Afghanistan committee  I don't know what that statistic would be based on.

Afghanistan committee  That is the finding of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission--

Afghanistan committee  I don't know the reasons why those witnesses have agreed to cooperate or why they refused to cooperate in the first place. We were advised by Government of Canada counsel in the hearings that each one of those 28 witnesses made their own individual decisions and exercised their own individual consciences to say they did not want to cooperate.

Afghanistan committee  I think we have been fairly clear that we think it's commendable that Canada has increased its resources. When we started the court case, for example, Canada had donated almost no money to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission. Since that time it has increased to the extent that Canada is the greatest contributor to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.

Afghanistan committee  I have no idea or information of the 210 visits. The only direct information I have are visits that were conducted up to the end of December 2007. I've reviewed all of those reports, so I know what occurred for all visits from May 2007 to December 2007. I don't know the details since that time or how they count them.

Afghanistan committee  Well, Mr. Harris, there are some guideposts from the Federal Court on that. There have been some cases where they have considered weighing the public interest and also whether something meets the test of causing injury. For example, I think of Justice Mosley's decision in the Arar inquiry court judgment.

Afghanistan committee  Well, I don't precisely know the arguments that were made in the past, but I think those are along the same lines of the arguments that have been made by the government. For example, I'll go to the Arar inquiry report again. It's my understanding the government was trying to withhold some information from the final report because it would show that Canada wasn't necessarily doing its job in some way, or, for example, if it was using information obtained from torture with respect to Mr.

Afghanistan committee  No, I have not.

Afghanistan committee  I have not. I would love to see it, because when this sort of court case ended we were not able to get further production or disclosure. I would be very interested in learning about what other developments or progress they've made in that regard.

Afghanistan committee  Well, we don't what the timeline was in which they took steps. I'm not sure if you're aware of the providence of that, but I first learned of that new agreement when I was standing in the middle of court about to argue a motion for an injunction to stop transfers. The agreement had been signed literally hours before in Kabul and it was faxed to Ottawa.

Afghanistan committee  Yes.

Afghanistan committee  I think that's fair to say to a certain extent. If I recall, this standing committee began hearings because the Military Police Complaints Commission in October 2009 was basically stymied. The government had a number of objections in terms of why it couldn't proceed. They brought a motion to quash all summonses of all witnesses.

Afghanistan committee  Yes, most of them.

Afghanistan committee  Yes, most things are corrected, so I think there is some aspect of duplication. The Military Police Complaints Commission, however, is still just focused on the military police, whereas I understand this committee is looking at broader issues with other government departments as well.

Afghanistan committee  Yes, foreign nationals abroad.