I'll perhaps respond.
I will first of all answer Ms. Lalonde's question. I will speak English, for the sake of clarity.
With respect to war crimes and these allegations, Mr. Chair, I want to put it on the record that no one—no one—has been able to produce any evidence whatsoever that a Canadian soldier, diplomat, or aid worker, or otherwise, has ever been complicit or directly involved in anything remotely resembling war crimes. I find that type of allegation and that type of torqued rhetorical characterization as completely offensive to not only soldiers but also the entire mission that's going on in defence of the people of Afghanistan. So let's put that aside.
With respect to the question Madame Lalonde posed on retroactivity, of our efforts to protect detainees, let's not forget, as Mr. Day quite rightly pointed out, that the detainees here in question are suspected Taliban terrorists. Having said that, they are of course, like a prisoner in Canada, like the worst offenders in Canada, entitled to due process and entitled to be treated, until such time as due process has been completed, to a presumption of innocence and protection in compliance with humanitarian law and international conventions.
Mr. Chair, the efforts by Canadian officials, now that this new enhanced agreement is in place, does include an effort to cooperate with Afghan authorities to locate and to query Afghan officials as to the treatment and well-being of detainees who were turned over to Afghan officials. Again, I underscore that the actual holding and detention of these individuals is in the Afghan authority.
We are there, obviously, to try to support them in every way in building capacity and also in making sure they're meeting international standards in the best possible fashion, and we'll continue to do that. That's what this enhanced agreement was very much aimed at doing.
With respect to her further questions about employees from the Department of Foreign Affairs, we've had testimony from the Department of Foreign Affairs. I want to refer to a comment from Ms. Jocelyne Sabourin, who appeared before a committee regarding allegations around a report, a redaction. I'm quoting from her testimony:
With regard to being directly told by a minister's office to redact, I am not aware of such a practice. We
—meaning her department—
are at arm's length, and it doesn't happen.
She went on to say:
The redactions are done with the involvement of the program area. In my office, I'm the delegated authority. At the end of the day, I'm the one making the decisions on disclosure. The minister's office is not involved in any of the review.