RCMP Reaction to Arar Commission Report

This is a follow-up to the September 18, 2006 post entitled Arar Commission Report Presented to Parliament.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli apologized today to Maher Arar and said he accepts all the recommendations of a report criticizing the federal police force's role in Arar's deportation to Syria.

The deportation in 2002 was at the hands of U.S. authorities who relied on faulty information from Canada that the Syrian-born Canadian engineer was suspected of terrorism. Arar was tortured in Syria before being returning to Canada after one year in prison in the Middle Eastern country.

The statement was made at a meeting of the House of Commons committee on public safety and national security, which is studying the report of a public inquiry on the Arar case led by Justice Dennis O'Connor.

O'Connor criticized the RCMP for giving misleading information to the U.S. He also fully exonerated Arar of any wrongdoing and said he was falsely accused:

"I am able to say categorically that there is no evidence to indicate that Mr. Arar has committed any offence or that his activities constitute a threat to the security of Canada... Canadian investigators made extensive efforts to find any information that could implicate Mr. Arar in terrorist activities... The results speak for themselves: they found none."

For more information, see the CBC website.

The transcript of the meeting of the House of Commons committee should appear under the heading "Evidence" shortly.