Following the September 11 attacks , Canadian forces joined with multinational to pursue al-Qaeda in Afghanistan . President George W. Bush had also commended how Canada responded to the crisis . Among them included Operation Yellow Ribbon and the memorial service on Parliament Hill three days after 9/11 . In January 2002 , Chrétien together with the Defence Minister Art Eggleton were accused of misleading Parliament . When asked in Question Period if Canadian troops had handed over captured Taliban and al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan to the American forces amid concerns about the treatment of POWs at Guantanamo Bay , Chrétien stated this was only a " hypothetical question " that could not be answered as the Canadians had taken no POWs . Critics of the government such as Joe Clark then pointed out that in the previous week , the '' Globe & Mail '' had run on its front page a photo of Canadian soldiers turning over POWs to American troops . Eggleton maintained that he and the rest of the Cabinet been kept unaware that the Canadian Forces were taking POWs in Afghanistan and turning them to the Americans , claiming that he had only learned of the policy of handing over POWs several days after the photo had appeared in the '' Globe '' . When pressed by opposition critics about his apparent ignorance of what was Canada 's policy on turning over POWs captured in Afghanistan , Eggleton then claimed that he had not only forgotten that he had been briefed by senior bureaucrats that Canadian forces were to hand over POWs to the Americans , but that he had also forgotten to inform the Cabinet . When pressed by the opposition critics to fire Eggleton under the grounds that the Minister of Defence was either lying to Parliament or , if his story was true , that someone so forgetful should not be directing the Defence Department in the midst of a war , Chrétien informed the House of Commons that : " Myself , cabinet and the Liberal Party have confidence in the abilities and dedication of the Minister of National Defence " , and that Eggleton would stay on
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Jean Chrétien