Mr. Speaker, Omar Khadr left Canada as a dutiful son following his father, as any boy of 13 or 14 years of age would do; misguided yes, but as with most children, loyal to his father and with no real comprehension of the potential consequences of his actions.
Later, at the age of 15, this boy was apprehended following a firefight with American special forces. Khadr had been shot twice in the back while he was turned away from the fight. In fact, one American officer had to step in to prevent another from executing him on the spot with his pistol.
Omar was taken to a field hospital where, while he was still in a great deal of pain recovering from his wounds, he was exposed to the American style of enhanced interrogation, and after months of recuperation was transported to Guantanamo. By all definitions and particularly the one contained in the UN Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a child combatant is anyone under the age of 18 years. In all senses of the word, Omar Khadr is a child combatant and our government must first accept this conclusion and then move to have him repatriated to Canada.