RCMP Watch

Greg Weston, Toronto Sun

RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli has again landed up to his expensive boot-tops in manure over the Maher Arar fiasco after one of his former ministerial bosses rode roughshod over the top cop’s testimony before a parliamentary committee.

This week, former solicitor-general Wayne Easter flatly denied Zaccardelli’s claim the Mounties had briefed their political masters on the shameful act of police deception that resulted in Arar’s spending a torturous year in a Syrian dungeon.

“I was not so informed,” Easter told the same Commons committee this week. “And I will state that again. I was not so informed.”

If Easter is right — and there is plenty to suggest he may well be — the latest revelation is bound to renew opposition howls for the chief Horseman’s head. And so it should.

The small point which Easter claims the Mounties neglected to share with him was that they had provided U.S. security officials with fabricated information on Arar, falsely accusing the Canadian engineer of being an Islamic extremist and suspected al-Qaida terrorist.

A public inquiry headed by Justice Dennis O’Connor recently concluded the RCMP knew their accusations were baseless, and that the information likely resulted in the Americans’ nabbing Arar and shipping him to Syria.

Zaccardelli recently testified to the Commons committee reviewing the O’Connor report that he personally learned about the RCMP screw-up not long after Arar had been deported in fall 2002 and the force “had discussions with the minister to inform him of the situation.”

No way, says Easter. After consulting with former ministerial staffers and reviewing his old briefing notes , the former solicitor-general told the committee this week: “There was no situation where the RCMP came to me and basically said, ‘We screwed up. We provided improper information.’”

In fact, Easter said, the first he knew of the Mounties’ malfeasance was when he read about it last month in the O’Connor report, four years after the fact.

So who’s telling the truth?

In Easter’s case, it is possible he was not kept in the dark by anyone — it more or less came naturally.

It is also not beyond credibility to surmise someone on Easter’s staff deliberately kept the information from him, thereby shielding him behind plausible ignorance precisely in the event the whole Arar mess blew up.

Another possibility is Zaccardelli took Easter for a musical ride during the Arar affair, and just took MPs for another one at committee.

The O’Connor report certainly chronicles numerous instances where the Mounties misled government officials, and were still describing Arar as a terror suspect months after Zac became aware of the deception and its consequences.

Zaccardelli’s testimony at committee wasn’t exactly inspirational. For the record, here are some excerpts during questioning by Bloc Quebecois MP Serge Menard.

Menard: “When the minister enquired about the matter, why didn’t you let him know that you were convinced mistakes had been made, and that Mr. Arar was not a terrorist, that there was no reason to send him to a country where he might probably be tortured?”

Zaccardelli: “I learned that a mistake had been made, the information concerning Mr. Arar was false, after Mr. Arar was imprisoned.”

Menard: “Didn’t you realize, at any time, that the minister believed that Mr. Arar was a terrorist when you knew he was not?”

Zaccardelli: “Usually, the minister is not aware of criminal investigations conducted by the RCMP. I cannot make any comments concerning the exact information in the hands of the minister.”

Menard: “Didn’t you think it was important even then to correct the damage to Mr. Arar’s reputation?”

Zaccardelli: “When we learned what had occurred, we had discussions with the minister to inform him of the situation, and we began to notify the authorities of what had happened in this case.”

Understandably, the Commons committee is not amused, and is planning to trot Zac back to the hot seat to explain himself.

Alternatively, Stephen Harper could do the right thing and make the Horsemen headless.