Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First of all, thank you for making a return appearance before the committee. Finally, we have legal status. I'm sure all of the media and all of my friends are pleased to see that today, coffee and juice are available. Many members of the media are present. Finally, we'll be able to discuss issues in a more legal context.
I'm not sure whether you took in today's question period. Many questions were asked about the possible construction of a prison in Afghanistan. As I see it, it's almost like admitting that Canada was aware that people were being tortured and that discussions had taken place with the British and the Dutch to set up their own prison. Even in today's articles, there are reports that Mr. Amrullah Saleh, the director of the centre, was really very unhappy about the situation.
According to the report:
Mr. Saleh threatened to cut off inspections and--apparently seeking to appease the NDS chief--the three countries agreed to only conduct joint visits with plenty of advance notice and limit them to once a month at most.
The minister informed us that pursuant to the second agreement, unscheduled visits could be made at any time, but here, we see that this isn't quite the case.
So then, and I think you mentioned that at the outset, torture continues to occur in Afghan prisons. Would you say my assessment is fairly similar to yours?