Of Mouths and Money

Last Friday, I wrote a post about the Afghan detainee transfer scandal that is currently gripping Canadian politics and allegations that Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian government were complicit in handing over detainees into conditions in which torture of those detainees by Afghan authorities was likely from former senior diplomat to Afghanistan Richard Colvin.

Since I wrote that post, former Chief of Defense and high profile Canadian Rick Hillier has claimed that Colvin’s memos and concerns didn’t raise any flags for him, saying, “[t]he guy said some things and, really, nothing ever caught my attention based on what he perceived he said or perceived he sent[.]” Additionally, the federal government has come out and said that it halted detainee transfer on three separate occasions in 2009 due to concerns over prisoner treatment and access to facilities. And now, a high-level federal bureaucrat who used to run the government’s Afghanistan Task Force, David Mulroney, is set to rebuff the charges.

On the other side of the coin, recently surfaced documents support Colvin’s claims that Canadian officials have been slow in alerting the Red Cross to prisoner transfers and today Amnesty International has issued a call for a full public inquiry into the matter (video from a reporter who attended the press release here).

My own thoughts are that the waters have been muddied enough and that the allegations are of a serious enough nature that the only responsible thing to do is to coordinate a full public inquiry. In my original post and in other posts at the League I have lamented the state of Canadians’ interest in their own politics and talked about the need for, lacking a better phrase, a grassroots resurgence of civil and political engagement by Canadians from across the spectrum. Given how important this issue is and how much its potential ramifications concern me, I have decided that now is the time for me to put my money where my mouth is and lead by example.

To that effect and as a first step in getting more Canadians involved in this issue and keeping it front and centre in Canadian political discussions, I have started an online petition calling for a public inquiry into Colvin’s allegations and concerns.

The goal here is to demonstrate broad public support for the idea of pubic inquiry that is separate and distinct from the political pressure to do the same coming from the Opposition parties. Which is not to say that I see anything wrong with the Opposition and specifically NDP calls for a public inquiry; indeed, I believe Layton and the NDP to be on the right side of this issue. It is, however, my hope that a purely public demonstration of support for the inquiry will help to strengthen the case, while at the same time engaging more Canadians on this incredibly important issue.

The text of the petition reads as such,

Whereas, on November 18 former senior Canadian diplomat to Afghanistan Richard Colvin testified in front a House of Commons committee stating that most if not all Afghans handed over to Afghan authorities by Canadian forces in Afghanistan were subject to torture; and

Whereas, Colvin wrote as many as 17 memos via the appropriate channels attempting to alert the appropriate authorities reaching as far up as one of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s senior security advisers to the likelihood of Canada’s complicity in enabling the torture of Afghans via the appropriate channels of communications that have been heretofore ignored; and

Whereas, despite a long and distinguished career of service to his country, the Harper government has responded to Colvin’s testimony in a dismissive and cavalier fashion and has explicitly questioned Colvin’s credibility instead of addressing his concerns; and

Whereas, the government of Canada has not only failed to adequately address Colvin’s testimony, but has also acted in a questionable and potentially obstructionist manner towards a Military Complaints Commission whose purpose was to address those concerns; and

Whereas, the Canadian government has a history of failing to notify the Red Cross of any prisoner transfers in Afghanistan in a timely fashion; and

Whereas, the use of torture techniques by Afghan authorities in places like Kandahar is understood to be standard operating procedure; and

Whereas, the use of torture techniques on prisoners is morally abhorrent and anathema to the values of Canadian society and government;

Therefore, we the undersigned citizens of Canada demand that the government of Canada submit to and coordinate a full public inquiry into the serious allegations and concerns that have recently come to light around Canada’s involvement in delivering Afghan prisoners into conditions of torture by Afghan authorities.

I would humbly ask that all of our Canadians readers who are as concerned about this issue as I am visit the petition and sign it and encourage their friends and family to do the same (and they theirs and so on).

At this point I would ask that our American readers to limit their support to comments on this post. The petition is designed to be a call from Canadians to their government for accountability on this incredibly important issue and my hope in asking our American readers not to sign it is to ensure that the call expressed therein remain clearly and unambiguously Canadian. Of course, we do appreciate any support/encouragement our American friends might be inclined to lend and so welcome your comments here at the League.

I don’t know where any of this will go, if anywhere, but I thought it was important to follow through on my own critiques around engagement and get off the bench for what I think is, perhaps, the most important issue to face Canadians in the last decade. As they say, I’m a man of my word.

Will keep y’all posted.

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