Is Our RCMP Commissioner Being Muzzled?

If you watched CTV's Question Period (videos) on Sunday, the highlight of which was Craig Oliver's interview with Maher Arar who choked up over the fact that the Arar commission revealed that his wife and children were also on the terrorism watch list when he was, you had to wonder why our prime minister has not yet formally apologized and why RCMP commissioner Zaccardelli has remained silent about the findings of the Arar inquiry.

One guest after another stated that they believe Zaccardelli has been muzzled by this Conservative government since he typically is one who doesn't shy away from controversy or the public spotlight. What would it have taken for Zaccardelli to simply have publicly acknowledged the results while saying that he needed to have a closer look at those findings to implement the suggested changes?

It seems quite odd that the Conservatives would silence a Liberal appointed RCMP commissioner, but one commenter expressed what may be behind this muted reaction: the possibility that the Harper government does not want to risk its new, cozy relationship with the Bush administration by saying any more than it absolutely has to about the rendition and torture of Mr Arar, thus embarassing US officials.

Sunday's Globe and Mail has a long, rambling piece about Zaccardelli's rise to his current position that almost reads like an obituary and it may end up being just that - his political obituary at least. But it also highlights the culture of secrecy within the RCMP.

In his five years at the top, Commissioner Zaccardelli has acquired many admirers in the international law-enforcement community. The FBI liaison officers in Canada speak highly of his professionalism and that of the force.

But he has also made a few enemies, including Shirley Heafey, the former chair of the RCMP Public Complaints Commission. She says Mr. Zaccardelli made her job impossible, withholding information that she said was vital to her investigations of police conduct.

That secrecy has been the other side of Mr. Zaccardelli and the police force he leads. While he says police have to live up to high standards, he has also stated he has never very much liked "the cult of accountability" that has led the public to lose faith in police.

"This change has been fed by a scandal-mongering media, the immediate availability of facts without interpretation or analysis as a result of Internet," he said. The results, according to Mr. Zaccardelli, is a lot of time and money is spent scrutinizing police, officer morale takes a hit, and detectives become averse to risk for fear of generating a bad headline.

That 'cult' happens to be reality, or at least that's what this Conservative government wants you to believe, and its now time for Zaccardelli to come clean. Where does the buck stop in the RCMP apparatus? Although several pundits and MPs now claim that the RCMP were not prepared to deal with the type of intelligence work they were forced into as a result of 9/11, nothing can excuse shoddy investigations and the reports eventually shared with US security services that sealed Mr Arar's fate as a result. A one year old baby on a terrorist watch list? What were they thinking?

Zaccardelli was in charge at the time and he, along with his force's members who misled the Americans are responsible for what ultimately happened in Syria and they all need to be held accountable. It's just that simple.

More trouble for Zaccardelli: RCMP Probe Sparks Furor

A new threat to embattled RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli's future as Canada's top officer is emerging from inside the ranks of his own police force.

An internal probe into alleged nepotism, misappropriation of pension funds, contracting irregularities, dereliction of duty, harassment and improper hiring practices concluded last week with Zaccardelli admitting time has run out to impose disciplinary action on four senior members of the force.
[...]
All Zaccardelli has offered is a "lessons-learned exercise" to explore ways to avoid a repeat of the dragged-on probe.

"That's a joke," says the officer who first demanded Zaccardelli launch the investigation in 2001, and who endured a five-year gauntlet of inaction, red tape, cancelled investigations and staff changes before the probe crawled to its incomplete conclusion.

Will the Cons keep on covering his ass or will they force him to resign?