Commissioner rules against CBC for blocking Omar Khadr records

Canada's information commissioner has ruled against CBC for withholding records on an Omar Khadr interview from Rebel News.

The Canadian-born confessed Al Qaeda terrorist, who killed one American Army medic and blinded a green beret, was a guest of the CBC French-language talk show, Tout Le Monde en Parle in 2019.

Here is how CBC described the friendly appearance:

Omar Khadr's life is one long legal battle. The road to freedom will be long for the man accused of having killed an American soldier in 2002, when he served as an interpreter for the Taliban who would have trained him to be a child soldier. Locked up in Guantanamo, where he allegedly suffered ill-treatment, then in Canada, it was not until 2015 that he obtained his parole, accompanied by a public apology from the Canadian government and compensation of 10.5 million dollars. Last week, an Alberta judge granted him full freedom, but appeals in the United States risk bringing him back to court. Although he can never be an ordinary citizen, he hopes to at least lead a normal life one day.

The efforts to normalize the murderer of a Canadian ally took place on Easter Sunday, and the public was outraged. Rebel News filed for access to information about the reaction of the CBC execs to the response of the viewers to their bizarre terrorist rehab efforts.

But CBC blocked our efforts to find out more. We did not want their journalist notes and sources. We want to know if they were taking the feedback to heart or mocking it. So we appealed to the information commissioner.

And she sided with us!

Here is some text of the judgement:

• “During the investigation, CBC conceded that portions of the information withheld did not qualify for exemption and issued supplementary disclosures to the complainant.”
• “In response to the supplementary release, the complainant narrowed the scope of the investigation to specific pages containing the information at issue.”

And my favourite part: “The complaint is well-founded.”

To support our independent investigations through access to information where we hold politicians and the CBC to account, please make a contribution at www.RebelInvestigates.com.