Public Safety committee  If you go back to Commissioner Zaccardelli's testimony, you'll see that he indicated that one of the most difficult investigations is leaks. I do know that there was a very strenuous investigation into the leaks, and that's probably ongoing. That's a question this committee asked Commissioner Zaccardelli, and he's a far better person to answer it than I.

Public Safety committee  We'll have to see what the committee looks like when its structure and form come out. As a number of other members around here did, I sat on a committee that looked at oversight and made some recommendations in that regard, and as I said in the beginning, we definitely need one in this country.

Public Safety committee  It isn't a problem.

Public Safety committee  Let's be clear--

Public Safety committee  Just let's be absolutely clear. With respect to Mr. Arar and the decision by the U.S. to detain and deport, we did complain strenuously to the U.S., to Mr. Ashcroft. We--or I did, at least--operated under the view that they violated international law in terms of what they did. Mr.

Public Safety committee  I think the problem is that we get into judgment calls here. Justice O'Connor covers that in some detail. But I can tell you this, absolutely--and it's quoted in, I think, volume 3--Attorney General Ashcroft indicated to me that no, the information was not just from Canada.

Public Safety committee  There were questions from all parties, yes.

Public Safety committee  They ranged across the map. In my own party they would range from the civil liberty point of view to whether we were doing enough to fight the national security issues worldwide.

Public Safety committee  The government did not block the efforts to free Arar. From the very beginning--and this would be a better question for the Department of Foreign Affairs--Foreign Affairs worked in New York to try to ensure that Arar came to Canada. We were under the opinion that Arar would be coming to Montreal, and Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister's Office worked strenuously to get Arar back to Canada.

Public Safety committee  I think we certainly did probe it. We raised the questions with the RCMP that needed to be raised. I think the best source of whether we were strenuous enough is to go to Justice O'Connor's report; he's the one who has all the information. I think that yes, there were some lessons learned, and that's why I agree with all the recommendations that Justice O'Connor suggests.

Public Safety committee  Let me backtrack a little bit on that, Mr. Ménard. That would have been very late in my time as Solicitor General, and that would have been at least their allegation at one point in time.

Public Safety committee  Yes.

Public Safety committee  Mr. Ménard, I think a person of interest could lead anywhere, from being absolutely innocent to being a terrorist. It could lead in any direction. It means that there's information there that leads a law enforcement agency to have an interest in this individual, based on connections or whatever else, which may lead somewhere.

Public Safety committee  That is correct.

Public Safety committee  Yes, I believe it did.