A Conversation with Dennis Edney, lawyer for Omar Khadr

Dennis Edney has spent more than a decade advocating on behalf of Omar Khadr — known as the youngest prisoner and last Western national to be incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay. Mr. Khadr, a 15-year-old Canadian citizen at the time of his capture in Afghanistan, also holds the dubious distinction of being the first person to be prosecuted by a military commission for purported war crimes he is claimed to have committed while still a child. 

Mr. Edney is more than Mr. Khadr’s lawyer — he lives with him (a linchpin in securing his release). Mr. Edney will talk about how the post 9/11 climate of fear and insecurity has been exploited to justify long-standing human rights violations carried out in the name of national security. This has led to an intense debate over where the balance lies between the rule of law, human rights and civil liberties on the one hand and security on the other. It is Mr. Edney’s position that if we do not get the balance right, we can fall into lawlessness. One has to look no further than Guantanamo Bay.

About the speaker

After completing my law degree from the University of Northumbria, England, in 1987, Dennis Edney began my legal career as a  general practitioner. Mr. Edney's legal practice has focused on criminal and human rights law, and cases being tried under the new terrorist legislation. He is listed as counsel in various reported cases, including  appearances before the Supreme Court of Canada, most notably  R. v Mills and Canada v. Khadr.  He was also given leave to file an amicus brief before the U.S. Supreme Court in Rasul v. Bush. In 2004, he was appointed as Foreign Attorney Consultant by the U.S. Pentagon to participate in the defence of Mr. Omar Khadr.

Dennis Edney has received a number of awards and distinctions including the 2008 National Pro Bono Award (2008), the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia’s Human Rights Medal (2009), the Gerald L. Gall award by the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights (2013), the Winnipeg Citizens Award (2014), the Rotary Club of Canada’s Paul Harris Fellowship (2014) and most recently Canada’s 25 Most Influential Lawyers by Canadian Lawyer in the Criminal/ Human Rights Law (2015). 

Presented by the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism, the Human Rights Working Group, and Lawyers Without Border (McGill chapter).