The optics on this is terrible on so many levels.
This guy is a Canadian citizen whether we like it or not. He was born here into a family who's loyalty to the country of Canada is dubious at best. He and his family took up arms against Canada and her allies in the Afgan War. He has admitted to killing Speer and wounding Morris along with a host of other things during the war. These confessions have been made during a period which Khadr was allegedly tortured (a military judge ruled he was not being tortured). The Obama admin started pressuring the Canadian government to take him because they didn't have the willpower to try a child for war crimes. Canadian government relented, Khadr was repatriated to serve out his remaining time and after he was done he decided to sue the government for violating his rights per the Supreme Court's ruling. Rather than risk a court battle that they would probably lose, the Canadian government cut him a cheque to go away.
We should have dealt with this clown from the very beginning. As soon as the US picked him up, we should have been asking for him to be returned to be charged with High Treason and we should have been lobbying the court to try him as an adult. He was old enough to pick up a firearm and grenades and shoot at soldiers, he is old enough to take the consequences of those actions under our laws. If the US didn't want to give him up, then so be it. When other Canadians run afoul of the law in other countries, the person is under the country's jurisdiction and bound to follow the legal system of that country. However, the government of Canada still has certain responsibilities to the Canadian (that includes even this guy). However, the government didn't have the intestinal fortitude to deal with him at the time and then made even more mistakes when they gave the information they obtained it their interrogations with him to the US.
There is alot to be mad about this situation. But the responsibility is on the government and it's agencies to conduct itself within the law when dealing with it's citizens. The rights that the Supreme Court ruled were violated is the the same rights all of us have and giving a pass to one Canadian's rights being violated opens a pandora's box to allow other Canadian's rights to be violated.
Some may think I am defending Khadr. I am not. I think he was a willing combatant in a war despite him being 15 at the time. I think he is a traitor to Canada and should be arrested and tried as such. I don't believe for a second he is apologetic for his actions and that he has changed his beliefs despite what he has said. Actions speak louder than words and if he was truly apologetic, he would be voluntarily turning that money over to Speer's widow and Morris and quietly be thankful that he is alive today.
Dyth