Newly declassified documents reveal that former prime minister Jean Chretien was kept in the dark about the RCMP's involvement in the case of Maher Arar.

The Globe and Mail reports documents and interviews with officials suggest Chretien and other political leaders received inaccurate information, even while Canada was protesting the U.S. decision to deport the Ottawa man.

Arar's lawyer, Lorne Waldman, said the documents raised more questions than answers about who controls the RCMP.

The 33 year-old Syrian-born Arar was arrested under the suspicion of terrorism on Sept. 26, 2002 at New York's JFK airport. He was deported to Syria, where he spent 10 months in solitary confinement before being allowed to return home to Ottawa. 

Arar has never been charged with a crime.

U.S. government sources told The Globe it was the RCMP that had informed U.S. officials about Arar, calling him a "person of interest."

Alex Himelfarb, the Clerk of the Privy Council and Canada's most senior public servant, prepared a secret three-page memorandum for Chretien 10 days after he was deported on Oct. 18, 2002.

Even while diplomatic efforts on Arar were underway, including a call to U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci, Canadian political leaders were still receiving incomplete information about the case.

The memo also details that neither the Privy Council Office, nor the former solictor-general Wayne Easter -- the minister responsible for the RCMP -- had any knowledge about the RCMP's involvement.

Another memo dated Oct. 23, 2002, prepared by the Privy office said: "Syrian authorities are investigating the suggestion by U.S. authorities that he has a connection to al Qaeda."

There was no mention in either memo about the RCMP connection. Rather, the document indicates that Canadian officials believed Arar was innocent. "Once he is cleared of such charges, we will seek his return to Canada."

Another declassified memo suggests that Canadian consular officials in New York were informed by U.S. authorities on Oct. 7, 2002 regarding Arar's deportation hearing later that day, but no consular official attended the meeting.

The hearing was actually held the night before on Oct. 6, 2002, leaving Arar without legal representation. His lawyer received a voice mail notification the next day.

Canadian officials now admit that some of the memos were in fact incorrect on several accounts.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell was the first U.S. official to inform a Canadian cabinet minister about their involvement.

Powell told Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham during an Ottawa meeting on Nov. 14, 2002, one month after Canada's protest to Cellucci.

The documents were declassified this week and obtained for Arar by researcher Ken Rubin.