Diplomats learning to recognize torture

New course arises from Canadians’ calls for help abroad

Several Canadian diplomats took a unique new course this summer on how to recognize victims of torture, amid warnings that Foreign Affairs officials will face a mounting challenge in coming years from citizens who get in trouble abroad.

An internal audit suggests more resources are needed to keep up with the expanding ranks of Canadians requesting help in an unstable, security-obsessed world.

The Foreign Affairs Department’s consular affairs section dealt with 14,500 protection and assistance cases in 2003, part of a caseload that increased by an average of 7.5% a year over the previous decade.

The section has repeatedly come under attack for allegedly failing to adequately protect Canadians endangered overseas, criticism the newly released report says is largely unwarranted.

The department is looking at either spending more money in the area, or shifting priorities and changing the service to make existing resources stretch further, a spokeswoman said.

The review noted that diplomats are often unable to tell whether a Canadian they are visiting in prison has been tortured — a contentious issue in cases such as those of Maher Arar and Bill Sampson.

Officials who saw Mr. Arar after he was sent to Syria by U. S. authorities and tortured there admitted at an inquiry into the case they knew little about the subject, said Lorne Waldman, Mr. Arar’s lawyer.

One diplomat told the hearings he assumed Mr. Arar had not been harmed because he had no visible bruises.

“Clearly, anyone with any expertise knows there are other signs and it is often much more subtle than that,” Mr. Waldman said.

“ A country that tortures people and is concerned about its international reputation isn’t going to bring someone out to see a consular official with black and blue marks all over his body.