OTTAWA — A special House of Commons committee focusing on the 2006-07 treatment of Afghan detainees should also examine the current treatment of Canadian-transferred Afghan detainees and their release from custody, sometimes back into the battlefield, New Democratic Party MP Paul Dewar said Monday.

He made the comment in an interview about a written statement by Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon that there have been 10 allegations of mistreatment of Canadian-transferred detainees in Afghan custody since the signing of a supplementary May 2007 agreement with Afghanistan on detainee transfers. Cannon also reported that there have been cases where detainees were released without notification to Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade as agreed in the 2007 accord.

The all-party special committee on the Canadian mission in Afghanistan, which reconvenes late afternoon Tuesday, has been primarily focused on allegations by Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin of torture of Canadian-transferred detainees in the 2006-07 period before the signing of the agreement. The committee is to discuss when to meet during the parliamentary recess and which witnesses to call.

“It is central to the work of the committee not just to get to the bottom of what happened in the past but what is happening now,” said Dewar, the NDP’s foreign affairs critic.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay said in Halifax Monday the release of Taliban detainees is “inevitably demoralizing” to Canadian Forces.

Dewar said the minister should be outlining “corrective action” to ensure Canada is informed of prisoner releases. He said the committee should look into what Cannon referred to as “a challenge” of getting advance notification from Afghan authorities on the release of Canadian-transferred prisoners.

Cannon’s written statement, tabled in the Commons last week, was in reply to Dewar’s questions about the implementation of the Supplementary Transfer Agreement. While Cannon said Foreign Affairs received 10 allegations of mistreatment — eight in fall 2007 and two this year — he wrote that “there has never been a proven allegation of abuse involving a prisoner transferred by Canadian Forces.”

Dewar said the committee should seek details of the Afghan investigation into those allegations and the sharing of the investigation details with Canadian authorities and the International Red Cross. The absence of any detail in Cannon’s statement prompted him to question the procedures and to propose the committee seek assurances.

The committee meeting Tuesday was scheduled at the behest of four opposition MPs. The meeting is scheduled to be held behind closed doors but Dewar will propose immediately that it be opened to the public. Opposition MPs have a majority on the committee, but Conservative MPs could use procedural tactics to delay a vote on the subject.

Liberals want to call Gen. Walter Natynczyk, the chief of defence staff, to testify about his admission last week that a Taliban suspect who was beaten by Afghan police had been in Canadian custody. A Defence Department spokesman said Monday there was no comment on that as the general has not received an official invitation to appear at the committee.

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