Human rights lawyer Paul Champ came to Carleton as part of a Amnesty Carleton event on Nov. 25 to discuss how the federal government has been indirectly complicit in torture cases over the past decade.
“A lot of people think that the prohibition against torture is simply to not inflict torture, but unfortunately there are many examples over the last 10 years where Canada contributed to torture,” Champ said.
He added the transfer of individuals to states known to torture individuals and relying on information derived from torturing someone is also prohibited under international law.
During his presentation, Champ said Canada has not done enough to prevent torture in other countries, which he said is “a shameful position” to take.
Amnesty Carleton co-president Kira Smith said a big part of the Amnesty International organization is educating the public about human rights issues like torture.
“My goal with this event was to bring people into a room to learn about what’s happening to Canadian citizens,” she said. “It’s not something that’s just happening in a far-off country to terrible people, it’s happening to innocent people, it’s happening to your neighbour, it can happen to anyone.”
Champ highlighted several prominent Canadian torture cases during the presentation, such as the Maher Arar case and the Omar Khadr case. He also spoke about his involvement with the Abousfian Abdelrazik case.
Abdelrazik was a Sudanese-Canadian with dual citizenship who was imprisoned and tortured in a Sudanese prison. Following his release, the Canadian government withheld travel documents that would have allowed him to return to Canada.
Champ said the federal government hasn’t learned its lesson when it comes to complicity in torture despite public inquiries.
“It is a violation of law and I think it’s contrary to Canadian values,” he said. “I think increasing awareness about those stories will definitely change Canadian government behaviour.”
First-year criminology student Emily Birkett said she initially didn’t want to think about torture, but the presentation has changed her mind.
“I always close myself to this kind of topic because I never really wanted to hear about torture in other countries,” she said. “I thought, you know, I’m privileged enough that I don’t have to experience that here, so why should I have to hear about it? But now it really has opened up my eyes.”
Smith said she wants people to educate themselves on human rights issues like torture so it can become a topic for discussion for change and a topic that can be brought up in the 2015 federal elections.
“It’s something that needs to be talked about,” she said.
Related Articles:
