Canadian response to Omar Khadr

A Canadian of Egyptian and Palestinian descent, captured by American forces in Afghanistan at the age of 15, Omar Khadr was the last Western citizen remaining in custody in Guantanamo Bay.

[5] Once his military tribunals began however, his case drew considerable attention as a child soldier, with commentators seizing on the fact he is the youngest prisoner held in extrajudicial detention by the United States to face charges in the War on Terror.

[6][7] Canada's three main opposition parties, the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois, have all condemned former Prime Minister Stephen Harper for refusing to demand the United States turn Khadr over to Canadian authorities.

Witnesses included Senator Romeo Dallaire, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier, defence lawyers William C. Kuebler and Rebecca Snyder, and the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights Louise Arbour.

[27][28] In October 2008, his older sister Zaynab Khadr began a hunger strike on Parliament Hill where she hoped to draw attention to the government's inaction on bringing her brother back to face trial in Canada.

[32] In April 2010, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops criticised the country for failing to uphold the law and repatriate Khadr, noting that "ideological indoctrination" seemed to have distorted public feelings about the case.

Brender suggested the bill was triggered by the Harper government's anger with Khadr, "whose current non-deportability (as a Canadian citizen) is seen by some Conservatives as an affront to the gravity of his actions in attacking coalition forces in Afghanistan."