Iacobucci to be "vigilant" about secrecy level.

While Iacobucci says he will hold some hearings in public it remains to be seen what the scope of them will be and how much of the other processes are made public. Most of this inquiry will be a meeting of the Torys LLP law firm with the Tories. Even much of the Arar report was heavily censored oftn against the wishes of Justice O'Connor.

Terror inquiry head to be "vigilant’ about secrecy level

By The Canadian Press




OTTAWA — Former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci is promising to dig into the roles played by the RCMP and CSIS in the arrest and torture abroad of three Canadians accused of consorting with terrorists at home.

But the public may never see most of the details he unearths, because of tight restrictions placed on the inquiry in the name of national security.

In an opening statement Wednesday, Iacobucci acknowledged his work will "generally" be done behind closed doors under the terms of reference laid out for him by the Conservative government.

He expressed hope, however, that the secrecy won’t undermine public confidence in the proceedings.

"It was a condition of my accepting the role of commissioner that this is to be an independent inquiry," he said. "Having been a judge for some 17 years, I have a profound respect for the principles of independence and acting in the public interest."

Iacobucci went on to pledge to be "as vigilant as I can to ensure that the inquiry is as independent, thorough and fair as it can possibly be under the circumstances."

At issue are the ordeals of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El Maati and Muayyed Nureddin, all Canadian citizens of Muslim extraction who adamantly deny any terrorist links. They say their detention and mistreatment in Syria and Egypt resulted from misleading information supplied to those countries by Canadian police and security officers.

Iacobucci was appointed last December to get to the bottom of the affair. But the terms of reference announced by Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day define the probe as an "internal inquiry" and provide that most of the evidence be examined in private.

The terms do allow Iacobucci to conduct some public hearings if he considers them "essential" to his work, and he signalled Monday that he will take advantage of the opportunity.



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