‘Complicit in the abuse of a Canadian citizen’s rights’

The Globe and Mail editorial board laments the government’s decision to appeal the Federal Court ruling that Omar Khadr be repatriated.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson is taking the Canadian government out onto a weak limb, in its appeal of a court order on the issue of Omar Khadr’s repatriation from the United States. It is weak legally and even weaker morally. There is no serious principle worth defending.

Here is the victory Ottawa seeks: that the Canadian government can be complicit in the abuse of a Canadian citizen’s rights abroad – up to and including torture – without a court ordering that it do its best to bring that citizen home.

Whether the case is winnable is beside the point. Is it really a victory worth fighting for?

Mind you, the Canadian government’s official position is—or at least was, at last check—that the United States did not participate in torture.