The Canadian military has arranged to monitor the prisoners it hands over to Afghan security forces to ensure they are not tortured, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor said Wednesday.

Canadian Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor, right, and Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier appeared before the Commons foreign affairs committee Wednesday in Ottawa.
(Tom Hanson/Canadian Press)

"We have, in the last few days, entered into a local agreement in the Kandahar province to enter the detention facilities any time we want," O'Connor said.

He made his announcement while being grilled by the House of Commons foreign affairs committee about the latest allegations of prisoner torture in Afghanistan.

Thirty Afghan detainees have claimed they were beaten, whipped, frozen and starved once they were transferred from the custody of the Canadian military to Afghan security forces.

Since the allegations were published in the Globe and Mail on Monday, O'Connor has come under fire daily in the House of Commons, with opposition MPs repeatedly demanding his resignation.

On Wednesday, the opposition MPs who sit on the Senate committee were equally critical. Francine Lalonde of the Bloc Québécois demanded to see proof of the new agreement to monitor detainees.

"Please show it to us," she told O'Connor. "I don't believe anything that's said. I want to see it in writing."

"It's time to tell us the truth," she added. "Now if you don't want to step aside, step down, then change please."

O'Connor dismissed her comments and did not elaborate on the agreement.

"Madam, you can do your histrionics all you want. I only speak the truth," he said.

Report contrasts Harper's claim

Earlier Wednesday, O'Connor and the Conservatives came under fire in the House of Commons over a Foreign Affairs report that suggests the government knew prisoners faced the possibility of torture once they were transferred to Afghanistan security forces.

The report contrasts the claim Prime Minister Stephen Harper made Tuesday, when he told the House of Commons that the government has not been made aware of any problems following a prisoner transfer.

The report, published Wednesday by the Globe and Mail, suggests the Canadian Embassy in Kabul warned the government last year about Afghanistan's poor human rights record and the fact that torture may be used in the country's justice system.

The newspaper requested the document through the Access to Information Act and, when it arrived, several paragraphs were blackened out, according to the Globe and Mail.

'Who ordered the coverup?'

Liberal MP Michael Ignatieff said Wednesday that the report is proof the government has always known transferred prisoners could face torture.

"It's impossible to believe they did not know," Ignatieff said. "We now have a report, by officials, warning the Conservative government of torture abuse and murder in those prisons.

"Who among the prime minister, the minister of defence and the minister of foreign affairs saw the report and, above all, who ordered the coverup?" he asked.

Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said he didn't have a copy of the report on Monday, when he said he was unaware of any reports of torture.

"I have now since reviewed the report," he said. "Having said that, of course we take these matters extremely seriously."

He said he is in constant contact with officials in Afghanistan and has asked them to look into the claims of abuse.

Canada and Afghanistan agreed in December 2005 to allowed the prisoner transfers to take place.

In February, the Canadian military signed an agreement with the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission stating the commission will monitor transferred detainees on Canada's behalf.