Maher Arar has thanked RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli both for his apology and for accepting the findings in Chief Justice O'Connor's recently released report.
But Arar is still awaiting an apology from the Canadian government.
Arar told reporters in a teleconference on Friday that he wants the people responsible for his deportation to Syria to be held accountable. He said his major concern is that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government may be sending the wrong message to Canadians if "people who do wrong [are allowed to] get away with it."
The Syrian-born Canadian was detained at the JFK airport in 2002 by U.S. immigration officials who suspected him of having links to al Qaeda. Arar was later deported to Syria where he was imprisoned and tortured for a year.
A recent inquiry headed by Justice Dennis O' Connor cleared Arar of any links to terrorist organizations and said that the RCMP had provided false and misleading information to U.S. officials who identified Arar as an Islamic extremist. After the release of the report, Zaccardelli publicly apologized for the RCMP's wrongdoing before a Commons committee.
The Harper government has refused to offer an apology before an agreement on Arar's compensation is reached.
Arar said the Commissioner's early intervention would have helped greatly when he was suffering in a "grave-like cell" in Syria. The RCMP's refusal to give his wife a letter stating he had no links to terrorist activities as well as sending confusing messages to U.S. authorities regarding his status compounded his problems with the Syrian authorities, Arar said.
"As a result, my family and I suffered terribly and we continue to suffer terribly."
While expressing disappointment that the Commissioner hadn't taken concrete steps to discipline those responsible and to restore public trust in the forces, Arar said he will not call for Zaccardelli's resignation or tell the government how they should restore public confidence in the system.
Arar said it was necessary to "look at the overall picture" to understand the RCMP's behavior in handling his case. He urged the Commissioner to support an independent investigation into other instances of Canadians being imprisoned and tortured, such as the case of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El Maati and Muayyed Nureddin, Arab-Canadian men who believe Canadian security officials colluded in their arrest and torture overseas.
"I wanted to ensure this would never happen to anyone else, but we now know it already has," Arar said.
Arar, who worked as a software engineer before being deported to Syria, hasn't been able to find employment in three years. He has instructed his lawyers to inform government lawyers that his request for an apology is not linked to financial compensation currently under consideration. He is also seeking Canadian help to clear his name with the U.S. authorities.
"This label sticks…I want to be able to travel freely and live like others."
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