Hundreds took to the streets in Toronto and Ottawa on Saturday to press the federal government to bring Omar Khadr back to Canada from the American prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Khadr's family joined an estimated 200 demonstrators in the rain to protest in front of the U.S. consulate in Toronto.

"We're hoping to raise awareness of Omar's situation," Karim Khadr said from his wheelchair on Saturday.

"Hopefully we'll get the support of the Canadian government, but most of all we want the support of the Canadian people, because they're what matters."

Karim was paralyzed from the waist down in the same gun battle that killed his father in Afghanistan in 2003. He returned to Canada in 2004 with his mother to seek medical attention.

Toronto-born Omar Khadr, 21, is facing a trial in the fall before a U.S. military commission for allegedly killing an American military medic with a hand grenade in Afghanistan in 2002. He was 15 at the time of his arrest and has spent nearly six years in custody.

A smaller rally was also held in Ottawa.

Speaking on behalf of the federal government, Conservative MP Jason Kenny reiterated the position that Omar Khadr is being treated fairly.

"[The government] has sought and received assurances that Mr. Khadr is being treated humanely and has carried out several welfare visits to verify this. We will continue to do this," he said in a statement on Saturday. "Mr. Khadr faces some very serious charges."

In announcing the rallies Friday, social activists said the government's refusal to press for his repatriation from Guantanamo Bay is a political and legal travesty.

The Toronto Coalition to Stop the War, which helped organize the protest, called Khadr's detention and treatment at Guantanamo Bay a "national disgrace and an international embarrassment."

The Network to Oppose War and Racism, which organized the Ottawa rally, said assurances from the government that Khadr is being treated well are false.

On Friday, a similar protest was held in Montreal. Another pro-Khadr rally is planned in Vancouver on Wednesday.

With files from the Canadian Press