In all the things Canadians did not do, you forgot the most important thing:

Our Canadian Govt (both Liberal and Conservative) turned a blind eye and did not advocate on behalf of a citizen for rights guaranteed for all citizens.   One of these rights is the right to a swift trial.   Khadr was held without charge and without trial for years and our Govt (both Liberal and Conservative) did nothing.     Why?   Because it was "popular" to let him fester in jail.     

Your premise that this was done to avoid public scrutiny makes no sense since there's more than enough blame to go around and none of it on our current Govt who were left to clean up a mess.