The Globe and Mail has a report on yesterday's proceedings of the parliamentary committee following up on the Arar inquiry. The subject of the day was the leaking to the media by anonymous sources that was designed to smear Maher Arar and suggest that he really was a terrorist. And the two primary witnesses were Margaret Bloodworth, national security advisor to the Prime Minister, and William Elliott, associate deputy minister for public safety.
Ms. Bloodworth said she didn't know what more the government could do than let the RCMP investigate. Officials who betray the trust of the government by leaking information will lie about what they did, she added.Mr. Elliott told the committee that leaking information is a "breach of our fundamental values" within government.
Speaking with reporters later, Mr. Elliott said he thought there was nothing strange about letting the RCMP investigate itself.
"I don't think there is any indication the RCMP were the leakers," Mr. Elliott said.
Wouldn't the whole point of an investigation be to actually determine whether there's "any indication" that the RCMP — or anyone else — was involved? Don't you compromise the investigation at the outset by assuming that the RCMP, who were primary actors in the affair, are innocent and therefore in a position to conduct the investigation? Do we really have senior civil servants who are completely oblivious to the conflict of interest here? Will Justice O'Connor's head explode? Mine might.
Leave a comment