Not paying ransom is smart: former MP

OTTAWA • A former Liberal MP who was once tasked with helping Canadians abroad says the federal government did not pay ransoms under his watch.

And while it might not have made a difference, Dan McTeague wishes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had enunciated the government’s policy of not paying ransoms before John Ridsdel was murdered sooner.

“It is the right thing to have been said, I just wish it had been said before rather than after (Ridsdel’s death),” said McTeague, parliamentary secretary for consular affairs in 2003-06.

“It had not been said by a Canadian prime minister in a very long time. And sometimes when you’re in a desperate situation, it can leave the kidnappers with no doubt as to what we can and will not do.”

Ridsdel’s murder by an Islamic extremist group in the Philippines this week has sparked fierce debate and speculation over whether the federal government pays ransoms for Canadians who are abducted abroad, and whether it should.

During a press conference on Tuesday, Trudeau declared Canada “does not and will not pay ransom to terrorists, directly or indirectly.” Doing so would provide a source of revenue to terrorist organization, and encourage the kidnapping of even more Canadians, he said.

But U.S. diplomatic cables released through WikiLeaks and correspondence between two al-Qaida leaders obtained by The Associated Press make it clear the government has paid in the past, notably to free Canadian diplomats Robert Fowler and Louis Guay in 2009.

Gar Pardy, who was head of consular affairs at foreign affairs until 2003, has also said Canada has paid ransoms.

McTeague was not in government when Fowler and Guay were kidnapped, and so couldn’t say how they were released.

But he was in the hot seat when two Canadian peace activists were kidnapped in Iraq in November 2005, though the Conservatives were in power when they were released in March 2006.

One of the hostages later said he believed a ransom had been paid.

But McTeague said during the months he worked on the case, “it was really clear we were not going to be cross that line. ... In most circumstances, the government’s involvement was to try to find the best way to establish contact with the hostage takers.”

He could only speculate on what led to Ridsdel’s death, but he said it is smart policy for the government not to give in to ransom demands.

He also welcomed the prime minister reiterating that policy publicly. Doing so will not only help dissuade would-be kidnappers from abducting more Canadians, but also inform Canadians travelling abroad about what the government can and cannot do to do for them.