This interview by Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper should give you ample insight into why Canada is the only Western country that has a national in Guantanamo Bay, and some insight into our PM's Bushian way of thinking.
First off, Khadr apparently was never a child soldier, in Harper's mind:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday he rejects the premise that Omar Khadr was a "child soldier" because the young Canadian was not a member of an army when he was accused a lobbing a grenade that killed a U.S. soldier..."My understanding of international law is, to be a child soldier, you have to be in an army," he said in the pre-taped interview.
But, as the news article states, international organizations, including the UN, don't have the same opinion of what a child soldier is as does Mr. Harper:
The international Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers and UNICEF have broader definitions than Harper does of what it means to be a child soldier..The coalition acknowledges on its website there is no "precise definition." The international group, however, considers a child soldier to be anyone under 18 "who is a member of, or attached to, government armed forces or any other regular or irregular armed force or armed political group, whether or not an armed conflict exists."
UNICEF also defines a child soldier as anyone under 18 "who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity," including cooks, porters, messengers, and minors forced into marriage or recruited for forced sexual purposes.
Apparently though, Harper and his Conservative government's "legal position" is his version.. apparently the international version is entirely too uncomfortably compatible with Omar Khadr's, so he's disregarding it.
The other excuse Harper uses in not trying to repatriate Omar Khadr is this:
Harper said he shares Obama's concerns about the military process at Guantanamo Bay, but that doesn't mean Khadr is not being treated fairly. "Everybody is concerned about that process," Harper said. "The biggest concern about Guantanamo Bay is that most of the people there weren't charged with anything and weren't facing any kind of legal process. That is not the case with Mr. Khadr and, obviously, we have to see what the U.S. is going to do in terms of moving forward on that."
So, despite the fact most international countries and even those in the US believe the military commissions that were taking on the trials of these men were woefully inadequate in protecting the accused rights, and used torture techniques to extract evidence that would no be admissible in a "real" court, the fact Khadr got to the point of the commission finally starting his trial is good enough for Harper. Under his leadership, Canada has been the lone country that refused to criticize the Guantanamo Bay prison camps or its so-called legal proceedings.
You should get the idea that Harper is going to try to keep Khadr out of Canada as long as he can while he remains in power, but if not, here's the kicker:
Far from backing down to mounting pressure to repatriate Khadr, Harper maintained his hardline position by saying he will not make any decisions until he finds out whether the U.S. is going to drop murder charges.
So, either Obama is going to have to persuade/force Harper to take him back, or else remove Harper's excuse by halting legal proceedings against Khadr, or else wait until he sees whether Harper's government survives a confidence vote in Parliament next week (which it may or may not) and if it doesn't, whether a new government by coalition or election takes its place. Michael Ignatieff, the new Liberal Party leader, has made it clear that he believes Khadr should be repatriated to Canada.
Obama is very popular in Canada right now according to polls - almost as popular s he is in the US. If he were to publicly call on Khadr to be repatriated to Canada, I think the pressure on Harper would be overwhelming (if he's still around).
UPDATE: More on this Harper interview at the Canadian news magazine Macleans at one of their writers blogs. It's titled A child, but apparently not a child soldier.