New numbers from the Pew Research Center show that, despite categorical evidence that torture does not work as an investigation tool, over a third of Canadians believe they could justify the torture of terror suspects after 9/11 — and would condone the Canadian government torturing suspected terrorists.

The survey asked: “If the Canadian government used torture against people suspected of terrorism to try to gain information about possible attacks in our country, do you think this could be justified or could not be justified?” A whopping 37 per cent said yes, while two per cent said ‘it depends’.

“I am surprised and frankly concerned that so many Canadians would be okay with using torture on people we haven’t even confirmed — just suspected,” said Irwin Cotler, retiring Liberal human rights critic and former justice minister and attorney general.

Alex Neve, secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, said it’s disappointing to see such “significant numbers of Canadians who feel that torture can and could be justified in some circumstances.”

“I would hope that this would be of concern of the government, to see that over a third of Canadians would in some circumstances accept the use of torture, and that should underscore that there’s a need for stronger government leadership here and therefore time for us to get our house in order,” said Neve, who has been critical of the Harper government’s record on torture in the past.

The Pew report also asked Canadians if they could justify the United States’ use of torture post-9/11 — which has been detailed in news reports and at length by the CIA — and a surprising 35 per cent said they could.

What the survey didn’t mentioned in either question is that torture is not a reliable tool for interrogation — something backed up by the CIA torture report, which reviewed the work done by the agency after 9/11 and which became public in late 2014. Only the 528 page executive summary of the 6,700-page report was released; it stated that, in no uncertain terms, none of the information received through torture prevented future attacks.

That contradicted what the CIA had been saying for years — and belies the widespread belief that information gained through torture led to the execution of Osama bin Laden.

“As a matter of principle, torture should be prohibited — and as a matter of empirical evidence,” said Cotler.

“It’s been demonstrated not to do what people hope — even if they don’t agree with it — and that’s help prevent terrorists attacks. But it doesn’t work and the evidence shows it. Principles should be clear. Torture should never be used.”

“There’s a number of different ways in which we have laws, policies and practices that allow for complicity in torture,” said Neve.

“There’s a number of cases where Canadians have experienced torture in other countries with clear evidence that Canadian action contributed or caused that torture. Yet the government has consistently refused to offer apologies or compensation in those cases.”

Neve was referring to Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin, who were part of a 2014 order paper question by NDP MP Craig Scott that revealed that the cost to Canada of shedding light on the “transfer, detention and torture” of four Canadian citizens, including those three, came to at least $31.6 million. Three of the four victims still haven’t received apologies, let alone compensation.

He also highlighted the cases of Omar Khadr, on bail now in Canada, and Abousfian Abdelrazik, who spent time in a Sudanese prison as a result of exaggeration on the part of CSIS.

The CIA torture report listed cases of other Canadians who have been tortured: Ahmed Khadr, Mohammed Jabarah and Abderraouf Jdey; one is now dead, another is in detention and the last is still at large, respectively.

“So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there are Canadians who waver on the absolute ban on torture when our own government has not committed itself to that important international principle,” said Neve.

The survey, which was done by 1,004 Canadians, was done by phone in both English and French, between May 4-15 2015. The poll only asked adults 18 and older and did not include residents of Nunavut, the Northwest Territories or the Yukon. As a result, the margin of error is 3.6 percentage points.

@Claire_Wahlen

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