Marston calls on Government to bring Omar Khadr back to Canada

40:2 Hansard - 5 (2009/1/30)

Mr. Wayne Marston (Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, clearly times have changed. A new day has dawned in the United States. The disgrace that was Guantanamo Bay will soon close, and military tribunals so devastating to fundamental human rights have been suspended.

The reputation of Canada must not be linked to such a disgraceful legacy. I ask the Prime Minister, when will the government relent and accept that Omar Khadr truly was a child soldier, do the right thing and bring Omar Khadr home?

40:2 Hansard - 12 (2009/2/10)

Mr. Wayne Marston (Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, we learned today that Omar Khadr has given up on appealing to the Prime Minister. Instead, he is appealing to the United States to return home.

How could things have gone so terribly wrong that a Canadian citizen gives up on his own country and turns to a foreign leader for the due process he should have been afforded here in Canada? When will the Prime Minister finally take action to bring Omar Khadr home to face justice here in Canada?

40:2 Hansard - 12 (2009/2/10)

Mr. Wayne Marston (Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, every other country that had nationals in Guantanamo fulfilled their basic obligations and got them out, every country but Canada.

Lieutenant Commander Bill Kuebler says that attempts over the past year and a half to speak to senior officials at the Prime Minister's office or in the Department of Justice or the Department of Public Safety have met with the same closed door. This is no way to treat a Canadian.

Will the Prime Minister commit today to raise the issue of Omar Khadr when he meets with President Obama next week?

40:2 Hansard - 18 (2009/2/25)

Mr. Wayne Marston (Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, normally when I rise in this place to present a petition on behalf of Canadians, I am quite pleased and proud to do so, but today I am sad.

In this case of over 100 petitioners, my sadness comes from the fact that these Canadians feel they have to petition on behalf of Omar Khadr. They are petitioning the government on the fact that they understand Omar Khadr was a child soldier, but their government does not. They are petitioning that Omar Khadr be brought home.