Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I thank the witnesses for being here today. I also thank Mr. Ferguson for the work that's been done on this audit.
While I agree with most Canadians that the general record of consular services is very good, I have to say that I am quite disturbed by the findings regarding the treatment of Canadians arrested or detained abroad. I actually think this is an unacceptable finding, and I say that as someone who, before becoming a member of Parliament, worked as an international human rights observer. I have done prison visits in Afghanistan, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Canada, and I have been in a position of advocating for improved treatment and negotiating release for those unlawfully detained.
Therefore, I actually find some of the things in this report, even though they're presented in very mild language, quite disturbing. When you say that we have, maybe, 1,600 arrested or detained in a given year, and that fewer than half are contacted within 24 hours, and that most of them are not contacted in person, that means we have over 1,000 Canadians at some point in the year who aren't contacted within 24 hours—which is the critical period in detentions.
As well, if you go further into the report, it says that in the sample, about 5% were not contacted at all, which would mean we'd have up to 80 Canadians during the year never being contacted by their government when in detention. I don't think this is a very good record.
My first questions are to Mr. Ferguson, about the study.
In your report, you focused on one part of the contact for those arrested, but in section 7.37 you talk about consular services also meaning informing family members, advocating for fair treatment, and advocating for general well-being. Did you study the record on those, or were you focused on merely the first step of that, which is contacting the Canadians who had been detained? I don't see the evidence of that in the report.