Canadian Afghan detainee abuse scandal
In November-December 2009, as Minister of Defence, MacKay had to deal with the Canadian Afghan detainee abuse scandal, around allegations of torture of Afghan prisoners handed over to Afghan officials after being arrested by Canadian soldiers. Richard Colvin, a senior diplomat testified in November 2009 before the Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan that he began warning the government about torture in Afghanistan in May, 2006. MacKay admitted that "there were deficiencies in the arrangement of how we transfer detainees". After almost a year, on May 3, 2007 a new transfer agreement between Canada and Afghanistan was signed, that allowed Canadian forces to monitor the treatment of detainees.
On December 5, 2009, MacKay said Canada was "trying to change the culture" in Afghanistan. When asked why it took more than a year to act on allegations of torture, MacKay said to the press that the government moved as fast as they could. "We acted almost immediately. In fact, upon taking government it became quite clear there were deficiencies in the arrangement of how we transfer detainees".[6]
On December 9, 2009, after the release of a letter signed by 23 ex-ambassadors that condemned Conservative attempts to discredit Colvin, the NDP demanded MacKay's resignation as Defence Minister, accusing him of misleading the House of Commons over what the government knew about the possible torture and what it did about the allegations [7]. Further online petitions have circulated demanding that MacKay resign as Minster of Defence. [8]
