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CSIS torture questions decided by committee

By: Jim Bronskill

Posted: 08/7/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press CSIS head Dick Fadden makes a final decision on sharing material. (CP)

OTTAWA -- A secret high-level committee at Canada's spy agency is tasked with deciding whether information received from abroad is tainted by torture, declassified records show.

Internal Canadian Security Intelligence Service memos reveal the key role the recently formed Information Sharing Evaluation Committee plays in determining whether the spy agency makes use of the suspect material.

The committee -- its existence previously unknown outside the intelligence service -- also helps the CSIS decide whether to send information to foreign agencies in cases where it might lead to mistreatment.

Detailed instructions direct committee members to comb through databases, consult human rights reports and weigh the particular circumstances of each case to arrive at a decision.

When the committee decides information is likely derived from torture, CSIS director Dick Fadden makes the final call on whether sending Canadian material to an allied agency could result in someone being abused.

The instructions issued by Michel Coulombe, CSIS deputy director of operations, put flesh on the bones of a July 2011 directive on information handling by the spy service from Public Safety Minister Vic Toews.

The government directive outlined conditions for deciding whether to share information when there is a "substantial risk" doing so will result in someone in custody being abused.

It also said protection of life and property are the chief considerations when deciding on the use of information that may have been extracted through torture.

Opposition MPs and civil liberties advocates condemned the directive, saying it would help torture flourish in grim prison cells around the world.

Amnesty International Canada said the policy was in direct contravention of Canada's international obligations to prevent brutalization of prisoners. Inappropriate sharing of information by Canadian authorities contributed to the torture of Arab-Canadians in Syria in the post-9-11 period, Amnesty Canada pointed out.

A resulting federal inquiry into the case of Ottawa engineer Maher Arar recommended information never be provided to a foreign country where there is a credible risk it will cause or contribute to the use of torture.

The latest records, released to The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, show the spy agency took its cue from Toews' ministerial directive to establish the Information Sharing Evaluation Committee and draft guidelines and operating procedures for the body.

Nothing in the CSIS procedures will change the fact they open the door to use of torture-tainted information, said Micheal Vonn, policy director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.

"What this amounts to is a process to violate the law. The prohibition on the use of information derived from torture is absolute," she said. "What we have here is a bureaucratic structure to do what should not be done in the first place."

Coulombe said the instructions are intended "to provide a tool to the service's employees to ensure that they comply with international and Canadian legislation."

"Although balancing these responsibilities with our mandate to protect Canadians will, at times, pose difficult challenges, we need to remain sensitive to our responsibilities in protecting individuals from mistreatment which could result from our action, or inaction," Coulombe's instructions say.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 7, 2012 A8

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