Rohinton Mistry, one of Canada's most celebrated authors, has cancelled his U.S. book tour, complaining that he has faced "unbearable" humiliation as a result of racial profiling in American airports.

Publishers for Mr. Mistry, an Indian-born Canadian who is scheduled to appear at a sold-out literary event in Toronto tonight, says he wants to stay home to avoid any further degradation.

"He has been extremely unhappy about the way he has been treated in airports around the U.S. in the first half of the tour," a representative of his U.S. publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, wrote in a memo sent to bookstores affected by the decision. "As a person of colour he was stopped repeatedly and rudely at each airport along the way — to the point where the humiliation for both he and his wife has become unbearable."

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"He just said that he had a terrible time travelling in the U.S. He was really very upset," said Sonny Mehta, his New York publisher, who attended the event with him.

The author has raised his complaints amid a cross-border rift over racial profiling, which began after the United States started to fingerprint, photograph, and register Canadian citizens originally from certain Muslim countries.

The United States has backed down and will no longer automatically register Canadians from certain countries. But Canadians can still be registered at the discretion of U.S. border authorities.

Mr. Mistry is not from a country originally targeted by the United States, nor is he a Muslim. And yet he and his wife would appear to have suffered some serious scrutiny while travelling on the first leg of his U.S. tour at the end of September.

This spring, he was asked by The Globe's Sandra Martin about whether the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks had complicated his travels. At the time, he said he was taking it in stride.

"I did feel for the first few weeks, right through to December when I was travelling, that a brown skin and a beard were not a felicitous combination," he said. "I could feel the looks from the security personnel. That is okay; it is part of their job."

But his opinion appears to have changed since the first leg of the tour. This week, Mr. Mistry told his publishers he was fed up. He cancelled scheduled stops in Chicago; San Francisco; Boston; Salt Lake City, Utah; Iowa City, and Madison, Wis.

The reason behind the cancellations has upset U.S. booksellers.

"I find it outrageous," said Betsy Burton of The King's English bookstore in Salt Lake City. "It makes me feel ashamed of my country."

She had planned to fill a high-school auditorium on Monday with 300 people for Mr. Mistry's visit. The proceeds were to benefit a local food bank.

The author's agent, Bruce Westwood, spoke to him yesterday by telephone and discussed comments that Foreign Minister Bill Graham has been making about racial profiling in the United States. Mr. Mistry is said to be considering making a public statement, but has yet to speak out to anyone but those close to him.

He is scheduled to appear at an on-stage interview this evening with the CBC's Shelagh Rogers at Toronto's Harbourfront.

"There certainly is an issue surrounding the security issues he faced in the States," Mr. Westwood said. "It was sufficient to cancel the rest of the tour."

In September, the Foreign Affairs Ministry issued a travel advisory, saying Canadians born in Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, or Syria could be subjected to increased attention from U.S. authorities. Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen were later added to the list.

That meant Canadians were fingerprinted and photographed at certain border crossings. Reaction from senior Canadian officials has been vigorous. Natural Resources Minister Herb Dhaliwal called it "the ugly face of America."

Yesterday, the U.S. embassy in Ottawa attempted to quell concerns, issuing a statement that "place of birth by itself will not automatically trigger registration."

With reports from Sandra Martin, John Stackhouse, Jeff Sallot and The Canadian Press