Mr. Speaker, the 55 Canadian soldiers are not, strictly speaking, being kept hostage. They are being kept in the positions they occupied, and they continue to do the job they were doing
before in the territories concerned. I am also informed they are being treated quite acceptably.
Negotiations are continuing, to try to bring the situation back to normal. Everyone hopes there will soon be an agreement on a new cease-fire. Of course, here in Canada, we should all support our troops, who are going through a very difficult situation on their humanitarian mission to this part of the world. We hope that although our soldiers are experiencing problems at this time, and with them soldiers from other countries, things will get back to normal in a matter of days.