Maher Arar at a press conference to comment on the Arar Commission's Policy Review Report at the National Press Gallery in Ottawa in a Dec. 12, 2006 file picture.
Photograph by: Jean Levac, Canwest News Service
OTTAWA — The head of CSIS says his agency, which is tasked with preventing terrorist threats to Canada, would not use information obtained through torture under any circumstance.
"We do not rely on the use of torture for any reason," Jim Judd, director of Canada's spy agency, told a parliamentary committee Thursday.
Judd said that CSIS has changed its policies following the 2006 Arar report that recommended that intelligence obtained by torture be discounted because it is unreliable and torture violates human rights.
His assertions left MPs on the House of Commons public safety committee scratching their heads because it contradicted testimony earlier this week from veteran CSIS adviser Geoffrey O'Brian that Canada would rely on foreign intelligence obtained by torture if it meant saving lives or preventing a terrorist act like the Air India bombing.
Judd said that O'Brian would write a letter to the committee recanting his testimony.
Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan also told the committee that information obtained from torture abroad is tainted and it is ruled out in all circumstances.