U.S. Assures Canada of Future Consultations Before Deporting Canadian Citizens to 3rd Countries

On October 31, 2006, the New York Times reported that the Canadian government is “satisfied” with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice’s October 27, 2006 assurance that the U.S. will consult with the Canadian government before sending any Canadian citizen to a third country against his will. André Lemay, a spokesman for Canadian foreign minister Peter MacKay, said that Rice had send the letter in response to the Canadian’s governments October 6, 2006 protest of the treatment of Maher Arar. Arar, a Canadian citizen, was detained at JFK Airport in New York in connection with a terrorist investigation and subsequently sent to Syria. He claims he was tortured in Syria, an allegation supported by a recently-concluded Canadian government investigation. Arar filed a civil suit against the U.S. government in U.S. court, but failed to convince a judge not to dismiss his case...[more]