“Canada will never use torture or be party to that,” Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said after meeting his counterpart this week in Washington. That’s because the minister would not say what his commitment never to be a “party” to torture might mean in practice. Under a formal policy put forward by the Harper government in 2012, Canada can use information obtained through torture in “exceptional circumstances” involving an “immediate” threat. That means that if another country passes on tips it obtained through torture, Canada can act on them – a directive that some believe encourages other regimes to continue their terrible practices. Then, they urged the Conservative government to issue a “clear ministerial directive” against swapping information with torturing regimes.

Source: thestar February 09, 2017 22:18 UTC