The Afghan detainee file has been taking up a lot of our time lately, but the BCCLA national security team hasn’t dropped the ball on other issues. One area we’ve been watching is transnational data sharing, especially between Canada and … Read More
Features Blog
Parliament: 1 / Government: 0
Posted onIn a precedent-setting decision this afternoon, House of Commons Speaker Peter Milliken ruled that the government could be compelled to disclose to Parliament uncensored copies of documents relating to the transfer of Afghan detainees to risk of torture, and reaffirmed the … Read More
Meanwhile, back at the MPCC …
Posted onBusy day on the document disclosure front. Earlier, we recapped the goings-on in Parliament, in which the Speaker of the House of Commons ruled that government was in breach of parliamentary privilege by refusing to comply with the House’s order … Read More
“Good kid, non-radicalized and salvageable”
Posted onOmar Khadr heads off to pre-trial hearings this week, in preparation for his July trial by military commission. The Globe and Mail has an interview in today’s paper with Mr. Khadr’s Canadian civilian counsel Nathan Whitling, who reports, among other … Read More
MPCC hearings schedule update
Posted onAs promised, here’s what we know so far about the upcoming weeks. The subject witnesses, who were all scheduled to testify over the next three weeks, have been adjourned, pending further document disclosures and testimony from non-subject witnesses. From now … Read More
See you in September (?)
Posted onThe latest dust-up at the MPCC over document disclosure from the Department of Justice looks to derail the next few weeks of hearings. The hearings were initially scheduled to be concluded by May 12, but now could be delayed until … Read More
We’re just waiting on the new shipment of black markers
Posted onThe 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
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
