Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin says the Khadr family, admitted Al Qaeda members with close ties directly to Osama Bin Laden, deserves the full protection of Canadian citizenship. (Hat tip: Geepers.)

“I believe that once you are a Canadian citizen, you have the right to your own views and to disagree,” he told a Halifax news conference that wrapped up his tour of the Maritimes.

U.S. intelligence officials allege Egyptian-born Canadian citizen Ahmed Khadr, 57, was an al-Qaida financier with close ties to Osama bin Laden. He died in a gun battle with coalition forces near Afghanistan last October.

There have been calls for Elsamnah and her 14-year-old son Karim, who was paralysed in the gunfight, to have their citizenship revoked.

Another son, Abdurahman Khadr, 21, returned to Canada last year after being released from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He has admitted to attending al-Qaida training camps in the 1990s.

Another child, Omar Khadr, 17, remains in U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay. He was arrested almost two years ago and is accused of killing an American soldier.

Elsamnah, who returned to Toronto last Friday, admitted her family links to al-Qaida and bin Laden during a CBC television documentary.