Maher Arar says he is relieved he is finally getting a public inquiry into the circumstances that led to his deportation to Syria.

"This is a great day for Canadian justice," Arar told a news conference Wednesday.

"It is, of course, very important to ensure that this inquiry can, indeed, clear my name and answer all of our questions so that we can begin to rebuild our lives," Arar said, with his wife Monia Mazigh at his side.

His words came a few hours after Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan annnounced a public inquiry would be held to investigate the actions of Canadian officials in Arar's deportation and detention.

Justice Dennis O'Connor, who led Ontario's Walkerton tainted water inquiry, will head the Arar inquiry, McLellan announced. It is not clear when hearings will begin or who will be called to testify.

Arar said he hopes the inquiry will recommend compensation for his suffering, though he isn't asking for an exact sum. Prime Minister Paul Martin, when asked later, wouldn't confirm whether compensation for Arar would be offered, saying only that he didn't want to pre-judge the inquiry.

Arar was detained by American agents at an airport in New York in the fall of 2002 on suspicion he had links to al Qaeda. He was deported to Syria and imprisoned for 10 months in Damascus, where he says he was tortured.

He was released without explanation this fall. He has consistently denied any links to terrorism and has pressured Ottawa for months to call an inquiry into the affair.

A number of media reports, including one from the CBS program "60 Minutes II", have claimed that not only did Americans agents in New York inform the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service that it planned to deport Arar, Ottawa in fact approved the move.

CSIS has denied any involvement, and Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham has insisted Canada was not informed nor consulted.

The Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP has launched an inquiry into the Mounties' involvement in the case. The Security and Intelligence Review Committee, the civilian overseer of CSIS, is conducting a similar review.

Prime Minister Paul Martin had said he would await the results of the two inquiries before considering a review. McLellan said Wednesday she watched developments in the case and asked Martin to call an inquiry now.

"It was my recommendation this week that now was the appropriate time to conduct an inquiry to get to the bottom of this," she told reporters Wednesday.

Last week, the RCMP raided the home and office of Ottawa Citizen reporter Juliet O'Neill in connection to an article she wrote in November. She had quoted leaked documents that suggested Arar was a trained terrorist member of an Ottawa al Qaeda cell.

Asked whether the raid precipitated the decision to call the inquiry, McLellan responded: "There was no one single event that led me to make my recommendation."

McLellan said the inquiry will not question what role American agents had in Arar's deportation.

Asked whether the inquiry could get all the answers it needed without questioning American officials, McLellan responded: "What we are interested in is the full story involving Canadian officials."

The raid on O'Neill's home was conducted under Section 4 of the Security of Information Act. McLellan also announced Wednesday there will be a full review of that section, which deals with unauthorized disclosure.

As well, O'Connor will make recommendations on an independent review mechanism for the RCMP's activities involving national security.

Arar has announced he is suing the American government, alleging they deported him to Syria knowing he would be tortured there. Arar has also filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Jordan, where he says he endured almost daily beatings before being transferred to Syria.