Records of individual detainee transfers formerly available through Access to Information requests provide evidence that information now being restricted on the grounds of national security is being needlessly hidden from public scrutiny, Liberals charged today.
“While Canadians expect openness and transparency in government, these heavily redacted records are the latest evidence of a Conservative government that cares more about spin and manipulation than about accountability or national security,” said Liberal Defence Critic Ujjal Dosanjh.
As recent media reports have confirmed, a comparison of redacted and unredacted versions of the same document have shown that the Conservative government censored information that contradicted their claim to be ignorant of abuse and torture rather than out of concern for national security.
“Here we had two versions of the same document written by an unidentified sergeant – but the version redacted by the Conservatives scrubbed out the critical piece of information that Afghan National Police were known to have assaulted detainees ‘in the past,’” said Mr. Dosanjh.
“Stating that the ANP had previously assaulted detainees is not a threat to our national security, so why should we trust the government to redact any documents when it’s clear that what they’re going to delete has nothing to do with national security?”
The thirteen records released today were acquired through Access to Information requests and provide evidence of several detainee transfers between August 22, 2006 and September 29, 2006. The Conservative government ceased the public disclosure of the number of detainees Canadian troops transferred to Afghan officials in April 2006 and have further clamped down on public disclosure of documents following the initial exposure of this controversy in 2007. Subsequent Access to Information requests for further records have so far been denied.
“There is no good reason why the government should provide these five weeks’ worth of records from 2006 and refuse to provide equivalent records for all the transfers after this point,” said Liberal MP Bryon Wilfert, Vice Chair of the Special Standing Committee on Afghanistan.
“Given the secretive manner in which this government chooses to operate, it’s imperative that the Conservatives comply with the motion passed by Parliament demanding full and unredacted access to all the documents implicated in this controversy,” he concluded.
BACKGROUND
The thirteen records released by Liberals today are heavily redacted and exclude key information including:
- The recipients of the reports,
- Descriptions of the incidents leading to detention, and
- Information relating to the “broader implications” of the transfers.
Each report includes an assessment of “actual and probable media interest,” which ranges from “low” in several individual cases to “high” in two others:
- [Doc. A0195008], September 5, 2006: “Actual and probable media interest” is described as “Given high level of attention prior to this operation, and the resulting casualties, media interest is expected to remain high throughout the conduct of this operation.”
- [Doc. A0195011], September 15, 2006: Two individuals are described as being “detained as possible TB.” “Actual and probable media interest” describes “Imbed filmed detainee surrender and some of detainee processing. Reporting probable.”
Links to detainee transfer records, with “actual and probable media interest” highlighted:
http://bit.ly/7gKirA
http://bit.ly/4IfKDA
http://bit.ly/4v57EK
http://bit.ly/7WqvU8
http://bit.ly/4QuOXT
http://bit.ly/8hKag8
http://bit.ly/79ggcB
http://bit.ly/6VIa7F
http://bit.ly/8Db1jO
http://bit.ly/8lHDJK
http://bit.ly/81AHCS
http://bit.ly/82puwS
http://bit.ly/7HShuk
