OTTAWA -- Yesterday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that detainees at Guantanamo Bay may challenge their imprisonment in U.S. courts provided further ammunition for opposition parties in Ottawa.
"Does [the government] agree with the U.S. Supreme Court and others associated with the case that the Bush administration's Guantanamo Bay process is illegal?" asked NDP MP Wayne Marston yesterday.
"The Government of Canada strongly believes that the fight against terrorism must be carried out in compliance with international law, including the established standard of human rights and due process," responded Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai.
For weeks, opposition MPs peppered the Conservative government with questions about the Omar Khadr case. All three opposition parties have called for Mr. Khadr's return to Canada.
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But the government has showed no signs of shifting from its long-held position, and the MP charged with answering questions about Mr. Khadr has repeated the same responses that have been the government's official position for months.
Department of Foreign Affairs documents obtained by The Globe and Mail under the Access to Information and Privacy Act show that officials were instructed to issue that same response to myriad Guantanamo-related questions, including whether Canada accepts that the U.S. military court has jurisdiction over Mr. Khadr's case and what Canada's position is on a previous U.S. federal court ruling that prevented Guantanamo Bay detainees from challenging their detention.
Liberal MP Bob Rae, who has asked several questions about the Khadr case in the House of Commons recently, also brought up the case yesterday. Mr. Obhrai responded to those questions by saying that the Conservative government is following the same policy established by a previous Liberal government.
The case took on added importance in the House yesterday because of a pending report by a house subcommittee studying Mr. Khadr's case. Although the report is confidential, it has already been widely leaked.
Throughout the subcommittee proceedings, opposition members have called for Mr. Khadr's return to Canada, while Conservative members have rejected such a move.
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