Omar Khadr Gets Bail!!

A judge in Alberta has released her finding that Omar Khadr should be allowed out of jail while waiting for his appeal both because he has a strong basis for his appeal in the American courts and there is no reason to believe that the Canadian public would be put at risk. There are still some issues to be resolved in terms of bail conditions but one would have to believe that Khadr and those who have been supporting his application for bail must be ecstatic. Our Canadian government - not so much

In fact within moments of the announcement from the court, Steven Blaney, Canada's Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness issued a statement expressing the government's disappointment with the judge's decision and promising to appeal. They are appealing because he was convicted of a "heinous crime" (CBC).  Once again the Harper Government is going to waste my tax dollars appealing a case for which there are no valid reasons to appeal. They are going to keep lock up (and thereby waste more of my tax dollars) an individual who has already spent more than half of his young life in jail. There are so many reasons why this is so wrong (see my blog from March 25,2015).

For the record Mr Blaney - the word heinous, according to the Oxford Dictionary means "utterly odious or wicked" (Oxford Dictionary). Even if Khadr did in fact throw the grenade that killed an American soldier (which is what is being appealed in the American court), it was done by a 15 year old boy, in the heat of battle, and under the influence of his father and older brother. While the act (if done) was utterly wrong, it was not heinous. In fact I would argue that the only reason why an individual or a government would use such language is to perpetuate the myth that we all need to be afraid of what someone is going to do to us and that the only people who can protect us is the Harper Government.

Quite frankly Mr. Blaney, I would feel a whole lot safer if you didn't protect me.