Omar Khadr’s official request for transfer to Canada sits on the desk of Vic Toews, the minister responsible for Public Safety. He has been eligible to return to Canada since October, 2011: “On May 21-22, the United Nations Committee against Torture will review Canada’s failure to comply with its obligations under the Convention against Torture to prevent, punish, and remedy the torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of Canadian Omar Khadr during his ongoing detention at Guantanamo prison” (May 16, 2012, Lawyers Rights Watch, Canada press release). Lawyers Rights Watch Canada (LRWC) and the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group state that Canada was both a direct participant and was indirectly complicit in the torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of Mr. Khadr.
Omar Khadr was fifteen years of age, making him a child soldier and victim of war crimes under international law. He was given no special status as a minor, was interrogated without counsel, and was subjected to sleep deprivation and prolonged solitary confinement. Canadian officials illegally provided the investigative results to his captors and deprived him of access to his own statements. The Canadian government has failed to take any steps to prevent or remedy US crimes against Khadr (May 16, 2012 press release by LRWC).
While every other country has repatriated their citizens who were detained at Guantanamo Bay, Canada has allowed Omar Khadr to remain there for almost ten years. Canada has failed to remedy numerous breaches of law in defiance of the Federal Court and the Supreme Court of Canada. Certainly there is little sympathy for the Khadr family — the al-Qaeda father who sent him to the Afghan war, brothers involved with al-Qaeda, or the sister who wished she had the guts to be a suicide bomber. Yet in addition to Khadr’s words, others, including a psychiatrist, several defence lawyers, and even the guards consider him to be sensitive, caring, and definitely not a threat to others.
Another recent example of injustice comes to mind. A few months ago a UN Committee reviewed the case of Cecilia Kell, an aboriginal woman from Bechoko, Northwest Territories. She and her common law partner had together purchased a three bedroom house in October,1991. In February, 1992 her abusive partner, without her consent, requested the Housing Authority to remove her name from the “Assignment of Lease” certifying the couple were co-owners. The Housing Authority complied with his request in June, 1993. After three years of abuse the woman escaped the abusive relationship and sought refuge in a shelter for battered women. The partner evicted her from the home. Ms. Kell’s attempts to find justice were repeatedly rejected and the three bedroom house was sold to a third party in 2004. The Housing Authority and courts failed to remedy this injustice. On February 2, 2012, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women concluded that Canada had failed to fulfill its obligations under the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The Committee recommended that Cecilia Kell be awarded housing commensurate with the one taken from her and appropriate monetary compensation for the material and moral damages she suffered.
If the rights of one citizen, no matter who she or he is, are violated by the government then the rights of every other citizen are at risk of being violated also. No matter one’s opinion about Omar Khadr being returned to Canada or the complicated question of what to do with him when he returns, the issue of injustice to him or to Cecilia Kell is a concern for all of us. Silence and passive acceptance in the face of oppression or injustice is to risk our own freedom.