According to the Toronto Star, US Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci today warned that the United States reserves "the right to act unilaterally" and do as it pleases in cases like the Maher Arar deportation case.

This was the case in which Canadian citizen Arar was deported -- not to Canada but to Syria, his birthplace.

The Toronto Star today:

Cellucci said the United States will protect itself. "We certainly respect the Canadian passport and we will continue to respect the Canadian passport, but we will do what we have to do to protect the security of the people of the United States," he said.

If that means acting unilaterally, so be it, he added. "The president has no more solemn obligation than to protect the safety of the people of the United States. We will reserve the right to act unilaterally in very rare cases."

I think it is well within the rights of the United States to bar entry to whomever it chooses. However, they have no right and no reason to deport Canadian citizens to anywhere other than Canada. Cellucci argues it might be necessary to "protect the safety of the people of the United States", but why are they safer when Canadians are deported elsewhere? Because Canadians will be tortured in other countries?

"I believe that what happened was simply unacceptable," said Paul Martin. He's right.

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