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. Arar was innocent, from my point of view, and should not have been detained and deported to Syria. We made that very clear to Mr. Ashcroft. We asked the question, why did you deport him, but no answers were forthcoming. Mr. Ashcroft would maintain that they did it under their laws and they had the right to do so. I disagree with that. We argued that point strenuously.
On October 24th, 2006. See this statement in context.