OTTAWA - It was a Kafkaesque twist in an inquest that has already seen its share of bizarre moments.

It started Tuesday with the chair of the Military Police Complaints Commission asking a government lawyer when key documents would be turned over.

"That is not something I'm at liberty to discuss with you," said Justice Department lawyer Alain Prefontaine.

"The government of Canada can't tell us how long it's going to take to get the documents?" chair Glenn Stannard asked, a hint of incredulity in his voice.

"The documents will be turned over to your counsel when they're good and ready," Prefontaine replied.

Stannard admonished Prefontaine over that remark: "I find that close to offensive, not only to this panel, but also to the public."

The government lawyer later apologized.

Prefontaine wouldn't tell the commission who within the government might know when the documents would be released.

Stannard raised the possibility of a summons to get to the bottom of the document dilemma.

"That to me is bizarre," he said.

It was all reminiscent of Prefontaine's odd exchange last week during diplomat Richard Colvin's testimony.

Government censors scrubbed Colvin's emails so even the military watchdog can't see the full versions.

Prefontaine argued it wasn't clear from Colvin's notes that Canadian captives were at serious risk of abuse or torture in Afghan custody.

Colvin, who isn't allowed to talk about censored sections of his messages, insisted he was unequivocal in his warnings to officials in Ottawa.

The government lawyer declared he had seen the uncensored passages and they don't contain any critical information.

That prompted Stannard to ask: "Just a real silly question then: any reason why we don't have it?"

Prefontaine replied that disclosing the censored portions, even though he claimed they weren't critical, "would be injurious to either national defence, international relations or national security."

The commission was still waiting Tuesday for reams of documents to clear government censors.

The paper jam includes an indeterminate number of a former foreign-service officers' reports of torture allegations in Afghan jails.

Nicholas Gosselin's January to August 2008 reports weren't included in the paperwork already turned over to the military watchdog. Word of their existence emerged when Gosselin testified at the hearings last week.

The precise number of Gosselin reports isn't clear. First there were eight, then 21, and now there may be as many as 44.

Some 4,000 pages of Foreign Affairs Department documents are also under review.

Commission counsel Ron Lunau spoke to the difficulty of prying paperwork from the government's hands.

"We have no idea what the universe of documents is that the government is reviewing," he said.

Stannard put it to Prefontaine this way: "If we're playing a game of cards, you're the only one who gets to see the whole hand."

Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh accused the Harper government of stonewalling the military police probe.

"The government has instructed its lawyers to obstruct and hinder these hearings at every step of the way," he said.

"They are essentially doing what the government is wanting them to do."