Cross-posted to the BlogsCanada E-Group.
On Apr. 7th of this year, in response to a complaint filed by Chair of the Commission for Public Inquiries Against the RCMP Shirley Heafey, an Assistant Commissioner of the RCMP named Ghyslaine Clément wrote a letter describing the RCMP's involvement in Maher Arar's detention and deportation. The contents of that letter, and the circumstances surrounding its original release, were the central issue of last week's proceedings in the inquiry.
Clément concluded that the Mounties had acted within the law in sharing information about Arar with American officials but noted that internal RCMP policy had been broken in several instances because the information was shared without the normal 'caveats', i.e. no 'holds' or restrictions were placed on the way in which American officials could use the information.
RCMP policy requires written conditions be attached to documents passed to foreign law-enforcement agencies stipulating that they not be given to anyone outside the "intelligence community of the receiving government."Clement was satisfied the inconsistencies did not result in the "improper divulgence" of information, nor the exchange of inaccurate material.
One is left to wonder whether this is the only instance in which RCMP policy has been contravened. It would be awfully coincidental if the only time this has happened involved the very case that has become fodder for a public inquiry. I don't believe in coincidences like that.
Clement said she would recommend the force implement an orientation program for all investigators assigned to national security probes to "better prepare" them for dealing with information exchanges.
Better late than never, I guess.
She concluded there were no discussions between RCMP members and U.S. officials as to whether Arar "ought or ought not" to be deported to Syria.
That's interesting when you recall media reports such as the one quoted in this transcript (pdf - p. 38).
Maher Arar was deported to Syria from the U.S. only after the RCMP informed American counterparts they didn't have enough evidence to detain or charge Mr. Arar if he was returned to Canada, CanWest News has learned.
This assumed more importance when it came to light that the version of the letter originally released to the public through an Access to Information Act request filed by Arar's lawyers had been edited. The full version, supplied to the inquiry, revealed that:
the RCMP was in direct communication with U.S. agencies during the crucial two-week period Maher Arar was jailed in that country before being deported to Syria
You've got to wonder why that interesting bit of info was left out of the version that was initially released, and why the Mounties are claiming that the public complaints commission did the editing while the commission is pointing the finger right back at the RCMP. Certainly Arar's lead counsel Lorne Waldman is wondering.
"What we see is an abuse of the power of the government officials to withhold information from the public," he said.When the inquiry reconvenes, Waldman wants the federal government to set the record straight about the RCMP's role in editing the document.
Paul Cavaluzzo, the independent inquiry's lead counsel, says he will make sure that happens.
Clément also stated that at no time did the RCMP share any information directly with Syrian officials, which leaves us to conclude that the apartment lease bearing Arar's signature that surfaced first in New York and then in Damascus was among the documents that were shared without the normal 'caveats'. (The lease itself isn't mentioned in the transcripts of last week's testimony unless Adobe's search feature is broken).
And while we're on the subject of edited reports, the infamous 89 page report on CSIS involvement in which every single word was blacked out received a little more attention.
This week Justice department lawyer Barbara McIsaac acknowledged "more was redacted than ought to have been redacted."
Gee, Babs, do you think? A new version is being prepared.
Testimony won't resume until July 19th. Aside from resolving the issue of who edited the report on the RCMP's involvement we have something else to look forward to.
Commission counsel Paul Cavalluzzo announced yesterday Toronto resident Muayyed Nureddin will appear as a witness.
Nureddin was detained in Syria last December and held for five weeks during which time he claims he was tortured. Cavalluzzo is hoping that the prospect of Nureddin's testimony will help to convince Syria to change it's mind about refusing to co-operate with the inquiry.
And just to follow up on my special Paul Cellucci edition post, Cellucci is now making noises about the possibility of some co-operation with the inquiry on the part of the American government although he's still suggesting that no American officials will actually testify or face cross-examination.
Pity.
