Ottawa

Omar who?

Carleton’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs has released a “blueprint” for Canadian-American relations under a new administration to the south. It is supported by 17 background papers.

A quick search of all those thousands of words finds not a single mention of the word “Khadr.”

James H. “Si” Taylor, Canada’s undersecretary of state for external affairs from 1985 to 1989 and currently the chancellor emeritus at McMaster, perhaps comes closest to the subject matter with this.

The country may need better police and intelligence work, but it does not need to warp domestic law, defy international law, create legal regimes of exception or threaten the nation’s civil liberties in order to protect itself against terrorism. The new president could perform a useful service were he to say some of these things at the outset of his term. Perhaps the promised closing of Guantanamo is the harbinger of a more far-reaching re-appraisal of terrorism that may be in the wind. 

In other news, “Si” is a fantastic nickname.

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