Write your MP

Mr. Richardson:

I write you as one of your constituents.

I write to implore you to do everything within your power to get Parliament moving on from the endless chatter about the Afghan detainee issue and on to a substantive discussion about what Canada's role in Afghanistan should be post-2011. The Canada Afghanistan Committee, a parliamentary committee, as I understand it, is empowered to take the lead in development of a plan for Canada's role in Afghanistan post-2011. However, nowhere do we hear that they are moving forward with this.

Recently the Canadian Afghan Solidarity Committee (CASC), a citizen committee, has taken the lead in trying to fill this void and get Canadians and their representatives in Parliament focused on the need for immediate planning on this extremely important issue. The CASC website outlines a very extensive study they have done, both in Canada and Afghanistan, regarding how the many stakeholders view this issue. Their report can be found on their website.

Many of us have noticed that Peter MacKay seems to be a lone voice in talking about the need for Canada to continue to be involved both in training the Afghan military and police and in various essential areas of development in Afghanistan. CIDA appears to have put its funding of Canadian development projects in Afghanistan on hold. The whole picture is  ominous. We have spent so much in lives and aid over the last eight years to push the Taliban back and to bring Afghanistan into the modern era. Many believe that, without a plan for Canada's continued involvement in Afghanistan, these efforts will have been in vain and the Taliban will again come to power.

I am a director for Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (www.CW4Afghan.ca). You are doubtless aware of this organization, founded by Calgarians in 1996 and headquartered in Calgary. Through our partnerships with Afghans, we are supporting 50,000 children's schooling annually. We are training 1,000 teachers at present, with many more waiting. We have opened rural libraries and literacy classes.  The list goes on. So far, we have raised $3M for our Afghan projects. None of this goes into administration.

The Afghan Ambassador, speaking in Calgary as part of a a CASC/CW4WAfghan-sponsored panel on April 28, stated, "We need discussion in Canada about where Afghanistan is going, how important it is that Canada support us in some shape or form. The discussion is not happening because this story (of Canadian treatment of Afghan detainees) has totally dominated discussion in Parliament." Many of us see this ongoing talk about the detainee issue as pure avoidance of getting down to the real business at hand, answering the panel's central question: "Keeping Our Promises: What Should Canada's Role in Afghanistan Be Post-2011?'

PLEASE HELP US TO  MOVE THIS DISCUSSION FORWARD!

Respectfully,

(Dr.) Deborah W. Alexander