Canada’s unjust extradition system needs major reform: legal and human rights experts

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OTTAWA – Canada’s extradition laws need a major overhaul to ensure fairness, transparency and a balance between a desire for administrative efficiency and crucial constitutional protections, say legal and human rights experts anybody.

OTTAWA – Canada’s extradition laws need a major overhaul to ensure fairness, transparency and a balance between a desire for administrative efficiency and crucial constitutional protections, say legal and human rights experts anybody.

In a report released Thursday, voices calling for reform say the Canadian process for sending people to face prosecution and incarceration overseas is riddled with loopholes that make the system inherently unfair.

The recommendations for change stem from the Halifax Symposium on Extradition Law Reform at Dalhousie University in September 2018, which brought together academics, defense lawyers and human rights organizations.

The report recognizes the importance of extradition in an increasingly globalized world where criminal activity often crosses borders, but highlights “a number of problems” related to the conduct of proceedings under the Law on Extradition. extradition of 1999.

“Canada responds to most extradition requests from other countries, and those wanted for extradition almost always fail to challenge it,” the report said.

“But is it the way it should be?” “

Supporters of reform highlight the case of Ottawa sociology professor Hassan Diab, a Canadian citizen who was extradited to France and jailed for more than three years, before being released without even being brought to justice .

“It should be remembered that when the Extradition Act was passed, the Department of Justice assured Parliament that Canadians would not rot in foreign states awaiting trial, and that extradition proceedings would not would not be used to facilitate foreign investigations, ”the report said. .

“Hassan Diab’s case shows that none of these promises are taken seriously.”

In the Canadian extradition process, officials from the Department of Justice first determine whether to allow court proceedings to commence through what is called a “prosecuting authority.” .

Once an authorization to prosecute has been issued, Canadian courts must decide whether there is sufficient evidence, or other applicable grounds, to justify committing the person for the purpose of extradition. When a person is returned for extradition, the Minister of Justice must personally decide whether to order the surrender of the person to the foreign state.

A person wanted for extradition can appeal their incarceration and seek judicial review of the Minister’s extradition order – a process that can take months or even years in court.

The report released Thursday says the incarceration process compromises the wanted person’s ability to significantly challenge the foreign case against them, reducing Canadian judges to rubber buffers and allowing the use of unreliable material.

Diab’s lawyer Donald Bayne said Canada’s extradition process is “essentially an unfair system” unworthy of a modern, constitutional Canada.

“Extradition involves the deprivation of liberty of Canadians and others, without any evidence under oath,” he said Thursday at a press conference to launch the report.

The justice minister’s surrender decision is a highly discretionary and explicitly political process, unfairly geared towards extradition, according to the report.

The Department of Justice’s international assistance group facilitates the extradition of people to face prosecution or conviction in the country in which they are charged or convicted.

However, the group is “excessively contradictory” in the way it conducts proceedings, acting without any separation between litigants and decision-makers, the report says.

All of this takes place under a “veil of unnecessary secrecy,” he adds. The group behind the report calls for changes, including:

– A presumption of innocence in the incarceration process, as well as an increased use of first-person evidence and cross-examination to allow the wanted person to challenge the reliability of the charge against him;

– Timely disclosure of exculpatory evidence held by the requesting state or the Canadian government;

– A higher standard of review for Minister’s surrender decisions, and changes to the law to refer certain legal issues to the courts;

– Authorize surrender only if the requesting State is ready to take the case to court;

– Explicit consideration of Canada’s obligations under international human rights law;

– A requirement that, if diplomatic assurances are used to facilitate surrender, they must be meaningful, transparent, controlled and legally enforceable;

– Reformulation of the role of the International Assistance Group so that members seek a fair and equitable outcome rather than a “winning” dispute;

– Adequate monitoring of the activities of the assistance group, including public scrutiny;

– Prohibit extradition, in cases where Canadian citizens are wanted, in favor of a Canadian prosecution, to the extent possible, unless the government can prove that it is genuinely in the interests of justice to extradite.

Dalhousie University law professor Rob Currie said the report was sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Justice Minister David Lametti, among others.

“But what is most urgent is that Parliament seriously consider what extradition looks like in Canada and what it should look like in the future,” said Currie. “Canadians should have a say, and the time to reform the law is high.

Lametti’s office made no immediate comment on the report.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on October 21, 2021.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press


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