TORONTO -- Former U.S. vice-president Dick Cheney has cancelled a speaking engagement in Toronto, citing security concerns related to violent protesters at a Vancouver event last year, the promoter said Monday.

Protesters blocked the entrance to the private downtown Vancouver Club on Sept. 26 and prevented Cheney from leaving for seven hours until the violence ceased, a statement from Toronto-based promoter Spectre Live said.

"On the advice of security, they were worried that quite simply Canada is just not a friendly country to them," said Ryan Ruppert, president of Spectre Live.

One man was arrested for allegedly choking a staff member at the sold-out Vancouver event.

Protesters rallied against Cheney for his support of controversial interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding, to combat terrorism.

A few days before Cheney's B.C. visit, NDP immigration critic Don Davies called on Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to deny entry to Cheney, who was in Vancouver to promote his memoir.

Cheney, and his daughter Liz, were scheduled to speak at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on April 24 about his time in the White House and current U.S. politics.

In place of the Cheney family, the Sun News Network's Michael Coren will speak, alongside free-speech activist Mark Steyn.