Public Safety committee  Justice O'Connor has said he doesn't know the source of the leak. That means all possibilities exist. Yes, Mr. Chairman, the RCMP obviously falls within that possibility.

Public Safety committee  Mr. Chairman, I know that leaks have occurred. The RCMP has launched an investigation on its own to find the source of these leaks. As Justice O'Connor has said, the source of these leaks is still unknown and the investigation on that issue is going on.

Public Safety committee  We shall proceed as we usually do in criminal investigations. We shall meet the Crown prosecutor and try to establish if formal accusations can be submitted. What occurred is disgraceful. Such leaks are illegal. We always investigate. As you know, it is still before the courts and we didn't have access to some documents that we would have liked to study after executing our search warrants.

Public Safety committee  Mr. Chairman, Justice O'Connor said in his report that mistakes have been made, but he also said that neither the RCMP nor any other Canadian participated in the decision to detain Mr. Arar in New York and send him to Syria.

Public Safety committee  When we learned what had occurred, we had discussions with the minister to inform him of the situation and we began to notify the authorities of what had happened in this case.

Public Safety committee  It was part of the investigation. The investigators had several discussions with the lawyer. The fact is that on some points, the RCMP investigators were ready to support what the lawyer requested, but there was a specific point on which they could not agree. This fact was raised in Justice O'Connor's inquiry.

Public Safety committee  Mr. Chairman, right after 9/11, the RCMP was involved in literally thousands of investigations related to matters of national security. There were many people who were the subject of investigations or discussions and so on. As I stated, I was not personally aware of this case.

Public Safety committee  Thank you for your question. As I explained to Mr. Cotler, this happened at the same time. It is when I was inquiring into what happened in Mr. Arar's case that I learned that our investigators were trying to correct the false information that had been conveyed to the U.S. authorities.

Public Safety committee  Mr. Chairman, as I have said, I learned that a mistake had been made, that the information concerning Mr. Arar was false, after Mr. Arar was imprisoned. At the same time, I learned that the investigators had made an effort to correct that false information, but it was after Mr. Arar was imprisoned.

Public Safety committee  Mr. Chairman, usually, the minister is not aware of criminal investigations conducted by the RCMP. I cannot make any comments concerning the exact information in the hands of the minister. Normally, when there is a national security investigation, which was the case, the minister is not informed of what the RCMP is doing in conducting a national security investigation.

Public Safety committee  I appreciate the question, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, with respect to what I knew about the mislabelling or false information concerning Mr. Arar, I was aware a serious investigation had been going on for some time. I was aware that there was a person in the file by the name of Mr.

Public Safety committee  Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. I have been looking forward to this opportunity to meet with the Committee in order to respond to the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar and to respond to your questions.

Public Safety committee  It can go into millions. These operations are very expensive, Ms. Freeman.

Public Safety committee  These are federal resources. Thanks to the government, we had a budget increase, which allows us to carry out more...

Public Safety committee  Not directly, because we have an overall budget.