Document Purpose: Protocol for CSIS to share information with foreign agencies and governments.
This document seems now to have been superseded by the 2011 ministerial direction on information-sharing.
Document Analysis: Pursuant to section 17 of the CSIS Act and in accordance with existing Ministerial Directives, CSIS may be authorized to enter into formal information sharing agreements with foreign agencies, including those that are generally recognized as having poor human rights records. CSIS is directed to not knowingly rely on information derived from torture, and take reasonable measures to reduce the risk that its actions could promote or condone torture.
CSIS’s review body, the SIRC, reported in its 2004-2005 annual report that at least one of the CSIS foreign arrangements that it audited “did not provide an adequate analysis of potential human rights issues.” It objected to CSIS’s claim that it “ensures” that information exchanged is not the cause or product of human rights abuses….the Service is rarely in a position to determine how information received from a foreign agency was obtained. As Mr. Elcock stated to the Arar Commission, when it comes to information that may have been the product of torture, “the reality is in most cases we would have no knowledge that it was derived from torture. You may suspect it was derived from torture, but tat is about as far as one will get in most circumstances” [Canada, SIRC, Annual Report 2004-2005 (Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2005) in Forcese, NS Law, 487].
Justice O’Connor’s recommendation at the Arar Inquiry was that “Canadian agencies should accept information from countries with questionable human rights records only after proper consideration of human rights implications. Information received from countries with questionable human rights records should be identified as such and proper steps should be taken to assess its reliability” (Forcese, NS Law, 488).Document Purpose: Provides questions to consider for use of information that could be derived through mistreatment or torture (how to ensure this is not the case) such as:
Document Synopsis:
“The Service cannot simply rely upon anecdotal information or personal relationships that may exist between special liaison officers and security officials in foreign countries. The Service must always ask what the motivation is of the person who is providing the information. This is particularly the case when countries have poor human rights records, and may be more interested in maintaining a relationship w/ the Service than actually providing truthful information as to the human rights conditions in that country”
“To establish that information was obtained by the use of torture required more than just pointing to the poor human rights records of a given country” (Justice Blanchard – in relation to Mahjoub’s Security Certificate, June 2010).
The Information Sharing Evaluation Committee renders decision re: whether intelligence should be used or not.
International Law Safeguards: International law guards against extreme forms of interrogation. Two broadly ratified international treaties include the prohibition on torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment and punishment. The ICCPR Article 7 says that “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.” The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Torture Convention) includes more detailed prohibitions (Forcese, NSL, 187).Document Purpose: To provide a tool to CSIS’s employees to ensure that they comply with international and Canadian legislation and that decisions to proceed or not with the use of specific information/information exchange “are made at a level commensurate with the possibility that” (1) the information to be used may have been obtained through the use of mistreatment of individuals or (2) the exchange may result, directly or indirectly, in the mistreatment of individuals.
This Directive applies to to information sharing with ALL foreign entities, is guided by the Ministerial Direction on Information Sharing with Foreign Entities (2011)