Canada has no legal duty to protect Khadr: government (1)
OTTAWA — Canada’s legal duty to protect its citizens, even children, ends at the border and there is nothing in domestic or international law that obliges the government to seek Omar Khadr’s repatriation, say federal arguments filed in court.
The government contends it has done plenty to ensure the “well-being”of the Guantanamo Bay detainee — from supplying him with magazines to ensuring he receives medical treatment and facilitating contact with his family — and any further protection is at the discretion of the state, not the courts.
The written arguments were submitted to the Federal Court of Appeal for the government’s challenge to a landmark April ruling that ordered Canada, for the first time, to seek repatriation of a citizen held by a foreign power.
The appeal has been expedited and a hearing is scheduled on June 23.
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beentheredonethat Says:
No legal duty and not for humanitarian reasons either. He made his choice. If he is old enough to throw hand grenades and kill somebody then he’s old enough to face the consequences.
Posted on June 10th, 2009 at 9:42 am
mike Says:
If this is upheld then maybe those hyphenated Canadians who live in places like Lebanon can stay there when trouble arises. Then we won’t feel obliged to expend hundreds of millions of dollars on a rescue mission only to have them return when things quiet down.
mid island mike
Posted on June 10th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Cynapse Says:
I don’t see why we can’t take him back, declare him mentally unfit and hold him for eternity with no visitors.
Alternatively, how about sending him to military prison? There is a lot we can do, truth be told. Maybe it’s a good excuse to toughen some laws for violent offenders.
Posted on June 10th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Jema54 Says:
We would have to pay for his ‘keep’, Cynapse. Do you know how much that creature Clifford Olson costs the taxpayers? Kadar is not a citizen of ‘my Canada’; he is a murderer.
Posted on June 11th, 2009 at 1:29 am
Philanthropist Says:
Khadr should go to trial in Afghanistan where he killed and terrorized people.
Posted on June 11th, 2009 at 3:58 am
Cynapse Says:
Jema:
You don’t have to pay – you could just let him run free and do what he will.
Everything has a cost.
One thing you can’t do is suddenly decide that Khadr, Olson or any one else is no longer a part of your country when it gets too inconvenient.
Posted on June 11th, 2009 at 7:09 am
John Luft Says:
Cynapse says “One thing you can’t do is suddenly decide that Khadr, Olson or any one else is no longer a part of your country when it gets too inconvenient.”
Oh really? My guess would be that the vast majority of Canadians would disagree with you on that little bit of nonsense. Like any other “Canadian” (there is a definition that has gone to hell in a handbasket), Khadr is subject to the laws of other countries when he is outside the bounds of Canada. The Charter of Rights does not follow him around the world. He either gets tried in the US or Afghanistan. Preferably Afghanistan.
Posted on June 11th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Cynapse Says:
And the decision was to send him back here. So that little bit of “nonsense” is what you and any other Canadian has to deal with.
Posted on June 11th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Jema54 Says:
Cynapse – why on God’s Green Earth would you want this criminal returned? He chose his own destiny by joining the terrorists – didn’t your Mom and Dad ever tell you that you make your own bed in life and you have to lie in the bed after you have made it? It is true, even if it is sometimes ‘inconvient’.
Posted on June 12th, 2009 at 2:05 am
Cynapse Says:
Then take your own advice with respect to your own laws.
Otherwise we may as well burn them.
Posted on June 12th, 2009 at 7:46 am