Canada will "implement" Omar Khadr's plea agreement, which allows him to be repatriated to Canada after serving one more year in U.S. custody, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Monday.
Khadr pleaded guilty last week to five war crimes charges, including murder in connection with the death of U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer.
He was sentenced to eight years and was told he would be allowed to apply to serve out the remainder of his sentence in Canada, after serving one more year in Guantanamo Bay.
"The U.S. government agreed to have Khadr come back to Canada and we will implement the agreement that was reached between Mr. Khadr and the government of the United States," Cannon said in French.
"We will implement the agreement and we will ensure this agreement between the U.S. government (and) Omar Khadr is followed up on."
Cannon did not specifically say what the federal government will do if or when Khadr applies to return to Canada.
He also reiterated the government's claim that it was not involved in the negotiations over Khadr's plea agreement, despite newly published diplomatic memos that show the government agreed to "favourably" consider a request to transfer him back to Canada.
Over the weekend, a military jury, whose members were not aware of the plea deal, recommended a 40-year sentence for Khadr, though he will only serve the eight-year sentence agreed to under the plea deal.
Government officials have repeatedly said Khadr was America's problem and no talks were underway to have him serve out his sentence here.
Documents published by the Miami Herald, however, show Khadr was the subject of diplomatic memos on Oct. 23.
The documents say the Government of Canada was "inclined to favourably consider" allowing Khadr to serve out his sentence here.
"The Government of Canada shares the view of the United States that were Mr. Khadr to request a transfer to Canada to serve any part of his sentence in Canada, the United States and Canada could implement such a transfer," said the documents, part of a memorandum for Michael Bruhn, executive secretary to the U.S. Department of Defense.
The memo goes on to say Khadr would be subject to Canadian laws in terms of the remainder of his sentence and possible parole.
Liberal foreign affairs critic Ujjal Dosanjh said while the federal government may not have negotiated the terms of Khadr's plea deal with the prosecution or defence, the notes prove it agreed to his repatriation being a part of that deal in talks with the U.S. government.
"You can't be part of the process unless you talk to each other," Dosanjh told CTV's Power Play Monday evening.
"So they have negotiated with the United States government to be part of the overall plea bargain agreement while the plea bargain agreement was being struck between the defence and the prosecution. So it's not true for Mr. Cannon to simply continue to say they were not part of the process."
NDP human rights critic Wayne Marston said the fact Khadr agreed to an eight-year sentence over taking his chances at trial and a possible life sentence suggests his lawyers knew the government would okay his return to Canada.
"Mr. Edney, when he was offering advice to his client, would base that on coming back to Canada," Marston told Power Play. "And why the minister is avoiding this and ducking this and parsing his words is very strange."
Lawyer calls trial a mistake
After Khadr pleaded guilty last week, his Canadian lawyer Denis Edney, said the entire trial was a mistake and his client should have been handled as a child soldier -- Khadr was 15 when he killed Speer.
Edney told the court his client was required, as part of the agreement, "to sign an admission of facts which was stunning in its false portrayal of him."
Amir Attaran, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, said he was "dumbfounded" when the military jury returned a recommended sentence of 40 years for Khadr.
"Even the prosecutor of Omar Khadr hadn't asked for a 40-year sentence. He said no more than 25 years, so even the prosecutor was taken aback by this," Attaran told CTV's Canada AM on Monday.
Attaran said the jury was comprised of "seven military officers in a military court on a military base and surprisingly they didn't exercise the discipline of officers."
"When the prosecution says 'cap it at 25 years, that's the maximum' and the jury disregards that and says 'we don't care, we're going to come up with a much larger number,' it doesn't suggest discipline on the part of the system it suggests a system that's really quite out of control," Attaran said.
