Country Split as 51% Don't Believe Canadian Officials or Military Knowingly Transferred Prisoners to Afghanistan Forces Who May Have Inflicted Torture

Toronto, ON - The country is split on whether Canadian officials knowingly transferred prisoners to Afghanistan forces who may have inflicted torture, according to a new Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of Canwest News Service and Global National.

One half (51%) of Canadians `agree' (14% strongly/37% somewhat) that they `do not believe Canadian officials or our military knowingly had transferred Afghanistan prisoners to Afghan security forces who may have inflicted torture on these prisoners'. Conversely, the other half (49%) of Canadians `disagree' (15% strongly/34% somewhat) that they do not believe Canadian officials knowingly transferred prisoners who may then have been tortured.

The poll was taken in the days following a hastily convened news conference by Chief of Defence Staff Walter Natynczyk where he indicated that, despite his assertions to the contrary at a House of Commons Committee appearance the previous day, there was now a military field note suggesting that Canadian Forces personnel had reason to believe that Afghan forces were inflicting abuse on prisoners.

This appeared to contradict assertions made by Defence Minister Peter MacKay that no credible evidence existed that prisoners being handed over to Afghanistan forces by Canadians were in danger of being tortured.

It appears that this issue is indeed of importance to most Canadians as just four in ten (38%) `agree' (15% strongly/23% somewhat) that they personally don't care if Canadian officials knowingly transferred Afghanistan prisoners to security forces who then may have tortured the prisoners. Conversely, a majority (62%) `disagrees' (30% strongly/33% somewhat) that they `personally don't care if Canadian officials or our military knowingly had transferred Afghanistan prisoners to Afghan security forces who then may have inflicted torture on these prisoners'.

Despite the blemish that these allegations could bring upon the Canadian Armed Forces and the Government of Canada, almost all (92%) Canadians `agree' (68% strongly/25% somewhat) that they are `proud of our men and women serving in our Canadian Armed Forces'. Just 8% `disagree' (3% strongly/5% somewhat) that they're proud of the men and women who serve in the Armed Forces.

In fact, support for Canada's men and women in uniform is up 10 points since July of this year, and 13 points since 2007.

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted on November 9th and 10th, 2009, on behalf of Canwest News Service and Global National. For this survey, a national sample of 1,038 adults from Ipsos' Canadian online panel was interviewed online. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics and ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. A survey with an unweighted probability sample of this size and a 100% response rate would have an estimated margin of error of +/-3.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20 of what the results would have been had the entire population of adults in Canada been polled. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

Canadians Split on Whether Officials Had Knowledge of Possible Torture...

While Canadians on the whole are split on whether Canadian officials knowingly had transferred Afghanistan prisoners to Afghan security forces who then may have inflicted torture on these prisoners, some Canadians are more likely than others to believe that officials did not have knowledge of these events:

• Residents of Saskatchewan and Manitoba (66%) are most likely to believe that Canadian officials did not have knowledge of these events, followed by those living in Ontario (52%), Quebec (50%), British Columbia (48%), Alberta (48%) and Atlantic Canada (43%).
• Conversely, Atlantic Canadians (57%) are most likely to believe that Canadian officials did have knowledge of these events, followed by those living in British Columbia (52%), Alberta (52%), Quebec (50%), Ontario (48%), and Saskatchewan and Manitoba (34%).
• Interestingly, six in ten (60%) of those with a university education believe that officials did have knowledge of possible torture, compared to 49% of those with some postsecondary education, 47% of those without a high-school diploma and 45% of those with only a high-school diploma who believe the same.

Majority (56%) of Albertans Don't Care About Issue...

While only four in ten (38%) Canadians personally don't care if Canadian officials or our military knowingly had transferred Afghanistan prisoners to Afghanistan security forces who then may have inflicted torture on these prisoners, six in ten (62%) do care about the issue. However, Canadians in some region are less likely to care about this issue than others:

• A majority (56%) of Albertans agree that they don't care about this issue, making them the only jurisdiction wherein a majority feels this way. A minority of British Columbians (41%), Ontarians (38%), residents of Saskatchewan and Manitoba (36%), Atlantic Canada (36%) and Quebec (28%) don't care about these allegations.

Support for Troops Widespread...

Overall, nine in ten (92%) agree that they are proud of our men and women serving in the Canadian Armed Forces, a feeling that transcends all regions across the nation:

• Ontarians (97%) and Atlantic Canadians (97%) are the most likely to be proud of the men and women serving in the Canadian Forces, followed by those living in Saskatchewan and Manitoba (91%), Alberta (90%), British Columbia (89%), and Quebec (87%).

For more information on this news release, please contact:
Darrell Bricker, PhD
President and CEO
Ipsos Reid
Public Affairs
(416) 324-2001
[email protected]

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