Releasing Afghan detainee docs puts issue to rest: Baird

The government says the release of 362 newly declassified documents outlining the treatment of Afghan detainees officially puts the contentious issue to rest, but critics continue to call for a public inquiry into the matter.

The release of the documents, numbering a total of 4,000 pages, was prompted by earlier allegations that Canadian officials were aware of the torture risk in Afghan prisons when they handed detainees over to local forces.

Those suspicions prompted a year-long judicial review that cost $12 million. As part of the vetting process, two former Supreme Court judges, a retired B.C. judge, and a non-partisan committee of MPs combed through the massive trove to ensure that national security wouldn't be compromised.

But Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Wednesday that none of the documents showed that Canadian military officials were at fault. Both Canadian law and the Geneva Conventions prohibit the transfer of prisoners if there is a risk of torture.

While it didn't immediately appear that the documents contained any new information about the prisoner transfers, the NDP pointed to the fact that only a small portion of the total trove of 40,000 was available for review.

Though the controversy has raged through political circles for two years and nearly caused a Parliamentary crisis last year, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Wednesday's document dump should be the final chapter.

Instead, the release simply re-ignited the debate.

Critics have long demanded that the Conservatives release details about the alleged abuse of prisoners after they were handed over to Afghan authorities.

"This only offers some additional disclosure," said NDP defence critic Jack Harris on Power Play Wednesday, adding that no value judgments were attached to the reports.

"We think that that there has to be an independent review of that, so these things never happen again."

During the last Parliament, the Conservative government initially refused to release the documents in question -- a contentious position that led to a parliamentary crisis in December 2009 that nearly forced an election.

But a few months later, former House speaker Peter Milliken ruled that MPs had the right to see the documents, even if they contained secret information.

The Conservatives then struck a deal to form a multi-party committee last summer that would determine which could be released without causing security concerns.

But the committee did not get any documents out before the election, and the group of MPs and justices has not been reconstituted.

John MacKay, the Liberal defence critic, said that there were no lessons learned throughout the whole imbroglio and afterward.

"It is a case of willful blindness on the case of the government," he said, noting that no new systems and procedures have been drafted in light of the scandal.

The New Democrats did not participate in the committee tasked with reviewing the Afghan documents, because they did not have faith in the process.

Earlier in the day, Opposition leader Jack Layton accused the government of taking a "very cynical approach" to the issue. He noted that the timing of the release is planned to ensure the documents can't be scrutinized by Parliament, since the summer break is only two days away.

"They chose a date that will prevent parliamentarians from asking questions in the House of Commons," Layton told reporters, adding that he has little faith what will be released will be enough to answer his and others' questions.

"The big question is going to be which documents did they not release," he said, referring not only to documents potentially withheld, but those released with redactions, or black lines through sensitive information, as well.

"We're not going to know (how many are withheld) and we're not going to know what those documents had to say."

With files from The Canadian Press