Maher Arar hopes to rebuild his life and boost Ottawa’s Vanier neighbourhood using part of his $10.5-million settlement from the Canadian government.

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Arar has opened Coworkly, a 6,000 square-foot space designed to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses and work together.

“There’s much more to life than money and wealth,” Arar told CTV Ottawa. “I want to feel like part of the community. I want to give back. I want to be involved. I want to try to have a normal life.”

In 2002, U.S. officials acted on misleading information from the RCMP and deported Arar to Syria, where he was imprisoned and tortured for nearly a year.

Arar was later exonerated by a public inquiry and received an apology from then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper, along with the settlement, for Canada’s role in his mistreatment.

Arar notes that some view Vanier as having a troubled reputation, but he knows first-hand the danger of making assumptions.

“Never prejudge a person or a neighbourhood -- in this case -- by how it looks like from the outside or what you hear about it,” he said.

“I learned the lesson the hard way.”