I'll begin. I think both Craig and I have commented publicly on the ministerial directives.
I would say first of all that the current ministerial directive that was recently released is a great advance on the original versions in 2011, which I think were very problematic in terms both of protecting Canada's duties and obligations under law and providing for security.
The thing that I think is most advantageous about the current directive is that it makes a distinction between what is often called “inbound” and “outbound” information, and it is particularly strong in trying to ensure that Canada is not complicit in acts of torture by sharing information with overseas bodies that might have a very poor record in that regard. This has been the source of many of our problems in the past.
With regard to inbound information, there is always the challenge of knowing exactly whether it was derived from torture. You can have your suspicions, but no foreign intelligence agency is going to tell you directly, “By the way, we got this from torture.” What the current directive provides for is the use of some kinds of information in very extraordinary circumstances, which probably are unlikely to arise in practice.
From my perspective, it's a good question whether this should be brought forward into legislation or regulation. I am pleased that it's in regulation and that the regulation is public. I think it is very important to have that ministerial directive in public. Insofar as it is in public, which is a change from past practice, perhaps that is good enough.