until recently we have accepted that being a little less safe is better than allowing men and women to have their bodies broken on our behalf. Let's not forget that, we are told by the Harper government that it is OK under Exceptional circumstances, to abuse others to remain safe. Think about that. Think about how many people will be tortured for information,even then it is not clear that you will even get what you need. It is only in the movies that you hit pay dirt on the first try, and it's only in the movies that you know that guy is a scumbag. In real life it's men; women and children that suffer; shop keepers; labourers; the poor and powerless; mixed among them a few dangerous people for sure

Democracies disowned the use of coercion; violent or otherwise, acknowledging that the cost was too high and the fruits too bitter. We turned instead to investigation and interrogation techniques that don't abuse the suspect or dehumanize the interrogator. Admittedly it is slower, but far more successful in countering criminal acts and uncovering the truth. 

The Harper government is wagering that Canadian citizens will make an accommodation with the idea that torture is OK if it saves lives. We have already accepted a little less freedom for a little more safety haven't we? We wait in lines at airports, we put up more cameras and have given increased powers to police and security agents,though without more oversight of these agents. Integrating torture into the investigators tool bag is only reasonable isn't it? Lives are at stake aren't they? 

There is a limit to pragmatism. Since 911 we have given up the high ground slowly, inexorably, we now find ourselves knee deep in the mud and wondering how we arrived here. This is it. There is and will be a cost to taking a position against torture. The cost will be borne unequally, of this I have no doubt. But what other option do we have? 













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