Instead of reacting appropriately to the crisis unfolding and take responsibility for one’s own actions, it is sometimes easier to castigate the bearer of bad news. It would be nice to pretend that this reaction has been relegated to a more barbaric age or somewhere else but here, but unfortunately, the Canadian government’s treatment of diplomat Richard Colvin’s testimony on the treatment of Afghan detainees proves that shooting the messenger is alive and well in 20th-century Canada.
Colvin testified before the Military Police Complaints Commission, implying that the Harper government was aware of human rights abuses, and was indirectly responsible for them. He claims that the government knowingly turned over Afghan detainees to prisons where they would be tortured. If this is true, it means our government is guilty of breaking the Geneva Convention, which forbids turning over captured combatants to regimes who will torture them.
Colvin’s testimony is an incredibly brave act, considering that it is such a controversial and sensitive subject for the government. As a civil servant, it is against his interest to antagonize the government and his former employers. Revealing that his former bosses, Associate Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs David Mulroney and Minister of National Defence Peter MacKay, may have turned a blind eye to human rights abuses is career suicide. It is also a surefire way to make dangerous enemies, and the government has been quick to act in this capacity. Colvin has been the subject of a smear campaign conducted by the Prime Minister’s Office to discredit the experienced civil servant as a dupe of the Taliban. The PMO’s office sent a letter to Conservative MPs, attempting to slant the scandal as the machinations of a desperate Liberal Party that would take any opportunity to politicize and raise money for their own ends.
The Military Police Complaints Commission was set up in 1998 to make the military more transparent and accountable, but has been subject to a large degree of government interference, especially since the commission launched the public interest investigation into the transfer of detainees by the military police in Afghanistan. The government has denied the commission access to thousands of pages of evidence for reasons of national security, and has passed motions that try to delay commission hearings.
Furthermore, there have also been allegations of witness intimidation. Colvin was one of 22 witnesses subpoenaed by the MPCC, all of whom received intimidating letters from the Justice Department threatening legal action against testifiers. Only Colvin testified.
We need the truth, even if it comes at the cost of losing face on the national and international stage. Canadians have become accustomed to believing that human rights are a cornerstone of our foreign policy, and that our government is accountable and transparent. Colvin’s testimony throws both these assumptions into question. Instead of getting clear answers and accountability, we have seen only denial and personal attacks from the government on the whistle-blower, who deserves thanks and acclaim for being brave enough to speak. We shouldn’t shoot the messenger—we should listen to him.
