A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling ordering Ottawa to take steps to bring home Omar Khadr, the 22-year-old terror suspect being held in Guantanamo Bay.
In April, the Federal Court of Canada ruled that Ottawa's refusal to seek Khadr's repatriation violated his constitutional rights.
The Conservative government challenged the ruling, but the appeal was rejected on Friday and the original decision was upheld.
Khadr has been held at Guantanamo Bay for years, effectively growing up in the prison for his alleged role in the death of a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan in 2002.
Khadr is accused of throwing a grenade that killed the medic, when he was just 15 years old.
Speaking on Friday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he will need time to review the ruling before deciding on a course of action.
"Apparently, it is a split decision of the court," he said. "The Department of Justice will be examining that decision, and obviously, I won't be commenting until we see their analysis and their recommendations."
While many have advocated on Khadr's behalf, calling him a child soldier who was the victim of his environment, Ottawa has refused to ask Washington to send him home to face the justice system here.
As a result, he is believed to be the only Western prisoner still in Gitmo, a U.S.-run detention centre on Cuban soil. Detainees from other Western countries, including Britain and Australia, were sent home from Guantanamo Bay long ago, under pressure from their home governments.
In its April decision, the court ruled the Conservative government must ask the U.S. to return Khadr "as soon as practicable."
Harper has earlier said it is not Canada's place to meddle in another country's affairs, and he planned to wait to see what U.S. President Barack Obama does in the case.
Documents show Khadr has been threatened with rape, kept in isolation and intentionally deprived of sleep by his U.S. captors.
Court proceedings against Khadr began roughly four years ago and are before a U.S. military commission, but the hearings are on hold pending a review of his case.
His U.S. military-appointed lawyer has maintained that Washington will allow Khadr to face prosecution on Canadian soil, if Ottawa puts forward the request.
Liberal MP and foreign affairs critic Bob Rae said that Khadr was born in Canada and has the rights and freedoms of every other Canadian.
"It is simply wrong for Mr. Harper to refuse to recognize the facts of this situation, and the fact that it's time for Mr. Khadr to be brought home," Rae said at news conference.
"I think the government's legal case has been blown out of the water."
