Temporary replacement found for RCMP chief

The RCMP has named a temporary replacement for its embattled chief.

Beverley Busson will take over for Giuliano Zaccardelli on an interim basis.

Zaccardelli resigned as commissioner on Dec. 6, after admitting he gave incorrect testimony in the Mahar Arar affair.

Friday was his last day on the job. Busson takes over after serving as deputy commissioner.

On Sept. 28, Zaccardelli gavefalse testimony to a Commons committee investigating Arar's deportation to Syria.

Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian, was stopped at a New York airport on his way home from vacation in 2002. U.S. officials incorrectly labelled him a terrorist and deported him to Syria, where he was tortured and imprisoned for months.

The RCMP has been blamed for providing the U.S. with incorrect information about Arar.

Zaccardelli initially told the Commons committee the RCMP had contacted U.S. officials to correct the record before Arar was deported. He said he personally learned of the erroneous information while Arar was still in a Syrian prison.

Last week, Zaccardelli offered a different timeline.

Reappearing before the committee at his own request, he said the Mounties did not try to correct the record while Arar was still in the United States. He said he didn't learn about the case until 2006.

Zaccardelli first landed on the hot seat during a public inquiry into the Arar affair. Justice Dennis O'Connor concluded Sept. 18 that U.S. officials decided to deport Arar because the RCMP provided them with incorrect information that linked Arar to al-Qaeda.

Busson, who was born in Halifax, joined the RCMP in 1974. After training, she was stationed in British Columbia, where she spent part of her time as a plainclothes investigator looking into fraud, drugs and other serious crimes, her official biography says.

She also studied criminology at Simon Fraser University and law at University of British Columbia.

She was promoted to inspector in 1992, superintendent in 1996, chief superintendent in charge of criminal operations for Saskatchewan in 1997 and Saskatchewan commanding officer in 1998.

She became head of B.C.'s Organized Crime Agency in 1999. In 2000, she became an assistant commissioner and RCMP commander for B.C. She was promoted in 2001 to deputy commissioner for the Pacific region (B.C. and Yukon) while retaining her role as the B.C. commander.