RCMP kept tabs on public pulse as Arar affair picked up steam – Force counted newspaper editorials, letters calling for resignation of commissioner
OTTAWA, ONTARIO – Months before Giuliano Zaccardelli resigned as RCMP commissioner in the wake of the force’s involvement in the Maher Arar case, the RCMP was closely monitoring calls in the media for the commissioner to quit.
Mr. Zaccardelli’s resignation from the force on Dec. 6, 2006, has been closely linked with the RCMP’s involvement in Mr. Arar’s case. But more than two months before he submitted his resignation, the RCMP was cataloguing the tone and placement of editorials and opinion pieces dealing with the O’Connor inquiry into the deportation and torture of Mr. Arar in Syria, with a special focus on how many pieces called on Mr. Zaccardelli to quit.
“The Commissioner remains under fire in the press, with three editorials calling for him to be replaced,” reads an Oct. 2, 2006, RCMP newspaper update. “Three letters also called for a resignation.”
Federal departments and agencies often monitor media reports. However, the RCMP newspaper-monitoring documents, obtained by Ottawa researcher Ken Rubin, show the force was well aware of the intense public scrutiny it was under at the height of the Arar affair, and paid close attention to what was being said publicly.
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