RCMP commissioner's resignation not enough, Maher Arar insists

The resignation of the RCMP commissioner alone won't ensure accountability on matters of national security, Maher Arar said Friday.

Arar spoke publicly for the first time since Giuliano Zaccardelli resigned Wednesday, under pressure for the RCMP's handling of Arar's case.

"It is only my hope that Justice [Dennis] O'Connor next week in his report will recommend an agency that can oversee the activities of all those departments that have to do with national security," Arar said from his home in Kamloops, B.C.

"The public deserves to have the full truth," he added. "Accountability is about more than one person, or one agency, or one government department."

Arar, a Canadian citizen who was born in Syria, was stopped at a New York airport on his way home from a vacation in September 2002. U.S. officials accused him of links to al-Qaeda and deported him to Syria, where he was imprisoned and tortured for months.

O'Connor, who led the public inquiry into Arar case, said in September that misleading information the RCMP provided "very likely" paved the way for U.S. officials to send the 36-year-old to Syria.

The judge found the RCMP broke rules designed to restrict and qualify the kinds of intelligence information they routinely exchange with their counterparts in the U.S.

Arar's lawyer, Julian Falconer, said Friday it is essential that the source of leaks to the media that smeared Arar's reputation be uncovered.

"These leaks had a devastating effect on my psychological, mental and financial well-being," Arar said. "We still do not know who these officials are and I am afraid that they will destroy other people's lives unless they are caught and held accountable."

Soon after O'Connor's findings were made public, Zaccardelli testified to a Commons committee that he learned about the incorrect information the RCMP had passed on and tried to correct the error during Arar's detention.

But earlier this week, Zaccardelli said he didn't learn about the incorrect information until after O'Connor's inquiry report was released. He resigned a day later, after serving as commissioner for five of his 36 years in the RCMP.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper declined to say Friday whether he believed an independent oversight agency was necessary, and said he would defer to the policy recommendations in the second phase of O'Connor's report, expected to be released next week.

"We'll probably take a fair amount of guidance from [the] conclusions," Harper said.

'Objective search'

The prime minister said the government would undertake a "thorough, professional and objective search" for Zaccardelli's successor.

In the House of Commons Friday, the Opposition continued to hammer Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day over the RCMP commissioner's inconsistencies and when the government first became aware of them.

Day pointed to O'Connor's report findings that a Liberal minister questioned whether Arar was in fact being tortured and the fact the solicitor general did not contact the Syrians about the Canadian citizen.

"It was horrifying how they mishandled this file," Day said.

Falconer characterized the government position since Zaccardelli testified in September as "observer status" and said the Conservatives shouldn't consider themselves off the hook.

He told CBC News that the government should make available portions of the O'Connor report that have yet to be released in order to restore public faith.

"There were many institutions involved in this sad tale," he said, citing CSIS and the Department of Foreign Affairs.

It is expected government officials will meet with Arar next week to begin talks about compensation.

While the House of Commons issued an apology in September, an official apology from the government could follow a settlement.