Canadian Government Settles Arar's Torture Lawsuit

The Canadian Government gave Maher Arar a long overdue apology and a financial settlement of $11.5 million* on Friday to compensate for the torture he underwent at the hands of the Syrian government after the US government sent him there using its practice of "extraordinary rendition" - partially relying on erroneous information supplied to them by the RCMP.

"On behalf of the government of Canada," Harper read from the letter sent to Arar, "I wish to apologize to you, Monia Mazigh, and your family for any role Canadian officials may have played in the terrible ordeal that all of you experienced in 2002 and 2003.

Note the word "may".

Justice O'Connor's inquiry into Mr Arar's nightmare concluded:

The Commissioner also found that both before and after Mr. Arar’s detention in the U.S. the RCMP provided American authorities with information about Mr. Arar which was inaccurate, portrayed him in an unfair fashion and overstated his importance to the investigation. Some of this inaccurate information had the potential to create serious consequences for Mr. Arar in light of American attitudes and practices at the time.

There is no "may" about it. Canadian officials did play a role in what happened to Mr Arar**.

Mr Arar's lawyer, speaking on his behalf, said he believes the amount of the financial settlement is fair.

Harper, not one to miss an opportunity to bash the former Liberal government (which was exonerated during the Arar inquiry which it set up) and who - along with other tories like Stockwell Day pushed the meme that Mr Arar a suspected terrorist while they were in the opposition - also said:

“Although the events leading up to this terrible ordeal happened under the previous government, our Government will do everything in its power to ensure that the issues raised by Commissioner O’Connor are addressed,”

This, coming from a tory government that refused to fire RCMP commissioner Zaccardelli and instead just waited for him to resign.

This, coming from a prime minister who, along with other members of his government, made these shameful statements about Mr Arar in the house of commons in 2002:

Mr. Stephen Harper (Leader of the Opposition, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, he said he did not know. It would be nice if there were somebody here to actually answer a question on this.

While the minister participated in high level consultations to defend a suspected terrorist, it apparently took a trip by the U.S. Secretary of State for the minister to admit what he really knew.

Officials now acknowledge that they have had evidence on Arar's activities for weeks. Why did it take a newspaper article to correct the record? Why did the minister and the government not reveal these facts to the House before today?

And this from Diane Ablonczy:

Mrs. Diane Ablonczy (Calgary—Nose Hill, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, it is time the Liberals told the truth: that their system of screening and security checks is pathetic. Arar was given dual Syrian and Canadian citizenship by the government. It did not pick up on his terrorist links and the U.S. had to clue it in.

How is it that the U.S. could uncover this man's background so quickly when the government's screening system failed to find his al-Qaeda links?
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Hon. John Manley (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I point out to the hon. member for Calgary--Nose Hill that Mohammed Atta, the conspirator behind the September 11 destruction of the World Trade Center, received his visa from U.S. authorities six months after September 11.
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Mrs. Diane Ablonczy (Calgary—Nose Hill, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, the government needs to take responsibility for what it is doing to protect Canadian security. The fact is that these Liberals were asleep at the switch.

Arar was not properly checked. Instead, the government ran around chastising the U.S. for sending Arar back to Syria, where he is also a citizen.

Why is it that the Liberal security system is so weak here that they overlook vital information that the U.S. picked up on a routine check?

And Stockwell Day:

Mr. Stockwell Day (Okanagan—Coquihalla, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Deputy Prime Minister gave an evasive answer concerning Maher Arar and his possible terrorist ties. As members know, a few months ago, the Minister of Foreign Affairs proudly announced that there was no reason to deport Mr. Arar. Now we know that the RCMP had received warnings about Mr. Arar weeks, perhaps months ago.

When did the Minister of Foreign Affairs receive these warnings?

Mr Arar and his lawyers gave what was at times a gut-wrenching press conference following the announcement of the settlement on Friday in which they praised the government for having resolved at least this matter finally. Still under contention are the US government's refusal to remove Mr Arar from their watch list along with his current lawsuit against the US government, the role of the Canadian press with regards to publishing leaks in the case (not to mention the fact that those who leaked the damaging information have not been punished), and the fact that there has not yet been an inquiry into the torture of 3 other Canadians in Syria.

Lawyer Julian Falconer choked up when he said that that Mr Arar's wife Monia had asked for a written apology so that when their children are old enough they can know he was innocent. Mr Arar said he sometimes uses Google to see what people and the press are saying about him and that it upsets him when he says the words terror suspect or former terror suspect still connected with his name. He prefers to see references to his status as a Canadian engineer.

So, Mr Arar, I will gladly refer to you as that whenever I write about you from this day on. My heart still breaks for you and your family.

Related: You can watch their press conference at CTV's site when it's up. (Update: the video is now available.)
CBC has a timeline of the Arar affair.
News release from the Prime Minister's office.
Reaction by US senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to today's announcement.


* During Maher Arar's press conference, lawyer Julian Falconer corrected the press reports stating that the settlement was $11.5 million plus $1 million for legal fees.

** Mr Falconer said the spirit of the apology was welcome even if the word "may" was used.