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CSIS told to use torture info

Allowed when 'serious risk to public safety exists,' Toews says

By: Jim Bronskill

Posted: 02/8/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press

OTTAWA -- The federal government has directed Canada's spy agency to use information that may have been extracted through torture in cases where public safety is at stake.

The order represents a reversal of policy for the Conservative government, which once insisted the Canadian Security Intelligence Service would discard information if there was any inkling it might be tainted.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has quietly told CSIS the government now expects the spy service to "make the protection of life and property its overriding priority." A copy of the two-page December 2010 directive was obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

It drew condemnation from Amnesty International Canada, which said information obtained under torture "has no place in the justice system, full stop."

The NDP and Liberals also pounced on the revelations, pressing the government to account for its new stance.

The directive from Toews expands upon a May 2009 ministerial order that states CSIS must not knowingly rely upon information derived from torture and have measures in place to identify such tainted information.

The latest directive says in "exceptional circumstances" where there is a threat to human life or public safety, urgency may require CSIS to "share the most complete information available at the time with relevant authorities, including information based on intelligence provided by foreign agencies that may have been derived from the use of torture or mistreatment."

In such rare cases, it may not always be possible to determine how a foreign agency obtained the information, and ignoring such information solely because of its source would represent "an unacceptable risk to public safety."

"Therefore, in situations where a serious risk to public safety exists, and where lives may be at stake, I expect and thus direct CSIS to make the protection of life and property its overriding priority, and share the necessary information -- properly described and qualified -- with appropriate authorities."

The directive says the final decision to investigate and analyze information that may have been obtained by methods condemned by the government falls to the CSIS director or his deputy director for operations. The minister is to be notified "as appropriate."

In spring 2009, a senior CSIS official ignited controversy when he told a House of Commons committee the spy service would overlook the origin of information if it could prevent another Air India jetliner bombing or a terrorist attack along the lines of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings in the United States.

But Peter Van Loan, then public safety minister, said CSIS had been clear about rejecting information extracted through coercion.

NDP justice critic Jack Harris accused the government of "getting Canada into the torture business."

Toews said information obtained by torture "is always discounted."

"But the problem is, can one safely ignore it if Canadian lives and property are at stake?"

Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae said he's concerned such a ministerial directive was issued "without real discussion with Canadians about its implications."

"The law in Canada has been pretty clear that information based on torture, first of all, is not reliable and, second of all, is not permissible."

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 8, 2012 A5

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