Canada's controversial diplomatic reporting program must be preserved

Adnan R. Khan is an independent writer and editor based in Amsterdam and Istanbul. Back in the fall of 2015, while living in Istanbul, I received a message from a Canadian diplomat requesting a meeting at an obscure restaurant in Turkey's capital, Ankara. It wasn't an unusual request: At the time, I was reporting on Canada's engagement in Iraq in the wake of the Islamic State's takeover of Mosul. Global Affairs, then called the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), had been tight-lipped about what they were up to; acquiring information meant off-the-record meetings in neutral locations. Most…