End the cover up: New Democrats demand documents on Afghan detainee torture

OTTAWA – New Democrats have submitted a motion at the Afghanistan special committee to demand all government documents relevant to the torture of Afghan detainees, including Richard Colvin’s reports.

“The government is hiding the truth, and making a mockery of this committee, by refusing to release the documents it has in its possession,” said New Democrat Foreign Affairs Critic Paul Dewar.

The government has indicated to the media they do not agree that the committee has a right to these reports and that they will continue to withhold them under the guise of national security.

“Conservatives have quashed access to information on this file since day one,” said Dewar. “The committee has clear powers to shed light on these documents and we fully intend to exercise our right to know the facts.”

In 2007 the government established the “Tiger Team” in the Department of National Defence as an extra layer to veto the release of documents related to the treatment of Afghan detainees. Recent reports also indicate that the Prime Minister’s Office was directly involved in censoring messages.

The NDP motion is requesting the production of:

• All documents referred to in the Affidavit of Richard Colvin, dated October 5, 2009;
• All documents within the Department of Foreign Affairs written in response to the documents referred to in the Affidavit of Richard Colvin, dated October 5, 2009;
• All memoranda for information or memoranda for decision sent to the Minister of Foreign Affairs concerning detainees from December 18, 2005 to the present;
• All documents produced pursuant to the all orders of the Federal Court in Amnesty International and British Columbia Civil Liberties Association v. Chief of the Defence Staff for the Canadian Forces, Minister of National Defence and Attorney General of Canada;
• All documents produced to the Military Police Complaints Commission in the Afghanistan Public Interest Hearings;
• All annual human rights reports by DFAIT on Afghanistan.

New Democrats were first to call for a full, independent public inquiry on the issue.