MacKay rejected opposition calls in the House of Commons Tuesday to waive the solicitor-client confidentiality he says prevents him from releasing key documents to the Military Police Complaints Commission.
“The Military Police Complaints Commission can, and should, accomplish its stated mandate without access to communications between lawyers and their clients,” he said.
NDP Defence critic Jack Harris accused MacKay of deliberately obstructing the commission.
MacKay repeated that Supreme Court rulings prevent him from agreeing to a request from commission chairman Glenn Stannard.
In a letter to MacKay Monday, Stannard asked for limited access to documents and told the defence minister his reading of the law was wrong.
“I believe there is no question that the law, including the applicable Supreme Court of Canada jurisprudence, authorizes you ... to waive the privilege either on a blanket basis or with respect to specifically identified communications,’ writes Stannard.
MacKay’s refusal to bend on the issue now leaves the commission with two options: Take the argument to the Federal Court for a ruling — an option Stannard warned would be expensive and time consuming — or carry on without the documents.
Stannard will wait to hear officially from MacKay before deciding whether to seek a ruling from Federal Court, said spokesman Michael Tansey.
Langridge, a veteran of Bosnian and Afghanistan tours, hanged himself at CFB Edmonton in March 2008 after a long struggle with drugs and alcohol. His parents claim he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder but military witnesses have testified that addictions were the cause of his problems.
Langridge’s former fiancé Christine Knicely told the hearing Tuesday that she met Langridge in August 2004 before he left for Afghanistan.
“He was happy, outgoing, funny, loving caring and thoughtful,” said an often-emotional Knicely of the Langridge she knew before his Afghan mission.
While he was in Afghanistan, the couple spoke occasionally on the phone and Langridge would say “I love you.”
During a break in his tour, Langridge and Knicely became engaged and said her family “loved Stuart.”
When he returned from Afghanistan, he was angry and withdrawn, drinking heavily and had lost his sense of humour, she said.
“He cut me out,” she said. “He was going out with his friends all the time and not caring what I thought about it.”
The relationship fizzled shortly afterwards.
Psychologist Lori Harper, who headed the team that treated Langridge during his 30-day stay at Alberta Hospital, said the troubled soldier exhibited enough symptoms to make it “impossible” to rule out post-traumatic stress disorder.
“He was a mess,” she said. “He had a lot of difficulty talking about emotional or hurtful things. It was difficult to get information from him.”
Langridge refused to discuss details of what might have traumatized him while on patrol in the mountain region of Afghanistan but he did mention maimed children to one therapist.
“I don’t know what he saw,” she said. “Stuart was angry and didn’t want to admit to his emotions. He was using drugs and alcohol to cope.”
CFB Edmonton Deputy Base Surgeon Robin Lamoureaux, who was the last doctor to treat Langridge, said he was shocked when he heard the soldier had committed suicide a short time later.
“I was pleased with Stuart,” he said. “He was positive and looking forward. He was friendly and shook my hand.”
Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: Chris Cobb
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