Mr. Speaker, in October I asked a question of the minister responsible for public security concerning the case of Maher Arar and matters before the inquiry but primarily related to the ongoing cloud of suspicion that hangs over the head of Mr. Arar and his young family.
Related to that, I was interested to note that last week the Ontario Superior Court ruled that the ruling of the previous court sealing certain information in the related case of Juliet O'Neill and the Ottawa Citizen against the Government of Canada violated the constitutional guarantees of, among other things, the public's right to an open court system. In this case, an inferior court had ruled that the reasons for the search of Juliet O'Neill's home and the seizure of certain property of hers would remain secret. That ruling has now been overruled by the Ontario Superior Court, but it raises some interesting questions related to the Arar inquiry and to Mr. Arar's case because one of the documents seized was Canada's security dossier on Maher Arar.
If these documents are now to be released to Juliet O'Neill and to the Ottawa Citizen's lawyers, I want to know if they will also be released to the subject of the documents, Mr. Arar himself.
I want to review a bit about this case because after more than two years Mr. Arar and his family continue to suffer the consequences of his seizure by American officials and his deportation to Syria without any notice to the Canadian government.
In my question in October I referred to the fact that as the inquiry progresses and as documents come out there are still innuendoes, insinuations of some criminal connection by this man. After two years, no charges have been laid and there is no way this man can clear his name. Given that my own views on certain matters in this case were misrepresented in a report provided to the government by a government official, I have to wonder whether we will provide Mr. Arar with his file so he can determine whether the contents of that file are accurate.
I believe the minister needs to act and needs to make sure that charges are laid so that Mr. Arar has the opportunity to clear his name or make an admission that there are no grounds to lay charges.