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| Sep. 28, 2004. 01:00 AM |
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Ottawa forgot history when it rushed to appease U.S. and put the RCMP back into the tricky business of spying JAMES TRAVERS It would be reassuring if the events that landed Maher Arar in a Syrian prison could be safely blamed only on RCMP incompetence. After all, that's an organizational virus that can often be cured with cash and the rigid application of professional standards. But the truth is that Arar's suffering at the hands of notoriously unscrupulous interrogators, as well as the implied threat to other Canadians, is rooted in a deeper problem. Arar, who has yet to be found guilty of anything more serious than keeping suspect company, is primarily a victim of political expediency.In the post-Sept. 11 stampede to calm fears on both sides of 49th parallel, the federal government ignored the painful lessons of the past and badly blurred what must be a clear line between law enforcement and state security. Instead of keeping separate operations that are only superficially similar, Jean Chrétien's administration put the federal police force back into the tricky business of spying.The sadly predicable result is now on the public record. Despite heavy censorship, an internal report by RCMP Chief Superintendent Brian Garvie leaves no doubt that the fabled horsemen were unprepared for their sudden re-entry into the radically changed world of counterterrorism.Less than a year after Ottawa responded to the attacks on New York and Washington with omnibus legislation, the RCMP improperly leaked information about a Canadian citizen to U.S. officials who later shipped him to a country known to use torture to get answers. Among its many failures, the RCMP provided classified information without proper safeguards or high-level approval and, in the case of one liaison officer, did nothing after learning Arar would be deported.Those egregious errors held real-life consequences for Arar and should raise new doubts about the federal government's easy willingness to share with the U.S. private information about other travellers. But what's even more troubling is that politicians had all the evidence they needed to avoid putting their own citizens at risk.Beginning in 1977 and at great public expense, the MacDonald Commission took a hard look at the RCMP and concluded that its practices didn't always match its carefully cultivated Dudley Do-Right persona. Along with breaking laws and investigating groups that only threatened partisan political interests, the force's security service also wilfully mislead its political masters.For those who have forgotten, the commission recommended divorcing the work of bringing criminals to justice from the more subtle, less finite task of insulating the nation from threats that are often as uncertain as they are obscure. Ottawa listened, and in 1984 created the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) along with intrusive controls intended to keep it, too, from running rogue. By pushing all that aside, the federal government made the RCMP as well as all Canadians vulnerable. It opened a second intelligence front easily exploited by foreign intelligence services, and made exchanging sensitive information between allies even more problematic. So it's no surprise that the RCMP got into so much trouble so fast. Nor is it startling that the force again misled the country and cabinet with its " Who, us?" response when the Arar affair first tested the foolish notion that national security always trumps personal privacy.Finding and holding that fine balance between state interests and personal rights is a skill the RCMP sadly lacked when it was again asked to shine a light into the shadows. It has presumably learned a few things since thenBut that's cold comfort for Arar and for other Canadians who have ample reason to worry just how far the Mounties are willing to go to get their man. That worry is exacerbated by the fact that the RCMP still operates under less scrutiny than CSIS and far less than the MacDonald Commission decided was necessary to limit the excesses of an agency with enormous power to poke around in private lives. With the U.S. understandably refusing to co-operate with a Canadian inquiry, its unlikely the current probe will provide much more useful information than is in now in the public domain. Still, it can provide a needed service by focusing public attention on a security apparatus that must protect citizens as well as the nation.Only that attention will force the federal government to make a tough decision. It must either admit it goofed when it again made spooks of flatfoots or impose on the RCMP levels of political control that may be inappropriate for an organization whose primary responsibility is cuffing criminals — some who have friends in high paces.In its rush to appease Uncle Sam and make Canadians feel safe, the federal cabinet made the wrong decision for the wrong reasons. Driven by expediency, it forgot history and is now condemned to repeat it. James Travers writes on national affairs. His column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. jtraver@thestar.ca. Additional articles by James Travers |
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