OTTAWA, January 28, 2004 – The Honourable Anne McLellan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, today announced that Mr. Justice Dennis R. O'Connor will undertake a public inquiry into the Maher Arar matter. Mr. Justice O'Connor will assess the actions of Canadian officials in dealing with the deportation and detention of Mr. Arar. Mr. Justice O'Connor will also make recommendations on an independent, arm's length review mechanism for the RCMP's activities with respect to national security. This follows through on a commitment made by the Prime Minister on December 12, 2003 to create such a mechanism. Deputy Prime Minister McLellan will be asking the Governor in Council to appoint Mr. Justice O'Connor as a Commissioner under Part I of the Inquiries Act. He will have all the powers set out in the Act, including the authority to hold public hearings, summon witnesses and to gather such evidence as needed to conduct the inquiry. The details of the terms of reference will be finalized in consultation with Mr. Justice O'Connor and made public upon completion. Mr. Justice O'Connor is Associate Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal for Ontario and was the Commissioner of the Walkerton Water Inquiry. He has had a distinguished career as lawyer, professor and jurist. The Deputy Prime Minister also announced today that the Government is following through on its commitment to create a new National Security Committee of Parliamentarians. The Deputy Prime Minister announced her intention to engage Parliamentarians in a discussion of the mechanism and mandate of this new Committee. The Government will soon release a consultation paper. In the interim, the Prime Minister has offered to swear in Opposition Party Leaders who are members of the House of Commons as Privy Councillors to share the results of the reviews into the Arar matter, including those that are classified. Also, Justice Minister Irwin Cotler will ask Parliament to conduct a review of section 4 of the Security of Information Act. The new Security of Information Act retained the old offence of unauthorized disclosure under Section 4 from the Official Secrets Act. Section 4 of the Official Secrets Act has been largely untouched since 1939. -30- For further information: Farah Mohamed, Director, Communications Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness (613) 952-4902 Biography - The Honourable Dennis R. O'Connor The Honourable Dennis R. O'Connor is the Associate Chief Justice of the Province of Ontario and was Commissioner of the Walkerton Inquiry. Justice O'Connor graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1964, and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1966 and the Bar of Alberta in 1986. He practiced law until 1973 when he was appointed Magistrate in the Yukon Territories until 1976. From 1974 to 1976 he also served as a provincial judge in British Columbia and Deputy Magistrate for the Northwest Territories. In 1976, he became an associate professor of law at the University of Western Ontario, teaching criminal law, civil and criminal procedure and trial advocacy. From 1980 to 1998, he was partner and senior counsel at Borden & Elliot, a large Toronto law firm, practicing a broad range of litigation including commercial law, securities law, administrative law, constitutional cases and criminal law cases. From 1980 to 1984, he acted as the chief negotiator for the Government of Canada for the Yukon Indian Land Claim. He served two terms as an elected bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada beginning in 1987. In 1998, he was appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal, and in 2001 he was appointed Associate Chief Justice of Ontario. In June 2000, Justice O'Connor was appointed by the Province of Ontario to conduct a public inquiry into the causes of the contamination of the water system in Walkerton, Ontario. He was directed to make recommendations to ensure the safety of the Province's water system and delivered two reports in early 2002. Justice O'Connor is a member of the Canadian Judicial Council, Canadian Bar Association, the Advocates' Society and a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
