April 13, 2014 - 9:30 AM
OTTAWA - The Conservative government has secretly ordered the Canadian military to share information with allies even when there's a serious risk it could lead to torture.
A newly declassified memo says the Defence Department was making progress on developing a directive from the minister to put the policy into effect.
The November 2011 memo reveals Defence was slated to become the fifth federal agency to apply the Harper government's instruction to exchange information with a foreign agency even when doing so may give rise to a "substantial risk" of torture.
The Canadian Press obtained a copy of the memo under the Access to Information Act.
The Defence Department said it could not release a copy of the resulting directive on information sharing because it remains classified.
The federal policy has drawn sharp criticism from human rights advocates and opposition MPs, who say it effectively condones torture, contrary to international law and Canada's United Nations commitments.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014