U.S. Ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman speaks at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Monday June 2, 2014.FRED CHARTRAND/The Canadian Press
U.S. ambassador Bruce Heyman is urging Canada to continue sharing security information with the United States in the wake of a damning report on the CIA's brutal interrogation methods.
In a recent interview with The Globe and Mail, Mr. Heyman said co-operation between the two countries is critical to keeping citizens safe. His comments came after Canadian human-rights groups and lawyers called for a review of Ottawa's relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency in response to the report's revelations.
Released last week by the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, the report found the CIA violated U.S. laws and treaty obligations when it used "enhanced interrogation techniques" on detainees in its custody. It said one detainee was waterboarded more than 180 times, another died of suspected hypothermia, and several were threatened with harm to their families.
Mr. Heyman declined to comment on whether rights groups' concerns about Canadian co-operation with the CIA were justified.
However, he said: "The sharing that we currently do, and the work that we do, I think is critical to the safety of all citizens that live in Canada and the United States."
He said Barack Obama decided when he became President that the CIA's interrogation methods "were not things that were aligned with the values of the United States of America" and should be prohibited. The report's release, Mr. Heyman said, represents an important move toward greater openness and transparency.
"We can look back, we can look at the mistakes that we've made and we can make the appropriate changes and then move forward," he said.
"I would tell you the report itself represents a time and place in the United States and it is behind us now and is not the operating procedures that are in place."
Mr. Heyman said the more people and goods that can be identified as trustworthy, the more resources can be devoted to those that rouse more suspicion. He said information sharing between the two countries is critical, "but yet at the same time where we each have identified risks that may actually affect each other, I think it's important that we discuss that."
Mr. Heyman said he arrived in Ottawa last spring with plans to spend much of his time and energy boosting trade between Canada and the United States. His other priorities included a focus on energy and the environment, cultural diplomacy and co-operation on global affairs, in that order.
But a number of global threats, including Islamic State militants, the spread of Ebola and Russian aggression in Ukraine, rapidly took over his agenda, Mr. Heyman said. "It is the international geopolitical events that have taken place that have dominated, I would say, everything from August to today."
Mr. Heyman said Canada and the U.S. share similar views on a range of global issues and pointed to the seven U.S. cabinet members who have visited Ottawa since July as evidence of a strong relationship between Ottawa and Washington.
Asked about the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, Mr. Heyman said his government is still processing public comments and waiting for a ruling from the Supreme Court in Nebraska. Proponents of the pipeline, which would carry bitumen from Alberta's oil sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast, have expressed hope that the recent Republican victory in the U.S. Senate would put new pressure on Mr. Obama to approve the project.
"I can't sit down and guess what legislation is going to come out of the House and Senate," Mr. Heyman said of the Republican majorities in the House and the Senate. "I can tell you now, right now what's happening, and we'll address whatever the House and Senate are doing after they do it."
IN HIS OWN WORDS
On the price of oil: The change in the price of oil has been so dramatic in such a short period of time. ... That's profound, that's unexpected, that's the surprise, I think, as we enter into the end of 2014 and we think about the year ahead. That's the big news story of the surprise. Now look, we have a lot of other things going on [with Islamic State] and Ebola and Ukraine. But this is new. And there are going to be winners and losers that will occur across the planet and I think that we're going to work through that experience as time goes on into 2015.
On the Trans-Pacific Partnership: I'm not the trade negotiator, and I'm not going through all of those details. But I do know we're in the end game. And we're at the point where substantial offers are being laid or should be laid on the table at these discussions. And, you know, I look forward to addressing all the various [issues]. Now that doesn't mean we're going to fix everything, but that's the place where we should have these kinds of discussions and try to work forward from there. And try to find pathways for us to have dialogue and conversations to work through some of the irritants that exist out there.