'The whole thing could turn out to be moot'

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, April 26, 2009 at 7:23 PM - 9 Comments

Interesting claim in a letter to the editor from a member of the American Bar Association.

I had the opportunity to speak last week with Joan Donoghue, the acting legal adviser at the State Department. While her comments were guarded – and properly so – it was clear to me the administration is seeking a diplomatic solution to Mr. Khadr’s status, which likely means repatriation. 

Judge and jury

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, April 24, 2009 at 1:26 PM - 4 Comments

From this morning’s QP.

Hon. Bob Rae (Toronto Centre, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of Foreign Affairs a question about the Khadr case. Mr. Justice O’Reilly’s judgment is really quite straightforward. He says: ‘There’s such evidence of systematic mistreatment of this prisoner at Guantanamo that there is now a positive obligation on the part of the Canadian government to make representations to bring him home.’ I would like to ask the minister a very simple question: What is it in Mr. Justice O’Reilly’s decision that the Government of Canada now takes objection to? 

Hon. Lawrence Cannon (Minister of Foreign Affairs, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I am happy to see my colleague from Toronto Centre. We have not seen each other for the last couple of weeks. Omar Khadr faces very serious charges. We all know that. As a matter of fact, last night we were able to see television footage of Mr. Khadr’s alleged building and planting of explosive devices that are actually planted in Afghanistan. Those devices are the devices that basically have taken away the lives of young Canadian men and women.

Continue…

The Commons: 'The facts have not changed'

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 7:01 PM - 57 Comments

The Scene. Ralph Goodale stood with breaking news.

“Mr. Speaker, this was not a good morning for a Conservative government in abject denial,” the Liberal house leader reported. “A Federal Court judge has just ruled that the Prime Minister is legally obliged to immediately press the United States to return Omar Khadr to Canada.”

The Liberals applauded. The Conservatives grumbled.

“We have been telling the Conservatives to do so for years. The American process was deeply flawed. Now the courts have said so too,” Goodale continued. “Will the Prime Minister confirm that he will comply with today’s ruling of the Federal Court?”

The Prime Minister, listening impassively, took a sip from the glass of water on his desk. When the Liberal finished, he stood and spoke in his reasonable voice. “Mr. Speaker,” he said, “of course for years this government has been continuing exactly the same policy that the previous government had.”

In fairness, that the Prime Minister has been the Prime Minister for some three years is sometimes lost on him. Such is his regard for his predecessors that it often does not occur to him that he might contradict their negligence.  Continue…

UPDATED – Let's call the whole thing off – Not liveblogging Democracy Watch before the Federal Court …

By kadyomalley - Thursday, October 2, 2008 at 9:01 AM - 50 Comments

… but hope springs eternal, right? And if they forcibly de-berry me, I’ll report back as soon as I’m out of the courtroom.

(Background details on the case available here.)

UPDATE: As I feared, it was a berry-free zone. I’ll try to throw together a quick recap in a separate post, but in a nutshell:

Peter Rosenthal, the lawyer for Democracy Watch, did his best to make the case for an expedited, warp speed, when-you-absolutely-positively-need-to-stop-an-illegal-federal-election-by-next-Tuesday hearing, he was unable to explain why, if time was so very much of the essence and the fate of Canadian democracy hung in the balance, his client had waited more than three weeks to file an application for judicial review. (In Rosenthal’s defence, he’s apparently only been on the case since September 23, but still.) He also seemed a little shaky on federal court rules and procedure; the prothonotary – R. Aronovitch, a no-nonsense woman that I’m sure I’ve covered before, but I can’t think when or where – was sympathetic, but seemed unmoved by his excuses.

Meanwhile, the lawyer for the government – Eric Robert, I believe, although I’ll have to doublecheck (or, in this case, check) the spelling – was clearly nettled at being dragged into court, and grumbled and grouched his way through what was, however, a pretty compelling argument against allowing the case to go forward next week.

The judge didn’t rule right away, but given the way the hearing unfolded, and Aronavitch’s line of questioning with Rosenthal, in particular, I think it’s safe to say that the election will go ahead as scheduled.

Agonizing wrist cramps, in! Rapidfire summary analysis, out! – Not-even-remotely-liveblogging the Federal Court (Part 2)

By kadyomalley - Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 11:18 AM - 0 Comments

July 24, 2008 UPDATE: Motion denied. Good thing I didn’t bet money on it, huh?

[NOTE TO READER: Once again, I have tried to stay as close to my original notes, although as the afternoon went on, my handwriting became distinctly more --- impressionistic, shall we say. Just a reminder - unless in quotes, assume all statements are paraphrased, although I tried to be as accurate as possible, and finally the timestamps are wildly approximate, although I apparently just gave up looking at the clock during the second half of the hearing.]

Part 2 – Barbara McIsaac for the Chief Electoral Officer -  Nice motion you got there. It’d be e a shame if anyone introduced the Commissioner of Elections’ search warrant application in response.

Continue…

Handwritten notes, in! Blackberries, out! – Not-even-remotely-liveblogging the Federal Court (Part 1)

By kadyomalley - Monday, July 21, 2008 at 4:42 PM - 0 Comments

[NOTE TO READER: I tried to stay as close to my original notes in this transcription, although I have included the odd explanatory note - mostly when I couldn't read my handwriting, or it turned out to be missing nouns, verbs or, in some instances, any semblance of narrative coherence. Unless in quotes, assume all statements are paraphrased, although I tried to be as accurate as possible, and finally the timestamps are wildly approximate. Y'all, I am lost without my BlackBerry shortcuts - how I've missed you, LT.]

Continue…

As I was saying before we were abruptly interrupted …

By kadyomalley - Monday, July 21, 2008 at 12:54 PM - 0 Comments

(Note: I copypasted this from the liveblog post – which turned out to be suspended-animationblogging – just in case everyone gave up on hitting refresh.)

10:37:23 AM

Okay, so I guess you’ve probably gathered that liveblogging is not, in fact, allowed during the session. Worth a shot, right? Anyway, I’m taking notes with my increasingly cramped up hand, and will file a full report after the hearing.

  Continue…

In and out of Federal Court: Watch this space for possible liveblogging action

By kadyomalley - Monday, July 21, 2008 at 8:40 AM - 0 Comments

9:06:17 AM
Well, I’m here – the only one here, in fact, which is probably because I left myself plenty of time to get lost or show up at the wrong building entirely. I’m sitting in the very back of an utterly unremarkable courtroom — it’s even smaller than I expected, with just four tables and a single row of chairs at the back, and a minimalist desk at the front where the prothonotary — Mireille Tabib — will presumably be seated when the hearing gets underway in — just over fifteen minutes. So far, nobody has blinked twice at my Blackberry, so let’s keep our fingers crossed that I’ll be able to blog throughout.

Continue…