Whether or not the Bowden Institution's most infamous resident stays put or moves to another correctional facility will soon be in the hands of Canada's top court.
Whether or not the Bowden Institution's most infamous resident stays put or moves to another correctional facility will soon be in the hands of Canada's top court.
Omar Khadr, 27, who has been incarcerated at the federal correctional facility since about February, has applied for a transfer to a provincial prison for adults.
His reason for the application was that he should have been placed in a provincial correctional facility for adults after he was transferred to Canada from the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2012 instead of a federal penitentiary because the eight-year sentence he received in the U.S. could translate to a youth sentence in Canada and not an adult sentence.
"The argument was that Omar Khadr had been given a juvenile sentence (in the U.S.) and it should be a juvenile sentence in Canada," said Khadr's Edmonton-based lawyer, Dennis Edney, in a telephone interview on July 24.
Khadr, who was born in Ontario, was captured by the U.S. military in Afghanistan in 2002 following a firefight during which he admitted to throwing a grenade that killed an American soldier.
In 2010, he pleaded guilty to five charges including murder, attempted murder, providing material support for terrorism, conspiracy and spying in exchange for a sentence of no more than eight years.
Upon his transfer to Canada, Khadr was incarcerated in Ontario's Millhaven Institution and later moved to the Edmonton Institution before coming to Bowden.
An Edmonton judge denied his application earlier this year to be moved from Bowden, finding Khadr was properly placed in a federal penitentiary.
Khadr appealed the decision in April, however, and earlier this month, the Alberta Court of Appeals unanimously allowed the appeal and concluded Khadr should be in a provincial facility for adults.
But the federal government, with backing from the province of Alberta, applied for a stay of the appeal court's decision in order to challenge the appeal court's decision before the Supreme Court of Canada.
In a statement issued on July 8 following Khadr's successful appeal, federal Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Minister Steven Blaney said the federal government has "vigorously defended against any attempt to lessen his punishment for these crimes."
"That is why the Government of Canada will appeal this decision and seek a stay to ensure that he stays in federal prison – where he belongs," Blaney said in the statement.
"We do not agree that a youth sentence is appropriate for someone who is seen on video making the same type of improvised explosive devices that killed many of the 158 Canadian Armed Forces members who died in Afghanistan."
Alberta Justice and Solicitor General Minister Jonathan Denis stated the province is supporting the federal government's position.
According to court documents, Ottawa is also arguing that transferring Khadr would disrupt the long-term correctional plan he is currently undertaking in Bowden and provincial facilities cannot provide Khadr with the programming necessary to complete the plan.
An Edmonton justice ordered the stay on July 22.
Khadr has agreed to stay put in Bowden until the matter is heard before the Supreme Court in the interest of completing his correctional plan.
Edney said Khadr should have been treated as a juvenile throughout the entire legal process following his capture in Afghanistan and because he wasn't, he did not have certain international protections granted to juvenile prisoners.
"Had he had those protections, he would never have been at Guantanamo and he would never have been at Millhaven, which was a terrible place, where he was threatened with his life," he said. "He wouldn't have been in Edmonton max where he was put on a white supremacist range and then assaulted within minutes of arriving there. He would have been in a facility where he would have had rehabilitation programs."
Edney said he expects the matter will go before the Supreme Court before the end of the year where he'll continue to argue the federal government has no basis for its position that Khadr should stay in a federal facility.
When asked if he knows where Khadr would go if he is allowed to leave Bowden, Edney said he wasn't sure.
"We understand that he'll be transferred to Fort Saskatchewan (Correctional Centre). But we have no control over that. That's in the purview of Correctional Service (Canada)."
He added that Khadr is "faring well" in the Bowden Institution.
"It's tragic. His world has gotten better and he's in a prison. He's been in a prison since the age of 15," he said. "And I've told you he'd been in a terrible prison in Guantanamo and went to one of the most dangerous places in Canada in Millhaven, where (Paul) Bernardo and others are. And then we were able to transfer him out of there and then he was assaulted within minutes of arriving in another maximum-security prison.
"And now he's in Bowden, which in terms of looking back on his life, it's the best place he's been at so far. It's a tragedy, but he's doing fine."
Edney also said he is making an application in federal court to make it possible for Khadr, who has not spoken to reporters since he was captured, to give media interviews.
"Because the message sent by our government, and I respectfully suggest, is misleading and deceiving about who this person is," he said.
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