DFAIT APOLOGIZES OVER TORTURE ALLEGATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L OTTAWA 000101 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/18/2018 TAGS: PREL PHUM CA SUBJECT: DFAIT APOLOGIZES OVER TORTURE ALLEGATION Classified By: Ambassador David H. Wilkins, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Associate Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs David Mulroney called Ambassador on January 18 to offer DFAIT's "real apology" that a Canadian consular training module on "Torture and Abuse Awareness" had included the U.S. on a list with Afghanistan, China, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Syria, as well as Guantanamo Bay, with "possible torture/abuse cases" and had cited "US interrogation techniques" under a "Definition of Torture." He said that DFAIT was "totally embarrassed" and had pulled the manual once its existence became public. He promised that the DFAIT leadership would make sure that this would "not happen again" and that the manual would be totally re-written. He admitted that DFAIT had "no excuse" for failing to maintain adequate control over these training materials. Ambassador pressed Mulroney for an immediate public statement disavowing the document, at which point Mulroney promised to work on "remedial steps" and confirmed that the manual did not reflect official Canadian views of the United States. Ambassador also asked to speak directly with Foreign Minister Bernier on this issue; Mulroney promised that would happen following an ongoing Cabinet session today. ¶2. (C) Comment: The offensive training module came to light as a result of efforts by Amnesty International and defense attorneys for Omar Khadr, now on trial in Guantanamo Bay for terrorist activities. We take at full face value the apologies and embarrassment of the senior DFAIT officials and do not believe that the module is a genuine reflection of official Canadian views, but instead stemmed from sloppy oversight of over-zealous trainers. Visit Canada,s Economy and Environment Forum at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/can ada WILKINS