There has been intense and divisive debate in Canada over the past two weeks following news that the Canadian government has reached a settlement with Omar Khadr. The settlement resolves the lawsuit he had brought for compensation related to Canada’s role in the abuses he experienced during a decade in US ‘war on terror’ detention.
It is worth going back in time and recapping what brought Omar and the Canadian government to this moment.
Fifteen years ago, almost to the day, 15 year-old Canadian citizen Omar Khadr found himself in the midst of a firefight and airstrike in a compound in Afghanistan. He was, in fact, a child solider, and should never have been there in the first place. But his father, now well known for his extremist views and links to Osama Bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda leaders, had willingly propelled his teenage son out onto the battlefield.
By the time the fighting was over, the militants with whom Omar had been partnered were dead. Omar was so badly injured as to be near death. One US soldier had been killed and another badly wounded.
Omar was, however, rescued by US forces. He had life-saving surgery and did not die on the battlefield that day.
And thus began an unimaginable journey through injustice for young Omar Khadr. A journey he will likely never be able to completely put behind him.
No one would have anticipated on that day, however, that Canada would become complicit in the injustice and abuse he endured.
Omar Khadr was eventually accused with having thrown a grenade during that firefight that killed the US soldier who had died.
It was a full eight years – April 2010 – before a trial against him on those charges finally got underway at Guantánamo Bay.
Omar had been transferred to Guantánamo 3 months after he was captured. He had first been held at the notorious US detention facility at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, where torture and ill-treatment was rampant. 15 year-old Omar was threatened, terrorized and abused while he was held there.
At Guantánamo Bay, Omar Khadr experienced the range of human rights violations for which the off-shore US detention camp quickly become globally infamous. He was held first for years without charge or trial. He continued to experience torture and ill-treatment, including the cruel ‘frequent flyer program’, which subjected prisoners to sleep deprivation over days at a time, a form of treatment widely recognized to be a particularly debilitating form of physical and mental torture. His young age was never taken into account: not by acknowledging that he was a child soldier and as such a victim of human rights abuse for that reason alone; and not by treating him as a juvenile detainee and ensuring he was given access to educational and other programming.
And finally, in 2010, when his ‘trial’ began, he experienced another dimension of Guantánamo’s many layers of injustice: the deeply unfair military commission hearings process, which fell far short of international fair trial standards.
And where was Canada?
Certainly not standing up for Omar Khadr’s rights.
Instead, Canadian intelligence officials showed up at Guantánamo Bay two times in 2003 to interview Omar Khadr and did so knowing that he had been through the ‘frequent flyer’ treatment just before their arrival. The Supreme Court of Canada, in rulings in 2008 and 2010, slammed Canadian officials for that conduct and unanimously found that Omar Khadr’s Charter rights had been violated.
Canada certainly did not come to Omar Khadr’s rescue.
While the government of other Western nationals held at Guantánamo Bay did advocate on behalf of their citizens and, one after another, gained their transfer back home, Stephen Harper’s government defiantly refused to lift a finger.
Canada made things worse for Omar Khadr.
It was not that the Harper government remained silent; instead they deliberately and consistently fueled an inflammatory and bigoted campaign of untruths and half-truths about Omar Khadr. It was clearly all about politics. It guaranteed that Omar would stay at Guantánamo for a very long time.
Omar Khadr eventually entered into a plea deal with his US jailors. He pled guilty in return for an 8 year sentence. He served 2 further years at Guantánamo Bay before he was finally transferred back to a Canadian prison in September 2012 to serve the balance of his sentence.
And then in May 2015, on the basis of positive reports from corrections officials and an appeal of his conviction in the US courts considered to have a likely prospect of success, Omar was released on bail.
During the past two years Omar has lived openly in Edmonton. He has pursued studies. He has made a strong and positive impression on everyone who has crossed his path. It has truly been remarkable to see the resilient and hopeful young man who has emerged from these many years of abuse, torment and suffering.
The announcement of compensation and an apology should have marked a celebratory moment of justice. And it was and is; most certainly. And we should indeed celebrate.
But it has also been truly disheartening to once again see an eruption of hate and vitriol unleashed against Omar backed, very sadly, by the Conservative Party, now in Opposition. That has been a sobering and cautionary reminder that we have more to do in working against intolerance and racism, shoring up a commitment to human rights in our national security practices, and standing firm for fundamental concepts of equality and fairness.
The Sisters of Saint Joseph have been valiant partners in Omar Khadr’s long struggle for justice. From very early stages, long before there was wide sympathy and support for his plight, the Sisters clearly understood what was at stake. I was always struck by how much interest and concern there was to have an Omar Khadr update every time I came to visit. I was so bolstered myself, feeling tremendous support and solidarity every time I headed down to Guantánamo for trial observations. And I know that many letters, petitions and cards made their way from London, Ontario to Washington, Ottawa, Guantánamo and to Omar personally, demanding justice and sending best wishes.
Tempting as it would be to close the Omar Khadr file, we aren’t there yet. The Conservative Party has said they intend to bring the issue of the settlement to Parliament in the fall. A legal case by the widow of the US soldier who was killed and the other soldier who was injured, seeking to enforce a default court judgement they won against Omar in a Utah Court several years ago, is also going ahead.
All of that aside, however, justice has been done. That truly is tremendous and so very much long overdue.
In reaching this settlement the Canadian government has acknowledged and recognized that Omar Khadr was wronged by his own government and that for that we must make amends. And that matters, very much.
Guest Blogger:
Alex Neve, Secretary General,
Amnesty International Canada
The other day while driving along a busy north London roadway I spotted a shopping cart full of someone's worldly goods. What I saw next broke my heart; on the ground was a man, motionless, lying beside his "house". I was in an inside lane of a busy four lane road, and somewhat distracted while driving. "Is this man okay, is he just sleeping or has he overdosed accidently?” I was unable to handle a moving vehicle and do some kind of physical assessment of the man. However, I did pray that someone would stop and help this person.
