Mr. Chair, our government does. The previous government did. I am saying legally they do not necessarily have an entitlement because they are not combatants in the sense of a war.
House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 57% of the vote.
Business of Supply May 17th, 2007
Mr. Chair, our government does. The previous government did. I am saying legally they do not necessarily have an entitlement because they are not combatants in the sense of a war.
Business of Supply May 17th, 2007
Mr. Chair, my understanding is that legally the detainees are not entitled to Geneva convention treatment, but Canada decided that we would treat them in accordance with the Geneva convention.
Business of Supply May 17th, 2007
Mr. Chair, my previous answer may not have made the member happy, but it is the answer. The foreign affairs minister is responsible for the area of detainees and the member will have to talk to him.
Business of Supply May 17th, 2007
Mr. Chair, I am not aware at this time of such a proposal. I know that NATO headquarters is investigating some of these claims of abuse. I do not know what the outcome of that will be, but I am not aware of such a proposal.
Business of Supply May 17th, 2007
I think, Mr. Chair, the member will have to ask the Minister of Foreign Affairs. That is within his realm, not mine.
Business of Supply May 17th, 2007
Mr. Chair, when I had a meeting in Quebec City of the ministers from the south, who were all involved in serious operations with the Taliban, we discussed the various ways that they are handling detainees.
Business of Supply May 17th, 2007
Mr. Chair, the defence department is not responsible for the monitoring of detainees. The defence department is responsible, once they have a person of interest in custody as a detainee, to process them properly in accordance with the rules of war and to hand them on to the Afghan authorities.
Business of Supply May 17th, 2007
Mr. Chair, I think members will notice this year that the much announced Taliban spring offensive is not happening in Kandahar province. The reason it is not happening in Kandahar province is that our troops are doing their job because they are keeping the Taliban under control.
Business of Supply May 17th, 2007
Mr. Chair, our government did not choose Kandahar province to be the area of operations. The Liberal government chose Kandahar province and Kandahar province is among the most violent provinces in Afghanistan.
Therefore, when we went in there with our troops, we had to make sure that our troops were equipped and trained to deal with the insurgency. They have been doing an excellent job. They are the best troops in the world. We can ask anybody. They have been doing their job there.
Business of Supply May 17th, 2007
Mr. Chair, the success of operations has many aspects to it. One is that when our troops engage the Taliban, they succeed every time. One is that when our PRT does its job, it actually improves the life of the local Afghans with development projects. Another is that when our team called the OMLT trains the Afghan army, over time the Afghan army improves, and its numbers increase. That is the kind of success we are talking about.