“One step at a time……”, the October 1st posting in the fall, was the last update on the status of this action against Correctional Service Canada. The wheels turn, yes, but they very turn slowly.

Since then, Kalman Samuels, QC & Associates, the Montreal firm representing Brennan Guigue, has been in touch with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada several times. The OPC was the point contact with Correctional Service of Canada for the video and printed material CSC had committed to release to his lawyers.

The inquiries were fruitless, and Kalman Samuels finally abandoned this tact. In the middle of last month, it sent off a request directly to CSC, and also filed a motion asking the court to require the agency to come up with the goods. This got the attention of the government lawyer representing the country’s ‘prison industry.’

The agency turned over 4 dvd’s within ten days, and an inspection verified they contained a complete video record of the assault on the afternoon and evening of July 22 in 2014. A conversation around the redacted printed material is pending and the law firm is intentionally very specific on what it expects to receive.

In the meantime, the Kalman Samuels attorney who is doing the legwork on the file is looking for a recognized expert on the use of pepper spray, one who is relatively close by, and not inclined to expect an outrageous retainer. Access to information requests for a copy of Brennan Guigue’s medical files is underway. Otherwise, lawyers for both sides are in the process of arranging the necessary interviews to move this action forward.

Regardless of medical records and pepper spray experts, there is one overriding point to keep in mind. This country, this Canada, paid out tens of millions of dollars to Maher Arar, Ahmad El Maati, Muayyed Nureddin, Abdullah Amalki, Benamar Benatta, OmarKhadr, and may pay further millions to Djamel Ameziane, Abousfian Abdelrazik and others, because this country, this Canada, was complicit in the torture and abuse of these men while they were imprisoned in other countries, including the United States.

Brennan Guigue was tortured and abused by Canada’s own federal civil servants. How much is that worth?