Mike Duffy sues Senate, RCMP following acquittal

TORONTO — Canadian lawyers acting for the widow of an American special forces soldier have filed an application in Alberta — essentially duplicating one filed earlier in Ontario — seeking enforcement of a massive U.S. damages award against former Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr.

The claim calls on the Court of Queen’s Bench to recognize the judgment from Utah, and to issue a “corresponding ” judgment in the amount of $173.88 million — the Canadian value of the $132.1-million US award made in June 2015.

“Given that Canada has substantially similar legislation in relation to civil actions for victims of terrorism, it is entirely consistent with the fundamental public policy of Canada to enforce the U.S. judgment,” the notice states. “There are no defences to enforcement and recognition that operate in favour of the defendant in this case.”

According to the notice, bringing the Alberta action in parallel with the Ontario case is proper “given the territorial limitations of the respective judgment-enforcement regimes.”

Calgary-based lawyer Dan Gilborn refused to discuss the proceedings on Thursday, saying his office was not authorized to comment.

While the Alberta action was filed in early July amid word that the federal government was paying Khadr $10.5 million to settle a civil lawsuit, the lawyers acting for the Americans said they were having trouble serving notice to him.

“We have thus far been unable to locate Mr. Khadr for personal service, although we are aware that he has been residing in Edmonton, Alta., for much of the past two years,” Gilborn wrote Aug. 14 in a letter to Khadr’s lawyers, a copy of which was obtained by The Canadian Press.

One of Khadr’s Edmonton-based lawyers, Nate Whitling, said on Thursday that it would be a waste of time and money to try two identical actions at once.

“It’s two duplicative actions and there’s no point in proceeding with both of them,” Whitling said from Edmonton.

He also said the Alberta action had been filed too late.

Both actions — the Ontario one was filed June 8 — are on behalf of relatives of U.S. special forces Sgt. Chris Speer, who was killed in Afghanistan in July, 2002.

Speer had been part of a massive American assault on an insurgent compound, where Khadr, then 15 years old, was captured after being badly wounded. Retired U.S. Sgt. Layne Morris, who was blinded in one eye during the same operation, is a co-applicant.

The applications — like the uncontested civil suit in Utah — lean heavily on Khadr’s guilty plea before a widely discredited military commission in Guantanamo Bay in 2010 to having thrown the grenades that killed Speer and blinded Morris. Khadr later said his confession to five purported war crimes was his only way out of the infamous prison and to return to Canada.

Khadr, 30, who recently got married, has been on bail in Edmonton for the past two years pending his appeal in the U.S. of his commission convictions.

The Americans failed last month to get an injunction freezing Khadr’s assets — including the $10.5-million sources said the federal government paid him — pending outcome of the Ontario enforcement action.

However, in previous Ontario filings, Whitling argued against enforcement of the Utah judgment given its reliance on the military commission. Canadian courts are statute barred from enforcing foreign judgments that offend Canada’s public policy, he noted, and the Supreme Court has found the Guantanamo system contrary to Canadians’ concept of justice.

“Officials at the highest levels of the Canadian government have already stated ... that (Khadr’s) detention and prosecution in GTMO offended our most basic values and principles,” Whitling said in court filings.

OTTAWA — Sen. Mike Duffy is suing the Senate and the RCMP for the way they handled accusations about his expenses, seeking more than $7.8 million for loss of income and benefits and damage to his reputation.

Duffy filed a claim in Ontario Superior Court on Thursday that alleges his 2013 suspension by the Senate was unconstitutional and that the RCMP were negligent in their investigation.

In a statement, Duffy said he and his family suffered stress and serious financial damage and that his lawsuit is as much about the future as it is about the past.

“My civil action raises questions which go to the heart of our democracy,” he said.

“If this action succeeds in bringing charter protections to all who work on Parliament Hill, this will be my greatest contribution to public life.”

The P.E.I. senator landed in trouble with the Senate in late 2012 when questions were first raised about housing expenses claimed against a home he had lived in for years before he was appointed to the Senate.

The senators suspended him without pay for almost two years and in 2014 the RCMP filed 31 charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery against him.

In April of last year, Duffy was acquitted on all counts.

Ontario Court Justice Charles Vaillancourt said Duffy’s actions weren’t criminal, even if they raised eyebrows.

Soon after, Duffy returned to Parliament Hill.

Duffy’s lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, said the Senate overstepped its bounds when it took the unprecedented step to suspend Duffy. Greenspon said the decision was tantamount to an expulsion.

The claim alleges the RCMP failed to give Duffy a fair chance to respond to the allegations he faced and appeared to ignore evidence that would have proved his innocence.

The Senate must now file a statement of defence to respond to Duffy’s claims as part of a legal process that could take from two to five years, depending on whether the case goes to trial or settles out of court.

The Senate’s interim law clerk Jacqueline Kuehl said the upper chamber will not be commenting on the case until it is appropriate to do so.

“As this is a matter before the courts, we will respect the process,” she said.