26)

edited from fb:

The canadian government's official stance, as of the Martin liberal government in 2005, was that Canada "partners with countries that torture" (as covered by newsreal 184[1]).

This list was updated a few years later[2] explicitly to include the united states [And surprise surprise now head of the PPC maxime bernier complained about this] who by that point was undeniably involved in torture beyond 'just a few bad apples'.

I don't see this list listed anywhere anymore -- at some point perhaps during the harper years the list was scrubbed(?). According to openparliament[4] the NDP tried to propose that global affairs canada maintain such a list[perhaps to replace one that was scrubbed], but that bill was shot down.

Especially given the expansion of the US torture program[5] since 2005, the continued promotion of US officials who were directly involved in it, and Trump's explicit support of torture (and his increasing willingness to use it on his political enemies), alongside canada's still-existing extradition agreement[see previous posts in this thread] it is worth considering that we should take steps towards the minimization of the chance of canadian citizens being tortured by the US government and one of those steps is going to be : reverting the 2005 martin government policy of explicitly partnering with countries that torture. Canada not only doesn't have to have this policy, but it has agreed, in the 1984 convention against torture and other international agreements that we would take steps *against* this.

So with this in mind here's what the government of canada should consider doing (and this should *explicitly* be considering as our response to trump's on-and-off-again tariffs, and as an excuse to drop our own retaliatory tariffs)

A) reinstate the list, if it has been gotten rid of by harper/trudeau, perhaps at global affairs canada as the NDP originally suggested. WITH the united states featured prominently on it.

B) if the list does exist somewhere and I just can't find it, it should be made available somewhere more prominent, or at the very least the CBC or something should do a story linking to it so that canada and the world can be reminded that the US is a nation that utilizes torture (which is against international law(see further up this thread))

C) Canada's official policy should be explicitly changed so that we don't partner with countries that torture. Not for sharing intelligence
gained by torture, not in general. It should be a canadian value that we do not condone torture by our "partners" regardless of who it is or why they are doing it. [Anyone with any confusion about this should consult the Canadian Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg I'm sure someone there can explain why this should happen or provide resources for understanding the importance of this]

D) In particular, Maxime Bernier should have resigned over this years ago or should at least publicly apologize for his de facto promotion of US torture and should not be running as a MP again / should be shunned from political life as a quisling.

E) There are legal consequences for those who are in government positions in countries that torture, for those see previous post

Taking a principled stand on countries that torture is a no-brainer for a democratic and free country and it is only due to a kind of politeness and tolerance borne from an unwillingness to rock the boat that our morally bankrupt southern neighbour government has managed to avoid Canada pressuring them on this issue for as long as it has. But the boat is now rocking, and the time for politeness is over. The US torture programs must end, and those involved must be prosecuted. Doing this would surely beat impoverishing canadians and putting canadian businesses in jeopardy with retaliatory tariffs. Canada should, instead of damaging its own economy instead stand up for the rights of canadian citizens to live free from expecting the US government to be able to extradite and torture them.

[1] https://mega.nz/file/g45gnQ4C#S5y4VVfAocWpQPKqsL5BXbao_Y1GYwIzXKb_CO5N3NQ
[2] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/canada-us-added-to-torture-watch-list/
[3] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/torture-watchlist-wrongly-names-canadian-allies-bernier-1.709958
[4] https://openparliament.ca/bills/40-3/C-498/
[5] https://www.facebook.com/jeff.cliff/posts/10152654032052909?