Canadian security forces share a great deal of information about suspected terrorists with the United States, the former head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service told the Maher Arar inquiry.

Ward Elcock, the now-retired chief CSIS, also said he knew American authorities were deporting suspected terrorists to third-party nations for interrogation. He said he knew as early as March 2002 that U.S. officials were transferring suspects to Egypt and Jordan.

Elcock, now a now a senior adviser to the Privy Council Office, didn't make clear whether the information was first-hand, or taken from media reports.

Maher Arar, the Ottawa resident for which the inquiry is being held, reacted to the second day of testimony with anger.

"How do you feel inside you, when you share information with countries that everyone knows practise torture," Arar told reporters in Ottawa. "Just think about it when you go to sleep at night. How can you sleep?"

Arar, 34, was detained at the airport in New York City in September 2002 during a stopover on his way back to Canada from a family trip in Tunisia. Less than two weeks later, he was deported to Syria, where he says he was beaten, tortured and forced to give a false confession about alleged links to al Qaeda.

He was released 10 months later without explanation and returned to Canada last fall.

The inquiry into his detention, presided over by Justice Dennis O'Connor, will try to answer questions about what role Canadian security officials played in the affair.

Arar has consistently denied being a terrorist and says Canadian intelligence authorities played a role in his ordeal. He and his counsel say CSIS officers visited Syria in late 2002, not long after his imprisonment.

On day two of the inquiry, Arar's lawyer, Lorne Waldman, seized on Elcock's admission that information about suspected terrorists is shared with the U.S.

"Do you take into account the fact that the U.S. sends suspected terrorists to other countries where they might be subjected to torture?" said Waldman.

Elcock responded: "We take into account the consequences to any individual and their safety, whatever might happen to them, wherever they go."

Arar's lawyer says even though CSIS could not have predicted the U.S. would deport Arar to Syria -- where he was sure to be tortured -- it should never have shared intelligence with the U.S. in the first place.

"We have to ask ourselves the extent to which we should be sharing information with countries that don't respect international law," Waldman said.

It has already been determined that both CSIS and the RCMP provided the U.S. with information on Arar. Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham made the admission last December, based on facts given to him by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

However, Elcock refused to say whether CSIS trades information with Syria. He said the answer may compromise national security.

He said extraordinary situations, such as getting information about a bombing, may prompt CSIS to share information with a country with a poor human rights record.

Waldman has already been told some of his questions will not be answered because of national security concerns.