Unconditional Ban on Torture

The CMLA, along with seven other human rights organizations, wrote to the Honourable Ralph Goodale, the Minister of Public Safety, highlighting the “urgent need for Canada to revise the Ministerial Directives on torture issued by the previous government to conform to the unconditional ban on torture in international law.” The full letter may be found here in Englishand here in French. The current directive allows for information garnered under torture by a foreign country to be transmitted to and used by Canadian security agencies in exceptional circumstances. It also sets out when information may be shared with countries that “are known to engage in human rights abuses, even if doing so would likely result in torture.”