With all respect, Ms. Black, the current government has only been in power for ten months. This was entered into by the previous government, and I'm hopeful that the current government will realize that some improvements are needed to a job that was done by another government. I think there's a real opportunity here for the current government to rectify a problematic situation.
I will also say in that context, because I know I'm speaking to a former military officer, that I've never met a military officer who wanted to violate the rules of international humanitarian law. In fact, they pride themselves on adherence to international humanitarian law. They simply want clear direction from their political masters. That clear direction includes a detainee transfer agreement that upholds the obligations of international humanitarian law.
I see no reason why the military would object to us renegotiating the Canadian agreement to incorporate the standards of the Dutch agreement. It's good enough for one of our most important NATO allies. They put a lot more time and thought into it. This is a chance for us to improve our side of things.
On the reluctance of the prior government, I did mention that this agreement was negotiated in a bit of a hurry. The troops were on their way to Kandahar and there was a federal election campaign. Prior to that, the situation in Afghanistan was in transition. It was initially an international armed conflict based upon article 51, the right of self-defence in the United Nations charter. It was initially focused on al-Qaeda and removing the Taliban government. It is a transition to an operation that's as much focused on reconstruction as it is on counter-insurgency.
The concerns and perspective of Canadian governments have changed over time. If there's one thing we have learned from various things, from Guantanamo Bay to the Maher Arar affair, it's that we have made mistakes. Reflection and study now put us in a position to rectify those problems.
I'm delighted you are meeting on this. I think it's so simple to fix this, and I really hope you will give a clear indication of this to Parliament so they can fix this problem before we get into any problems. I simply don't want someone to be tortured or abused because my government hasn't taken the time and the care to ensure that we have a good agreement governing how we behave.