A Canadian man who was deported to Syria by the U.S. returned home Monday and thanked his "fellow Canadians'' who helped him get home after more than a year in a Damascus jail.

"I'm so excited to see my family again,'' a tired-looking Arar told a brief news conference Monday evening after being reunited with his wife and children.

"I'd like to thank my fellow Canadians who have contributed and helped me get back home."

Arar's wife, Monia Mazigh, sat by his side and said in French that she is thankful her husband is home and her nightmare is finally over.

She added that the matter isn't over. "It's just the beginning of justice for my husband," she said.

Mazigh has spent the last year lobbying the U.S. embassy, the prime minister and anyone who would listen that her husband was not an al Qaeda terrorist, as the U.S. alleged.

Arar, 33, who was born in Syria and immigrated to Canada in 1988 at age 17, was arrested 13 months ago while on a layover at New York's Kennedy Airport, returning from a family vacation to Tunisia. 

After spending a year in jail without being charged with any crime, he was suddenly released to Canadian consular officials on Sunday, with no explanation.

Now there are questions about the role of the RCMP in Arar's deportation.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has told Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham that their suspicions that Arar was an al Qaeda agent came from Canadian intelligence sources. An American embassy official later issued a release stating "the U.S. did not consult with any Canadian law enforcement organization'' concerning Arar's detention.

Solicitor General Wayne Easter is ruling out an inquiry into the deportation, because the RCMP were not involved in Arar's arrest or deportation.

"No, I will not agree to an inquiry,'' Easter said outside the Commons Monday. "The RCMP was not involved in the decision to arrest and deport Mr. Arar."

NDP leader Jack Layton says it's outrageous that an inquiry won't be called. He says Canadians  want to know whether the Mounties played a role in his deportation.

"We've got a lot of Canadians wondering how it is that a Canadian citizen gets scooped up and sent off to jail in another country for a year and then arrives back and no one wants to investigate why,'' said Layton. "That's not acceptable.''

Amnesty International believes Arar may have been tortured while in custody.

Graham credits diplomatic pressure from Ottawa for Arar's release. Just last week, he raised the issue with the secretary general of the Arab league, who said he would talk to Syrian officials.

"Canada is respected in the Middle East," Graham said. "We're a respected country and people want to have good relations with us.

"I don't think it would have been done any more quickly by more screaming and yelling. I really don't."

The Liberal government has recently faced heat from Opposition members who say not enough is done to protect Canadians who get in trouble in foreign nations.

William Sampson, a Canadian charged with murder who spent more than two years in a Saudi Arabian jail with a death sentence hanging over his head was released in August.

With reports from the Canadian Press