Madam Speaker, today we are debating, for at least a short while, a subcommittee report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development.
This is an issue that I think is going to have some consequential implications outside the immediate case of Omar Khadr. Right from the outset the government, with its dissenting opinion on this June 2008 report of the subcommittee, tips its hand to having determined that this Canadian citizen is guilty. There was a bias of guilt in the dissenting opinion.
There is a bias of guilt in what the Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas) said earlier today, when he seemed to slough off some reference to cherubic innocence and how silly it is that it is a child soldier. It is not that he was a child combatant; it was cherubic innocence, that is no big deal.
There was a suggestion of bias with the parliamentary secretary and with the chair of that subcommittee in their commentary. Every time the parliamentary secretary spoke, he said that a medic died, so he should be there.
Suppose one were to take a black box and put a person in there, someone we did not know and someone we knew nothing about. If we then took the facts that a Canadian citizen who was 15 years of age at a time when the alleged incidents took place, who had been tortured while in custody in Guantanamo Bay, and who had been unable to see his lawyer--according to a news report in February, the Pentagon-appointed lawyer for Mr. Khadr had not been able to see his client--and started to lay out these facts in play, all of sudden we would see the presumption of guilt or the bias that is in the government. It is very clear. It is driven by references to a Muslim kid, relationships with al-Qaeda, his family connections and the fact that the former president decided to set up Guantanamo Bay to have all these prisoners there.
Did the government take into account that a number of the prisoners who were in Guantanamo Bay have already been repatriated to their countries of origin for prosecution? Other countries have done this. The government's position is that it does not support that. It will not defend Omar Khadr's rights. It will not protect him from the fact that he was subject to torture, a violation of international standards and law.
We have a Canadian citizen who was tortured while in custody. We have a Canadian citizen who has been denied the equivalent of the rights of due process under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms of Canada. When the foreign affairs minister met with his counterpart, according to this news report dated February 25, his position was, “We will wait until this process is completely completed”. That was said to his counterpart in the U.S, Hillary Clinton.
It is interesting that subsequent to the George W. Bush government, current President Barack Obama has taken some steps. He has taken some concrete steps. He is concerned about what has gone on. He is concerned about the consequences down the road. He is concerned about human rights. He is concerned about the rule of law being applied. He is concerned about dangerous precedents. He is concerned about continuing on for years and years with matters that can be dealt with outside the jurisdiction of the United States, because they have already done it.
One of his first acts was to make a promise that he would close down Guantanamo within a year. I believe the military commission and its proceedings have been suspended for a year. This is all winding down.
If we had taken anybody else and put them behind the curtain knowing nothing about the optics and nothing about matters that would not be relevant in a court, we would probably find that the members of the current governing party would support the repatriation of this Canadian citizen who was tortured and not given his charter rights of due process of law. Would anybody in this place actually argue against that? Would anybody in this place get up and say that they wanted to deny this Canadian citizen his charter rights? We have.
It is not a matter for waiting for a precedent. Many of the prisoners who were held in Guantanamo Bay have been repatriated, to be dealt with under the laws of the countries where they are citizens. Why is Canada not standing up for the rights of Mr. Khadr, not to defend or to speak about his guilt or innocence, which is for the courts to decide, but to speak up on behalf of the charter rights and the international obligations that we have with regard to the rights of the child? We are a part of those.
We have clear statements on the whole issue of torturing those who are in prison. The government members who have spoken--the Minister of State, the parliamentary secretary and the chair of the committee--said that if they had to do this all over again right now, they would not change their position one bit.
The first recommendation of the majority report said that the Government of Canada should demand the immediate termination of the military commission proceedings against Omar Khadr.
The chair of the committee rose in this place and said that they would not change their mind. They would disagree with this or have a dissenting opinion, and they would just let that process over there in the United States go until, as the foreign affairs minister said, it is “completely completed”. They do not want it. They want to let the Americans take care of it. They do not have to worry about a citizen of Canada. They do not have to worry about the fact that a citizen's rights have been violated. They do not have to worry about the fact that this person is not enjoying the due process of law that other persons from other countries enjoy.
Why is the government abandoning a Canadian citizen? That is the question. Why is it that the Minister of State spent half his speech making a case that the current position of the Conservative government is precisely the position of the Liberal government prior to 2006? That cannot be the case, for the simple reason that subsequent to that there have been Supreme Court decisions in Canada and the U.S., as well as a change of presidency and actions taken by President Obama.
The then Minister of Justice came back before this place to defend against that and to say it is not quite right. The member is trying to deflect blame, or share the blame, so that the focus will not be that the current government has abandoned a Canadian citizen and ignored his rights, will not defend his rights and will not advocate for his rights.
The leader of the official opposition had a very brief opportunity to meet with President Obama when he visited Canada. He raised the issue of Omar Khadr with President Obama on the basis of protecting human rights, and President Obama acknowledged it and would deal with it.
Did the Prime Minister raise it? The answer is no. It shows very clearly that the position of the Conservatives is not on behalf of the rights of Canadians.