House of Commons

Voices rising for a public inquiry on Canadian complicity in torture

Impolitical (Free subscription) | yesterday

First up, Professor Errol Mendes powerfully sets out what is at stake for Canada as Richard Colvin's allegations of Afghan detainees handed over by Canada to a knowingly torturous regime have come to the fore. An important read for anyone wanting to understand the scope of the possible damage done here and the important implications for Canadian democracy and the rule of law that are embodied in the...

salutin: the abu ghraib effect with the imprint of a maple leaf

we move to canada (Free subscription) | yesterday

Bravo Rick Salutin! Our own little Abu Ghraib? The nauseating component in current claims and reactions about Canada's role in turning Afghan detainees over for torture does not lie in the betrayal of some mythic Canadian role as an idealistic actor on the world stage – as opposition questions implied in the House of Commons yesterday. We have always played an ambiguous, often duplicitous, role...

Canada's whingers: Because objective reality is hard werk.

Canadian Cynic (Free subscription) | yesterday

Over at Spanky's Sandbox and Pillow Fort, The Politic 's Charles Anthony postulates about a public torture inquiry rather puzzlingly : That attitude is unsatisfactory. An inquiry is only as good as it satisfies the level of scrutiny of all the left-wing and right-wing wack-jobs involved. In other words, you will spend more of my taxes to subsidize professional arguers on both sides of the fences who...

The Real Shame

Freddie P (Free subscription) | yesterday

Here's a message to all of the bleeding heart Liberals who are thoroughly enjoying the bullshit focus that's been placed upon the Harper government this week. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Right off the top lets establish this, Taliban forces in Afghanistan long ago adopted a tactic of falsely accusing Coalition troops of mistreating detainees so this is nothing new. Other countries like Australia...

[LINK] "All Afghan detainees likely tortured: diplomat"

Randy McDonald's Livejournal (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009

Posted without comment, taken from the CBC. All detainees transferred by Canadians to Afghan prisons were likely tortured by Afghan officials and many of the prisoners were innocent, says a former senior diplomat with Canada's mission in Afghanistan. Appearing before a House of Commons committee Wednesday, Richard Colvin blasted the detainees policies of Canada and compared them with the policies...

Peter MacKay is Lying About Detainee Abuse

liberal catnip (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009

Via the CBC : Defence Minister Peter MacKay defended his government Thursday in the face of claims that detainees in Afghanistan were routinely abused by Afghan authorities after being handed over by Canadian soldiers. "There has not been a single, solitary proven allegation of abuse involving a transferred Taliban prisoner by Canadian forces," MacKay said Thursday in the House of Commons....

New Democrats call for public inquiry into prisoner torture in Afghanistan

Leftnews.org (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009

Thu 19 Nov 2009 OTTAWA – New Democrats are calling for a public inquiry to investigate allegations that Canadian officials were complicit in the torture of innocent prisoners in Afghanistan. The call for an inquiry follows testimony given yesterday by senior Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin to the House of Commons Afghanistan Committee.

Time for an independent probe on the Afghanistan detainee transfer issue.

Scott's DiaTribes (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009

The testimony brought forth by diplomat Richard Colvin was indeed “explosive” on detainee transfers yesterday: A senior diplomat delivered a series of explosive allegations to a rapt House of Commons committee Wednesday, telling MPs that Afghan prisoners transferred by Canadians to local authorities in Kandahar were likely all tortured – while high-level officials in Ottawa looked...

Senior Canada diplomat accuses military of complicity in torture of Afghans

JURIST (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009

[JURIST] A former senior Canadian diplomat alleged Wednesday that the Canadian military was complicit in the torture of Afghans by their own government, during testimony before the House of Commons Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan. Richard Colvin, who represented the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) in Kandahar from 2006-2007 and is currently the...

All Afghan Detainees Likely Tortured: Diplomat

CommonDreams.org Headlines (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009

All detainees transferred by Canadians to Afghan prisons were likely tortured by Afghan officials and many of the prisoners were innocent, says a former senior diplomat with Canada's mission in Afghanistan. Appearing before a House of Commons committee Wednesday, Richard Colvin blasted the detainees policies of Canada and compared them with the policies of the British and the Netherlands. The detainees...

• All Afghan detainees likely tortured: diplomat - CBC.ca
• Canada ignored torture warnings: Diplomat - atHome Top Story

Hi-Jinx And Fun Times In Canada's Parliament

Gen X at 40 (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009

I had a sense that there was the word going out this week to raise little bubbles of discredit of the legislative process when young Tory Stephen Taylor ¹ put out the message "did you know that 15 minutes in the House of Commons costs the taxpayer $75,000?" Makes sense. Dad's out of town . Juniors have to be kept in line. With performances like these , well, he may be right: “Yesterday...

I'm sure Monica was just "working constructively" with Bill Clinton, too

Runesmith's Canadian Content (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009

John Baird was in full 'Duck-and-Cover' mode today when confronted with the accidentally un-redacted correspondence between his Ministry and the major airlines. Baird said there's nothing nefarious about the relationship, adding "we're been working constructively with the airlines." Really? Is that what you call it? Because I can think of a couple of other terms for it, John. But that's not...

National Post editorial board: What if the government just said what it meant?

Full Comment (Free subscription) | 18/11/2009

Canada has once again finished well in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, the Berlin-based NGO announced yesterday -- in eighth place, tied with Australia. This is good news: Only 50 million or so people on Earth trust their governments more than we do to act in good faith, and in their best interests. Unfortunately, the same day, a Canwest News Service report demonstrated...

Herb Gray: "In good heart and sober confidence"

Full Comment (Free subscription) | 18/11/2009

Sir Winston Churchill spoke only once in our Parliament. It was to a joint session of the House and Senate in the House of Commons Chamber on Dec. 30, 1941. It was a few weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Churchill came from Washington where he had gone to consult with president Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the conduct of the war. In Churchill’s eloquent speech to the joint session...

Transport minister tried to kill passenger rights bill despite publicly supporting it

Morton's Musings (Free subscription) | 17/11/2009

This story reflects, perhaps, a reality of politics. Sometimes Ministers have to be publicly support policy that privately they disagree with. As a reality that is as reality but when the duplicity is revealed it looks awful: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html'id=2229584 Transport minister tried to kill passenger rights bill despite publicly supporting it Sarah Schmidt, Canwest News...