Commissioner, I already said how I appreciate that you have accapted the criticisms, your intention to correct the situation and the excuses that you submitted to the Arar family, which I hope will be followed by others who should do the same.
However, I am very concerned over a fundamental issue after listening to your statement. As soon as you knew that Mr. Arar was in Syria, you asked to see the file. You knew that a mistake made by the RCMP had resulted in his ordeal. As everyone can tell, you let him rot for almost a year in a Syrian prison. Before the publication of the O'Connor Inquiry Report, most Canadians--not all--thought that Mr. Arar had terrorist links, but you knew that it was false.
How could you, as a police officer, leave in jail someone you knew to be innocent? It was you organization that triggered what led to his imprisonment.
Furthermore, seeing the numerous attempts to tarnish his reputation in order to justify his incarceration, why didn't you find a way to intervene and personally inform correctly the minister? You also knew that political authorities and the minister of that time seemed to believe those who told them that if Mr. Arar was not a terrorist he had at least terrorist links and was deep down partly responsible for his own situation.
Furthermore, I can see that the reform plans you have told us about have not been developed only after the release of Justice O'Connor's report. From what you told us, you knew that this was a serious problem to which you had already started to find some solutions.
Why didn't you make all possible efforts to see to it that Mr. Arar was returned to Canada and his reputation was repaired before the release of the report?