Blog
January 30th 2009
Hey, at least I wasn’t in Guantanamo Bay
A lot can happen in seven years. Seven years ago I was attending my first year of high school. I was in grade 10. Since then I have done a significant amount of things, and chances are you, the reader, can list a pile of stuff as well. In the three years of high school I worked my first couple of jobs, partied frequently, and made a lot of new friends. I graduated in 2004. I took a bunch of courses in university that really interested me and eventually decided on a major that I wanted to pursue. In the intervening summers I learned how to shingle roofs, clean water dispensers, and how people react when you show up at their door as a government employee doing the census. I spent some time traveling in Europe and around the United States when free time and money were available. I bought a car and moved out of my parents’ house. The last seven years have been formative to say the least.
Why seven years? Seven years ago Canadian citizen Omar Khadr was taken to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay. He is exactly the same age as me.
Last week Barack Obama announced the closing of the notorious prison, an incredible development in a story that I have been following since 2003. Although other governments have had their prisoners sent back to face trial in their own countries, the Canadian government has never been interested in taking back Khadr.
Khadr was arrested in 2002 for allegedly throwing a grenade that killed an American medic. He has been formally charged in the prison and faced military tribunal, but the charges have been thrown out at least once and most prisoners are boycotting the military tribunals because there is serious doubt as to their fairness.
Khadr was a child soldier. If he grew up in a family that advocated terrorism then this statement is even more accurate. It is a black mark on the Canadian government for not doing something, but it is very encouraging that the new American administration is finally doing something for a kid who has sat in prison for what are some of the most important years in a young person’s life.
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