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Omar Khadr, Oh Canada |
eBook Available
Diverse insights into the life and legal case of a Canadian child soldier.
In 2002 a fifteen-year-old Canadian citizen was captured in Afghanistan for allegedly killing an American soldier. A badly wounded Omar Khadr was transferred to the US Bagram Air Force base and then Guantánamo Bay detention camp. He would remain there without trial until October 2010, when a military commission admitted evidence considered tainted by Canadian courts. A plea bargain and guilty plea initiated his promised return to Canada a year later. Some Canadians see Khadr as a symbol of terrorism in action. For others he is the victim of a jihadist father and Canadian complicity in the unjust excesses, including torture, of the US "war on terror." The youngest prisoner held at Guantánamo and the only citizen of a Western country not repatriated, Khadr was formally identified by the United Nations as a child soldier.
Omar Khadr, Oh Canada, over thirty contributors analyze Khadr's background, his incarceration, the actions of Canadian authorities, and the implications raised by his legal case. This multi-genre book includes essays, articles, poems, a play, extended excerpts from the documentary film You Don't Like the Truth, and other texts produced by distinguished contributors such as Sherene Razack, General Roméo Dallaire, Charles Foran, Kim Echlin, Judith Thompson, Audrey Macklin, Shadia Drury, George Elliott Clarke, Maher Arar, Rick Salutin, and Sheema Khan. While they sometimes disagree on issues such as radical Islam and Canadian multiculturalism, they all write from the conviction that Khadr's treatment has been - and continues to be - shamefully unjust and shaped by post 9/11 Islamophobia that continues to distort the views of many Canadians.
Canadians are dismayed by the government's behaviour toward Omar Khadr. Adding strong and articulate voices to the debate, Omar Khadr, Oh Canada will educate and inform readers as his story continues to unfold.
Omar Khadr, Oh Canada, over thirty contributors analyze Khadr's background, his incarceration, the actions of Canadian authorities, and the implications raised by his legal case. This multi-genre book includes essays, articles, poems, a play, extended excerpts from the documentary film You Don't Like the Truth, and other texts produced by distinguished contributors such as Sherene Razack, General Roméo Dallaire, Charles Foran, Kim Echlin, Judith Thompson, Audrey Macklin, Shadia Drury, George Elliott Clarke, Maher Arar, Rick Salutin, and Sheema Khan. While they sometimes disagree on issues such as radical Islam and Canadian multiculturalism, they all write from the conviction that Khadr's treatment has been - and continues to be - shamefully unjust and shaped by post 9/11 Islamophobia that continues to distort the views of many Canadians.
Canadians are dismayed by the government's behaviour toward Omar Khadr. Adding strong and articulate voices to the debate, Omar Khadr, Oh Canada will educate and inform readers as his story continues to unfold.
Details
400 Pages, 6 x 9
2 drawings
ISBN 9780773540224
May 2012
Formats: Paperback, eBook
"A very important contribution to this very serious matter of a Canadian whose fundamental human rights have been abused with official complicity." Reg Whitaker, University of Victoria
"The informative introductory essay by Williamson proves that the general editor has done her homework. It's a valuable compendiun effectively grounding the entire collection and it comes accompanied by a very useful timeline from Khadr family's arrival in Canada until the state of legal limbo in mid-February 2012... The book's most profound statement comes from Janice Williamson, citing an astute observation of philosopher Simome Weil. For years, in his lonely exile, Omar Khadr has remained far too distant from the concerns of ordinary Canadians. Why is it that humans tend to look away when confronted by such plaintive cries for help? The answer, according to Weil, in a word: 'Gravity.'" The Chronicle Herald
"As in an artful kaleidoscope, Ms. Williamson has brought together the voices and sentiments of those who refuse to look away from Omar despite his desperate need and the clinging albatross of his family name. Like the art exhibit in Massachusetts, this collection deserves to be widely acknowledged, too, for what it says about Canada, and about all of us." Amira Elghawaby, Prism Magazine
“Some cases enshrine the defining moments of their time. Omar Khadr’s is one. Future generations will rightly judge our shocking derelictions of responsibility in this matter. Here is an anthology that strips bare our collective Canadian failure to extend justice and humanity to a child soldier. Read this brilliant, powerful, compelling collection and weep.” Constance Backhouse, distinguished university professor and university research chair in the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
“This book is an emphatic response to Omar Khadr’s cry “Nobody cares about me.” Omar’s ongoing story is one that brings shame to Canada, but one that we cannot forget. He has suffered unspeakable harms and the least we can do is learn from them. Many Canadians believe that Omar Khadr is a terrorist who deserves the treatment that he has received. This book chronicles the many inhumanities that he has borne. It offers gripping, stimulating, and shocking facts and arguments about Omar’s family history, his plight as a child soldier, his torture, his legal battles and the many violations of law that occurred in the process. It should go a long way to changing people’s minds.” Natasha Bakht, associate professor in the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, and editor of Belonging and Banishment: Being Muslim in Canada
“Williamson has drawn together a remarkable multidisciplinary collection of essays, poetry and drama, which traces the complexities and contradictions of the still unfolding Omar Kadar story. Provocative and compelling, this book exposes both the plight of children trapped by conflict and the uneven and fragile terrain of contemporary Canadian citizenship.” Janine Brodie, distinguished university professor, University of Alberta
“Omar Khadr, Oh Canada acts as a Canadian social prism through which we may finally begin to see important glimmers of the life of Omar Khadr beyond the moral panic of media accounts and the sterile analysis of judicial decisions. This introspective, nuanced and multi-dimensional consideration of Omar’s story inescapably confronts us with Canada’s willful involvement in a racist system that has denied and continues to deny Omar’s humanity.” Yavar Hameed, Human Rights Lawyer
“A justified indictment of Canada’s abuse of a child soldier. Every Canadian who is concerned about human rights, the rule of law, and the cracks that have appeared in our inclusive democracy since 9/11 must read this important book.” Erna Paris, author of The Sun Climbs Slow: The International Criminal Court and the Struggle for Justice
“ … this superb collection deserves a wide readership and long life. It trains all available instruments on the Khadr case as Williamson and her authors walk the hermeneutic circle.” Canadian Literature
"The informative introductory essay by Williamson proves that the general editor has done her homework. It's a valuable compendiun effectively grounding the entire collection and it comes accompanied by a very useful timeline from Khadr family's arrival in Canada until the state of legal limbo in mid-February 2012... The book's most profound statement comes from Janice Williamson, citing an astute observation of philosopher Simome Weil. For years, in his lonely exile, Omar Khadr has remained far too distant from the concerns of ordinary Canadians. Why is it that humans tend to look away when confronted by such plaintive cries for help? The answer, according to Weil, in a word: 'Gravity.'" The Chronicle Herald
"As in an artful kaleidoscope, Ms. Williamson has brought together the voices and sentiments of those who refuse to look away from Omar despite his desperate need and the clinging albatross of his family name. Like the art exhibit in Massachusetts, this collection deserves to be widely acknowledged, too, for what it says about Canada, and about all of us." Amira Elghawaby, Prism Magazine
“Some cases enshrine the defining moments of their time. Omar Khadr’s is one. Future generations will rightly judge our shocking derelictions of responsibility in this matter. Here is an anthology that strips bare our collective Canadian failure to extend justice and humanity to a child soldier. Read this brilliant, powerful, compelling collection and weep.” Constance Backhouse, distinguished university professor and university research chair in the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
“This book is an emphatic response to Omar Khadr’s cry “Nobody cares about me.” Omar’s ongoing story is one that brings shame to Canada, but one that we cannot forget. He has suffered unspeakable harms and the least we can do is learn from them. Many Canadians believe that Omar Khadr is a terrorist who deserves the treatment that he has received. This book chronicles the many inhumanities that he has borne. It offers gripping, stimulating, and shocking facts and arguments about Omar’s family history, his plight as a child soldier, his torture, his legal battles and the many violations of law that occurred in the process. It should go a long way to changing people’s minds.” Natasha Bakht, associate professor in the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, and editor of Belonging and Banishment: Being Muslim in Canada
“Williamson has drawn together a remarkable multidisciplinary collection of essays, poetry and drama, which traces the complexities and contradictions of the still unfolding Omar Kadar story. Provocative and compelling, this book exposes both the plight of children trapped by conflict and the uneven and fragile terrain of contemporary Canadian citizenship.” Janine Brodie, distinguished university professor, University of Alberta
“Omar Khadr, Oh Canada acts as a Canadian social prism through which we may finally begin to see important glimmers of the life of Omar Khadr beyond the moral panic of media accounts and the sterile analysis of judicial decisions. This introspective, nuanced and multi-dimensional consideration of Omar’s story inescapably confronts us with Canada’s willful involvement in a racist system that has denied and continues to deny Omar’s humanity.” Yavar Hameed, Human Rights Lawyer
“A justified indictment of Canada’s abuse of a child soldier. Every Canadian who is concerned about human rights, the rule of law, and the cracks that have appeared in our inclusive democracy since 9/11 must read this important book.” Erna Paris, author of The Sun Climbs Slow: The International Criminal Court and the Struggle for Justice
“ … this superb collection deserves a wide readership and long life. It trains all available instruments on the Khadr case as Williamson and her authors walk the hermeneutic circle.” Canadian Literature
Janice Williamson is professor in English and Film Studies, University of Alberta.
