CBC pulls out of Omar Khadr speaking event in Halifax

Nahlah Ayed, who hosts the CBC program Ideas, decided to opt out of the event, choosing to explore the subject “at another time in a different way.”

The event will also feature remarks from Dr. Shelly Whitman and author and Canadian hero Hon. Romeo Dallaire, who is well known for his work in Rwanda during the nation’s genocide.

Omar Khadr is a former child soldier who was involved in a firefight with US soldiers in 2002, leaving one US soldier dead. Khadr was wounded in the firefight and captured—being taken to Guantanamo Bay where he was held without charge.

In 2017, Justin Trudeau’s federal government awarded Khadr a $10.5 million settlement. Khadr went on to purchase a strip mall in Edmonton with some of the money.

Omar Khadr was invited to be a keynote speaker at an event at Dalhousie University that protests the use of child soldiers. The event is being hosted by Dalhousie University and the Romeo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative.

Khadr’s invitation to speak at Dalhousie was met with considerable online backlash.

Khadr previously caused controversy early in 2019 when he appeared on CBC’s Tout Le Monde En Parle, a French-language TV show which gave him a hero’s welcome.

As of right now, the event is scheduled to go on despite the backlash from the Canadian public.