Peter MacKay

[Afghanistan, April 22nd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to refer to some evidence that we heard just yesterday from respected former ambassador David Sproule with respect to this issue. He said, “First of all, we never transferred any detainees that were captured by Canadian armed forces if there was any suggestion that there was a substantial risk of torture. Never did. We were confident there was not, otherwise we would not have transferred”. He went on to say, “We were confident that based on information we had, no Canadian transferred detainees had been abused or mistreated”.

The member should contemplate that testimony.

[Afghanistan, April 20th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, let me read a few quotations. This is from David Mulroney, a senior public servant in charge of the Afghan mission. He said:

We never, ever transferred anyone if we thought there was a substantial risk of torture. We knew there were problems in the Afghan system, but we developed a robust monitoring system.

That is the failed system that we inherited from the previous government.

Lieutenant-General Michel Gauthier, the former commander of the expeditionary force in Afghanistan, said:

It's why none of us would knowingly have ignored, disregarded, suppressed, covered up, or put a cloak of secrecy over anything that we received from the field, especially on something as important as the detainee issue. I say that as dispassionately as I can. I mean it absolutely sincerely.

What he was concerned about was being labelled a war criminal by the member opposite.

[Afghanistan, April 20th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, General Natynczyk, the Chief of the Defence Staff and the highest-ranking officer in the Canadian Forces, was very clear in a letter that he released this week. Again, I would invite the hon. member to actually take the time to read it.

It speaks of a Canadian Forces raid on a bomb-making compound that was used to make IEDs and rockets that were aimed specifically at killing innocent people, including Canadian Forces members serving in that country. He went on to talk about an insurgent who was shot in a battlefield incident, an armed insurgent who was posing a threat to Canadian soldiers who were there.

There were insurgents at that time taken into custody, all of whom tested positive for explosives and firearms residue. That is the type of work that our soldiers are doing.

[Canadian Forces Grievance Board, April 19th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2) I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the 2009 annual report of the Canadian Forces Grievance Board, “The Road Forward”.

[Military Police Complaints Commission, April 19th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2) I have the honour to table, in both official languages, copies of the 2009 annual report for the Military Police Complaints Commission, “A Decade of Oversight”.

[Canadian Forces Provost Marshal, April 19th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2) I have the honour to table, in both official languages, copies of the 2008 annual report of the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal.

[Afghanistan, April 19th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, is the hon. member incapable of listening to testimony from any other witness than those who fit his purpose?

We heard from General Gauthier. We heard from General Thompson that same day and his testimony that they worked with the NDS, that they turned prisoners over, in some cases, for criminal investigation.

We are there to help the Afghans build their capacity. We are there to ensure that the Afghan system improves. It is not perfect. We did not find it perfect. We are certainly leaving it much better than when we first arrived in Afghanistan almost 10 years ago.

[Afghanistan, April 19th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, come on. We have had a system in place for a number of years improving upon the transfer arrangement that we inherited when we came to government and which was found to be lacking. We have had an opportunity now to both mentor and monitor what takes place inside Afghan prisons. We have invested in the Afghan justice system. We are there to help build their capacity. There have been a number of incidents that have been discussed here in the House of Commons and in parliamentary committees, and at the MPCC. There are documents that are being reviewed by an independent judge. All of this is being done for the purposes of ensuring that the mission is going well.

[Afghanistan, April 19th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, we can talk about courage in this place. It is very easy from the safe sanctuary here in the House of Commons to judge this.

The courage I am interested in is the courage of the Canadian Forces, the men and women on the ground in Afghanistan at this very moment fighting to protect our values both at home and abroad.

We have forums to look at this particular situation. We have people, very qualified, who have given evidence. We have heard from senior members of the Canadian Forces, those within the Department of Foreign Affairs, those within the public safety department.

I put a lot of faith in both the bureaucrats and the leadership of the Canadian Forces.

[Afghanistan, April 19th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is doing exactly what he is accusing others of doing by accepting this evidence without taking it into account. He has listed a number of names. I could list all the names of the senior officials at the Department of Foreign Affairs, and I could list all of the leadership of the Canadian Forces, all of whom have given a completely contrary view of the evidence of what was taking place around the allegations of Taliban prisoners.

Those forums are there. We have the MPCC. We have the parliamentary committee. We now have Mr. Justice Iacobucci reviewing documents. The hon. member is on a different track for political reasons.