Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Thursday his department invested many hours and resources into freeing two Canadian diplomats kidnapped in Africa, but he reserved comment on claims that the families of the missing men were treated poorly by an RCMP official.
Diplomat Robert Fowler and his aide Louis Guay were kidnapped in Niger in 2008 and spent four months in captivity. According to Fowler, the families of the two men were kept in the dark about video evidence that provided proof they were still alive.
Fowler writes about the affair in his new book, "A Season In Hell: My 130 Days in the Sahara With Al Qaeda."
While Fowler has thanked Foreign Affairs for their work on freeing him, the diplomat alleges that his family was stonewalled by the RCMP when they requested information about Fowler.
He also accuses the RCMP treated his family poorly when an officer involved in the case rejected inquiries about a ransom demand.
"This senior RCMP guy slams the table and points his finger across at her and says 'If you think that as long as I'm in charge of this case, one red cent is going to be paid to release a couple of high muckety-mucks, you're out of your mind,'" Fowler told CTV's Roger Smith this week.
Fowler added that his wife and Guay's wife were "destroyed."
Questions continue to swirl about whether or not Canadian officials paid a ransom to free the two men. Officials steadfastly say that Canada did not pay any ransom, but some observers have suggested that a ransom may have been paid through another nation. Fowler was a special UN envoy to Niger at the time, and Guay was his aide.
The RCMP has referred calls about the incident to Foreign Affairs.
Responding to Fowler's allegations, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said that he will need time to read the book before issuing any comment.
"I'll do him the courtesy of reading the book before I come to conclusions. See what he has to say before I react. I think that's the responsible thing to do."
Lawrence Canon was the minister in charge at the time of the kidnapping.
But Fowler said that the treatment his family describes was unacceptable, given that he was doing the government's work abroad.
"We weren't tourists in Niger -- we were sent there to do the nation's business and the international community's business."
Plus, Fowler said that he and Guay were debriefed by the UN after their release, but never by Canadian officials. And despite his complaints, he fears the next time a hostage is taken, the support from Ottawa won't be any better.
"All I can say is, I hope so, but I certainly have no knowledge it would be."
NDP Foreign Affairs critic Jack Harris said that from the sounds of it, Fowler's family was subject to "very shabby treatment."
However, Harris was also concerned that the government didn't debrief Fowler and Guay after their eventual release.
"We need to have lessons learned around here so we don't have more complaints in the future and the government actually learns things from what happened," he said.
Fowler and Guay were kidnapped on Dec. 14, 2008. Officials found their car abandoned 50 kilometres northeast of Niamey, which is the capital of Niger.
Their driver, Soumana Moukaila, was also kidnapped but was released in March 2009.
The Canadians were released on April 21 of that year.
