Access to disinformation

Perhaps surprisingly given the oft-documented incompetence of the minister in charge, the Department of National Defence managed to fare reasonably well in the Information Commissioner's report card on government institutions. But the NDP reports that the DND is looking to change that mark for the worse next year if its response time (and ministeral runaround) on information about Middle East detainees is any indication:

NDP Defence critic Dawn Black (New Westminster-Coquitlam) revealed in Question Period today that the Department of National Defence is refusing to release details and records relating to the possible capture of detainees in the Indian Ocean or the Persian Gulf.

Black says Minister O’Conner is risking another firestorm because of his refusal to answer questions about sea-based detainees. On October 12, 2006 the minister of national defence signed a policy for the handling of detainees who were taken at sea as part of HMCS Ottawa’s participation in the Bush administration’s Operation Enduring Freedom.

“The suppression of these documents is troubling,” said Black. “Canadians expect Minister O’Connor to be forthcoming with information concerning Canada’s role in detainee transfers even if that means visiting the filing cabinets personally to retrieve the records.”

Black is frustrated with the unreasonable delay put forward by the Department of National Defence of 150 days to release the requested documents pertaining to “all detainees” the department admits to possess.

It's worth wondering just what's currently being hidden, as the request would seem to be an extremely easy one to answer if there haven't been any detainees handed over under the agreement. Though in fairness, there's always the distinct possibility that the Harper Cons would cover something up just for the sake of covering up.

One way or the other, though, the unwillingness of O'Connor's department to even remotely approach its legal obligations to answer a fairly simple access request appears all too consistent with both O'Connor's cluelessness as a minister and the Cons' governing philosophy of suppression. And the more public scrutiny the Cons face for those trends, the more likely we'll be to put them in the rear-view mirror.