Why we should embrace the Khadr settlement
ADRIEL WEAVER The
Canadian government’s recent announcement that it would issue an apology and
compensation to Omar Khadr has given rise to considerable controversy.
Much of the discussion and debate
has focused on the question of what Khadr did or didn’t do. But while it’s easy
to get caught up in arguments about Khadr’s own actions, which may never be
fully resolved, we cannot afford to lose sight of the issue at the heart of the
settlement: what Canadian officials did — and failed to do. There, the facts
are clear. On several occasions in 2003 and 2004, Canadian officials
interrogated Khadr at Guantanamo Bay. On one occasion, they did so knowing that
he had been subjected to the “frequent flyer program” — three weeks of
scheduled sleep deprivation designed to make detainees more compliant and break
down their resistance to interrogation. They then shared the fruits of those
interrogations with U.S. prosecutors.
There is no question that at the
time these interrogations were conducted, the regime governing Khadr’s
detention and prosecution was illegal under U.S. and international law. There
is equally no question that by participating in that regime, Canadian officials
violated Canada’s international human rights obligations and Khadr’s charter
rights.
Those are the facts as found by the
Supreme Court of Canada more than seven years ago. Yet even in the face of
those findings, the government of Canada refused to seek Khadr’s repatriation
and instead fought his return.
And while we like to think of Canada
as a champion of human rights, it’s worth noting that every other Western
democracy not only sought, but secured the return of its citizens held in
Guantanamo Bay to their own countries. Canada alone failed to do so.
It’s a legal truism that a right
without a remedy is no right at all. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association
welcomes the settlement as a necessary step if Canada wishes to maintain that
it values, upholds and adheres to its own laws.
The settlement not only compensates
Khadr for the profound abuses and rights violations he endured, but also
affirms Canada’s obligation to defend and promote human rights, and to take
meaningful steps to admit and redress past wrongs.
As many have pointed out, Khadr is
not the only person to have suffered gross human rights violations in which the
Canadian government was at the very least complicit. This is all the more
reason to embrace the settlement. The apology and compensation extended to
Khadr are a hopeful sign of the government’s growing willingness to acknowledge
and make amends for the historic injustices it has caused and contributed to.
Those efforts must continue.
- Toronto Star
- 9 Jul 2017
- ADRIEL WEAVER Adriel Weaver (Goldblatt Partners LLP) on behalf of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA). Adriel served as counsel to CCLA in the 2010 Supreme Court Khadr case.
- In order to criticize and understand the victims of human rights violations, they should feel in their own flesh what is brutality and torture. Omar: Canada has the same Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib
