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Rights + Justice

Latest to Fall under Harper's Muzzle: Omar Khadr

We'll never know his side of the story, so long as the PM keeps media away.

Steve Sullivan 30 Jul 2014iPolitics

Steve Sullivan has been advocating for victims for almost 20 years, having served as the former president of the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime and as the first federal ombudsman for victims of crime. He has testified before numerous parliamentary committees on victims' rights, justice reform and public safety issues and has conducted training for provincial and federal victim services. He is currently the executive director of Ottawa Victim Services and a part-time professor at Algonquin College in the Victimology Graduate Certificate Program. His views are his own and do not represent any agency he is associated with.

This article first appeared in iPolitics.

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First scientists, now Omar Khadr: the federal government knows that controlling access means controlling the message.

Stephen Harper likes to control the message; you might say he's a little obsessive about it. His cabinet ministers have a script and they're expected to stick to it. Rarely does a dissenting opinion arise from his caucus. Even some of his critics stay silent for fear of retaliation or loss of funding.

The "message" about Omar Khadr is that he is a terrorist, a known supporter of al Qaida and a murderer. It is a simple narrative, easy to drill into people's heads in 30-second sound bites. Khadr is the poster boy for terrorism in Canada and has been a target of the Harper government since his detention at the age of 15. Many Canadians believe the message: They despise Khadr and fear his eventual release.

Controlling the message is easier when you control access. Corrections Canada is denying media requests for permission to interview Khadr. Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney can, of course, call a press conference anytime he wants. Pierre Pollievre can share his dazzling insights -- like "the cause of terrorism is terrorists" -- whenever the mood strikes him.

We all know the story. Khadr went to Afghanistan as a teenager with his father, and he left as a killer. He was shot in a 2002 firefight that injured Sgt. Layne Morris and killed medic Christopher Speer. From 2002 to 2012, Khadr was held at Guantanamo Bay and in 2010, he accepted a deal for an eight-year sentence. Despite Harper's attempts to stop him, he returned to Canada to serve out his sentence in 2012. He remains in prison despite being eligible to apply for parole.

A lot has been said and written about Khadr. Former senator Romeo Dallaire called him a child soldier. Sun News commentator Ezra Levant said he believes Khadr made his own choices and has been living a cushy life since being detained by the Americans. The only voice not heard in this debate belongs to the man himself.

What is Harper afraid of?

Corrections Canada said it is blocking media access to Khadr because media exposure would not be good for him -- that he should not seek to increase his notoriety. That explanation is suspect, though. When Khadr was at Millhaven, the warden approved a media request for an interview. Ninety minutes after finding out, then-public safety minister Vic Toews' office sent an email to the warden scuttling that decision: "This interview is not approved."

Since then, CSC has faithfully followed the government's orders. Most prison inmates have access to the media. The commissioner's directives outline when access can be denied -- basically in cases which pose a threat to prison security or might interfere with a prisoner's corrections plan. Current inmates to whom that policy applies include serial killers Robert Pickton and Paul Bernardo.

Without access to Khadr's own version of events, the federal government's narrative is simpler and easier to defend: Khadr was a terrorist then so he must be one now, and his age does not minimize what he did. But what is Harper afraid of? Is it possible that the adult Omar Khadr might change some people's minds about the person he is today?

"In Canadian society," says a Security Intelligence Review Committee report, "there is a long-standing recognition that young people should be treated differently than adults because they have not attained certain decision-making skills and therefore require special protection and guidance."

A CSIS agent once wrote that "it should be noted that (Khadr) was 15 years of age when captured, and most of the critical years in his father's association with al Qaida took place when he was merely a child."

Time to hear his side

The Toronto Star and the CBC are challenging CSC's decision to deny media access to Khadr. Given its track record on Khadr -- and court challenges in general -- the government's chances of winning this argument seem bleak.

Not that these people feel obliged to play fair. Over and over we've seen how this government uses straw-man arguments and cheap shots to undermine its opponents. If you oppose its costly and pointless efforts to put more criminals in prison for longer, you don't care about victims. If you don't see Omar Khadr as an unrepentant terrorist, you don't care about terrorism's victims. It's easy to duck the argument when you skip over the facts and go straight for the throat.

Sgt. Layne Morris lost an eye in the firefight with Khadr. Asked about it years afterward, he said he would like to hear what Khadr has to say now. "On some level, you have to say OK, the kid was 15 and regardless of what he's become, he at least deserves a chance."

Has Omar Khadr changed? I don't know -- but like Sgt. Morris, I would like to hear what he has to say. We have a right to hear what he has to say. Maybe he hasn't changed. But Canadians are entitled to make up their own minds. Maybe that's what Stephen Harper fears the most.  [Tyee]

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