After a weekend of yet more wailing and gnashing of teeth about the Omar Khadr settlement, and despite detailed explanations from the ministers of justice and public safety, and Justin Trudeau reminding everyone that this is not about the individual circumstances of Khadr himself but rather the price of successive governments who have ignored the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, we’re still seeing a number of disingenuous talking points and facile legal analysis from players who know better. Here is some of the better commentary from the weekend.
https://twitter.com/aaronwherry/status/883736382602194944
https://twitter.com/aradwanski/status/884024742826696704
https://twitter.com/cforcese/status/884031425862828032
https://twitter.com/stephaniecarvin/status/884031824783126528
A number of people over social media have insisted that treatment of Khadr, including the “frequent flier” sleep deprivation technique used to “soften him up” before CSIS agents arrived to question him, or the fact that he was strung up for hours to the point of urinating himself (and then used as a human mop to wipe it up) or being threatened with gang rape didn’t constitute torture.
https://twitter.com/cforcese/status/884047890003505152
https://twitter.com/cforcese/status/884051777850617856
https://twitter.com/cforcese/status/884052141417037825
There was some particularly petulant legal analysis from former Conservative cabinet ministers that got pushback.
Show me exactly where in the SCC judgment the Court said to give Khadr $10.5 million? PM Trudeau made this decision – he can explain it. https://t.co/D0HWnJyeE2
— Hon. Lisa MacCormack Raitt P.C. (@lraitt) July 9, 2017
https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/884078867006320640
https://twitter.com/AaronWherry/status/884091668940677120
"Reflects" "might well have been more" – we'll never know what SCC would have ordered. B/c the PM made the decision to stop the process 1/2 https://t.co/jt3QbJZVGU
— Hon. Lisa MacCormack Raitt P.C. (@lraitt) July 9, 2017
https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/884214974809296898
"[Khadr] doesn't come to this process with clean hands," says @ErinOTooleMP on government's payout https://t.co/cI9eYdYE21 pic.twitter.com/TkD91veiIy
— CBC's The House (@CBCTheHouse) July 8, 2017
By this logic, no criminal would have a remedy for violation of their charter rights while in prison & basically forfeit their rights https://t.co/nVYUkKbci3
— Jason J Kee (@jasonjkee) July 8, 2017
https://twitter.com/InklessPW/status/883432269976940544
And of course, the broader principle remains.
https://twitter.com/stephaniecarvin/status/884029627546599424