As classes come to an end, Carleton students marched on Parliament Hill April 4 to educate the Canadian public and express their disappointment in the Canadian government’s continued silence regarding the fate of Guantanamo Bay’s lone Canadian inmate: Omar Khadr.
The students are members of a group called ‘Canada 4 Khadr’ who are pushing for his immediate repatriation to Canada.
Clint Grant, one of the protest’s organizers, made a speech along with fellow organizer Katie Anderson that outlined their position.
“We cannot allow the unlawful detention, the denial of fundamental human rights or torture to take place — especially when our citizens are the subjects,” Grant said.
U.S. forces captured 15-year-old Khadr on July 27, 2002 after he allegedly killed U.S. Army Sgt. Christopher Speer with a grenade. They transferred him to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on Oct. 30, 2002 and he has remained there without trial since.
Canadian complicity in Khadr’s lengthy detention is what members of Canada 4 Khadr said angered them.
“He has waited seven years for a fair trial . . .The only logical answer is to return [Khadr] to Canada, where the law and the internationally-agreed-upon conventions will be obeyed,” Grant said.
Khadr’s time at Guantanamo Bay has been marred with allegations of torture and unfair “military tribunals” used to provide the image that inmates at Guantanamo Bay receive some semblance of due process.
Foreign Affairs minister Lawrence Cannon has stated that they will not ask American authorities for the 22-year-old, even as the Guantanamo Bay detention camps close sometime next year.
“I think that it’s [the Conservatives’ decision] part of a continuing philosophy,” Grant said.
Anderson and Grant, both students in Carleton’s humanities program, admit that some circumstantial evidence regarding Khadr may be worth considering, although they believe repatriation is necessary as his imprisonment is both disproportionate and unjust. “We believe in upholding the rule of law, which states that someone charged with these kinds of offences needs to be brought to trial where we can actually find the truth,” Grant said.
They stress that their group is not seeking Khadr’s unrestricted release into Canadian society, but that Canada is the only place that could hold a fair trial where a judge would consider his age and other mitigating circumstances.
They said they believe Carleton students share a unique responsibility in bringing about Khadr’s release.
“Carleton students should care about this because Carleton students are not only Canadians, they’re not only citizens of the world, but they’re right here in Ottawa,” Grant said. “If there’s one place that we can make this change, it’s right here.”
Protesters included concerned activists and students seeking answers.
One such student, Patrick O’Neill, said he came to the protest to find out what has happened in the Khadr case so far.
“[Students] should feel that they should get more aware . . . I think not enough people are aware enough to make a decision about it,” he said.
Another student, Chris Lipton, thinks that the Canadian government has failed Khadr. “After seven years I’m just sick of not seeing anything get done.”
Frustration at the protest was palpable and there was a sense among all protesters that this rally was the first of many.
“We cannot sit idly by as the rights of our fellow students are removed,” Anderson said.