RCMP chief apologizes to Arar for 'terrible injustices'

RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelliapologizedto Maher Arar on Thursdayand said he accepts all the recommendations of a report criticizingthe RCMP'srole in the Canadian'sdeportation toSyria, where he was tortured.

"Mr. Arar,I wish to take this opportunity to express publicly to you and to your wife and to your children how truly sorry I am for whatever part the actions of the RCMP may have contributed to the terrible injustices that you experienced and the pain that you and your family endured," Zaccardelli said.

The RCMP commissioner made the statement attheHouse of Commonscommittee on public safety and national security, which islooking atJustice Dennis O'Connor's report on the Arar case.

"I accept the recommendations of the report without exception," Zaccardelli told the committee.

This is his first public statement aboutthe report, which was released on Sept. 18. While there have been accusations that Zaccardelli was being muzzled by the government, he dismissed those suggestions.

"Absolutely not," he said, adding thathebelieved thecommittee was the appropriate forum to comment onreport, which blasted the RCMP for passing along inaccurate and misleading information to the U.S. aboutArar. O'Connor said that information "very likely" led tothe engineer's arrest and deportation.

Zaccardelli won't resign

While some critics have said Zaccardelli shouldlose his job over the RCMP's handling of the case, he said hewill not offer his resignation.

While admitting the RCMP committed errors, Zaccardelli said it happened during the confusing and challenging days in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001,attacks.

"Of course, this doesn't excuse or allow us to avoid facing head-on the ramifications of that time. But the fact is, we were in a very different world on Sept. 12."

O'Connor found the RCMP had unfairly identified Arar and his wife to U.S. authorities as "Islamic extremists" with links toal-Qaeda.

Zaccardelli recounted his personal history with the case, saying that in 2002, hehad some knowledge of the investigation into Arar and that he knew he was considered a person of interest.

But hesaid hedidn't become involved until after Arar was already in jail in Syria. Zaccardelli said he learned that RCMPinvestigators had been trying to correct the false information that had been given to the Americans.

When asked whetherheshould have known earlier about Arar's case, Zaccardelli said the Mounties conducted thousands of national security investigations following the Sept. 11 attacks, and he couldn't have followed them all.

The agency has learned "valuable lessons" since Arar's ordeal and "some of them we learned painfully," the commissioner added.

He told the committee the RCMP has already set about reforming the way it conducts its operations.

Arar, an engineer who was born in Syria,was travelling back to his home in Ottawa from a family vacation in Tunisia in September 2002 when he was detained during a stopover in New York City. Within days, he was sent to Syria, where he says government officials held him, tortured him and kept him in jail for 10 months. U.S. authorities had accused Arar of having terrorist links.

Inquiry cleared Arar

O'Connor, whochaired a public inquiry into the case, cleared Arar of any wrongdoing and said he was falsely accused.

He was very critical of the RCMP on several fronts, concluding:

• Senior officers should have monitored less experienced officers more closely.
• The force should have supported efforts by the Department of Foreign Affairs to secure Arar's release from Syria.
• The RCMP failed to provide accurate information to the federal government about its national security investigation into Arar.

O'Connor found the RCMP had unfairly identified Arar and his wife Monia Mazigh to U.S. officials.

O'Connor's reportalso slammed Canadian officials for leaking "confidential and sometimes inaccurate information aboutthe case to the media for thepurpose of damaging Mr. Arar'sreputation or protecting theirself-interests or government'sinterests."

But Zaccardelli insisted to the committee that he did not know the sourceof the leaks and that they only came to his attention when Arar's family raised concerns.

"It is deplorable what happened. We deplore it," he said, adding that the source of the leak continues to be an ongoing investigation by his agency.

Later at a news conference, Zaccardelli said no one on the force has been disciplined over the Arar affair. He pointed out that O'Connor said none of the mistakes were done out of malice or intent to hurt anyone.

He said the errors have been reviewed and those responsible have undergone training to avoid repeating their mistakes.