The MPCC is back in session today, with testimony from Major Kevin Rowcliffe, former staff adviser to Lt.-Gen. Michel Gauthier, who was in turn, second in command of the Afghanistan mission. Last month, Murray Brewster and Jim Bronskill reported on … Read More
Features Blog
No dice
Posted onThe MPCC isn’t in session today, which means that we at the BCCLA national security blog can turn our attention to other matters in our portfolio. Earlier this week, Lt.-Col. Chris Jenks (USA), Chief of the International Law Branch of … Read More
Not my job
Posted onLt-Col. Douglas Boot / The Canadian Press via The Globe and Mail This morning at the MPCC, we heard from Lt-Col. Douglas Boot, the Provost Marshal at Canadian Expeditionary Force Command (CEFCOM) from August 2006 to July 2007. The Provost … Read More
Eight more complaints of torture in 2008; more documents withheld/disclosed; goings-on in Parliament; oh my!
Posted onThis morning, former DFAIT official Nicholas Gosselin testified before the MPCC. Mr. Gosselin was the DFAIT human rights officer in Afghanistan who discovered implements of torture in an Afghan prison in late 2007. His discovery, combined with other reports of … Read More
Curiouser and curiouser
Posted onOr perhaps in the case of Sansterre, not curious at all. The Globe and Mail has a blisteringly spot-on editorial in today’s edition. We recommend that you read the whole thing, but here’s a teaser: Lieutenant-Colonel Gilles Sansterre is the … Read More
Richard Colvin at the MPCC: Part 1
Posted onBig media day at the MPCC this morning, as senior diplomat Richard Colvin appears before the Committee. Colvin’s testimony before Parliament on his longstanding concerns about the treatment of CF-transferred detainees helped make the Afghan detainee issue a subject of … Read More
Richard Colvin at the MPCC: Part 2
Posted onRichard Colvin in 2009. Image: CBC The afternoon examinations of Mr. Colvin went into overtime today, extending another 40 minutes or so beyond the scheduled close of session. Of particular interest were the issues relating to the redactions of Mr. … Read More
Torture? What torture?
Posted onWeek 2 of the MPCC Afghan Public Interest Hearings started off with testimony this morning from Lieutenant-Colonel Gilles Sansterre, commanding officer of the Canadian Forces National Investigative Service — the arm of the military police tasked with, among other things, … Read More
“Would you call that an adequate investigation?”
Posted onThis afternoon at the MPCC Afghanistan Public Interest Hearings, BCCLA Litigation Director Grace Pastine had the opportunity to cross-examine Lieutenant-Colonel Gilles Sansterre, the head investigator at the Canadian Forces National Investigative Service. The CFNIS is responsible for investigating serious offences … Read More
Troops knew of torture in Afghan prisons
Posted onToday’s hearings at the MPCC were open to the public again, with retired MP officer Captain Mark Naipul testifying in the morning session. Naipul had guarded detainees in Kandahar during his time in Afghanistan, and testified that Canadian soldiers were … Read More
