A group of young men called Child Soldier Cycle were in the Maritimes recently to raise awareness of the use of child soldiers around the world.
It's a little-known fact in North America that children are used to in great numbers by rag-tag armies in Africa, Asia and South America.
Kidnapping, drugs and death threats are the methods of choice for warlords to build their ranks with kids. Those who survive find themselves regarded as outcasts and unable to reintegrate into society.
The young men who bicycled here from Ottawa are to be commended for their efforts.
The same can't be said for our government when it comes to one child soldier in particular.
In July 2002, a severely wounded 15-year-old Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen, was captured following a firefight in Afghanistan. Accused of throwing a grenade that allegedly killed an American soldier, Khadr has spent a quarter of his life detained at Guantanamo Bay.
The Conservatives have fought Khadr's repatriation, insisting the American military justice system should be allowed to follow run its course.
Canada and other Western nations have spent millions to demobilize, rehabilitate and reintegrate former child soldiers abroad.
It's unfathomable that Canada would put up this effort, only to turn its back on a one-time child combatant who called Canada home.
How can Canada be taken seriously when it wags its finger at those who would put a rifle or machete into a child's hands and tell them to kill or be killed?
In an article he co-authored last week for the Toronto Star, Roméo Dallaire said it's hypocritical that Khadr is not enjoying the same rights as former child soldiers from countries such as Sierra Leone.
"One of the problems with this case is that people do not have compassion for Khadr, but have compassion for child soldiers in other parts of the world," Dallaire wrote. "If a 15-year-old child in Sierra Leone or Uganda kills someone in a war, he is a victim in need of rehabilitation, but as soon as that child is accused of killing an American soldier, legal standards no longer apply."
Omar Khadr may never win the sympathy of ordinary Canadians, but as a former child soldier, he deserves their protection.
