Richard Proulx (RCMP officer)
Encyclopedia
Richard Proulx, is a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...

 (RCMP) Assistant Commissioner. He was the head of national security investigations at RCMP headquarters in 2003 during the "Arar Affair".

Role in the Maher Arar case

He is the official singled out in the Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar
Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar
The Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar was a public inquiry investigating the rendition and torture of Maher Arar released on September 18, 2006. The findings of this Commission are part of Report on the events Related to Maher Arar, also known...

, also known as the Arar Report for failing to provide these clear directions on information sharing policies

On September 25, 2003, appearing before the Canadian Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Proulx, then the RCMP Assistant Commissioner refused to discuss case with MPs.The Committee wanted to know what was the role of the RCMP in the case of Maher Arar
Maher Arar
Maher Arar is a telecommunications engineer with dual Syrian and Canadian citizenship who resides in Canada. Arar's story is frequently referred to as "extraordinary rendition" but the U.S. government insisted it was a case of deportation.Arar was detained during a layover at John F...

. The RCMP had provided information that led the United States to send Maher Arar to Syria, where he was tortured. Asssitant Commissioner Richard Proulx, the head of national security investigations at RCMP headquarters, had urged an official communication from the Americans that the RCMP had not that Maher Arar be sent to Syria.

On July 27, 2005, the Canadian Press reported that Proulx, the assistant commissioner of the RCMP, instructed staff to withhold important information from Canada's foreign affairs minister Bill Graham
Bill Graham
William Carvel "Bill" Graham, PC QC is a former Canadian politician, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of National Defence, and Leader of the Opposition and interim Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.-Personal life:...

 about their investigation into Maher Arar who was tortured in a Syrian jail.

Events

On October, 2001, Inspector Garry Clement, officer of the RCMP "A" Division in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

, told RCMP Inspector Michel Cabana that Toronto's Project O Canada needed a team in Ottawa to help with its investigations of an Ottawa man named Abdullah Almalki
Abdullah Almalki
Abdullah Almalki is a Syrian-Canadian engineer who was imprisoned and tortured for two years in a Syrian jail after Canadian officials falsely indicated to the Syrian authorities and other countries that he was a terrorist threat....

. In response, Project A-O Canada was created. Garry Clement told Michel Cabana that the team would be working closely with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...

 and Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...

. Later on, the Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar
Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar
The Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar was a public inquiry investigating the rendition and torture of Maher Arar released on September 18, 2006. The findings of this Commission are part of Report on the events Related to Maher Arar, also known...

 revealed that there were no clear directions to RCMP officers regarding how to share information with the FBI and the CIA.

External links

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