“Would you call that an adequate investigation?”

This 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 […]

Troops knew of torture in Afghan prisons

Today’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 […]

The detainee buck stops where?

The Afghanistan detainee transfer agreement of May 2007 has been cited by the government as providing for adequate monitoring and inspections of prisoners transferred by Canadian Forces to Afghan authorities. […]

Photo of the day: Empty chairs (UPDATED)

Empty chairs, courtesy CBC Conservative MPs boycotted the Tuesday emergency meeting of the parliamentary committee looking into allegations that Canadian Forces transferred Afghan detainees to torture. The seven Conservative MPs […]

Colvin’s rebuttal

This morning, Richard Colvin delivered a 16-page letter to the Special Committee on Afghanistan, setting out additional evidence and rebutting his government critics. The letter is worth reading in its […]

What’s behind the black boxes?

Aaron Wherry over at MacLean’s was sharp enough to spot the difference between the version of a report cited by General Walter Natynczyk in his press conference on Wednesday morning […]

Canadian Forces’ U-Turn: Detainee was abused

It’s interesting that General Walter Natynczyk wasn’t briefed on the case that the BCCLA and Amnesty International launched against the Canadian Forces in 2007. If he had been, he wouldn’t […]

Torture hearings liveblog: Peter MacKay

Today is the last session of the Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan before Parliament closes shop for the year. It promises to be an explosive day of […]

Richard Colvin Documents

Welcome to the BCCLA’s National Security blog.  Right now, we’re tracking the Afghan detainee hearings in Parliament and will be providing commentary and updates as testimony progresses. Today, documents that […]