Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his long-standing work on behalf of human rights for all Canadians in this country and for continuing to be a voice of compassion and honour in this regard.
His question gets to one of the nubs of this matter, which is that both the O'Connor and Iacobucci reports came up with comprehensive recommendations that would get to the heart of ensuring that this kind of issue does not happen again. They would create the kind of governmental responses and checks and balances that would ensure that we have the ability not only to prevent this from happening but also to investigate quickly and effectively any kinds of problems in this regard.
I want to focus on something important the member said. He talked about the abhorrence of torture. What we need to emphasize in this regard is that the person who is guilty of torture is not just the person who applies the electrodes or brandishes the whip. The person who is responsible for torture is also the person who plays a role in delivering the detainee into the hands of those whom they know, or ought reasonably to know, may practise such heinous acts.
That is why we are holding the government responsible for Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan turning people over to be tortured. It is why the agencies in this country, the RCMP and CSIS, are responsible for furnishing information to Syria and Egypt, which then used that information in torture. That is absolutely wrong. The fact the government does not accept responsibility for that is frankly appalling.