Human Rights and Extradition.

• Author: McKay-Panos, Linda
• Position: Columns

Recently, extradition has been front and centre in our news cycle (see: CBC, January 22, 2019 "China accuses U.S., Canada of abusing extradition in Huawei case"). There are very important human rights aspects to the process of extradition. These are critical to our democracy and the rule of law. For example, if another nation involved in the extradition seeks to punish or otherwise persuade Canada by imprisoning Canadians, this is not respectful of the rule of law and cannot affect how we perform the extradition process.

Canada has entered into international extradition treaties with many nations across the world. When one nation requests that a person in another nation be turned over to the requesting nation's law enforcement system, the process to be followed is dictated by the applicable extradition treaty and Canada's domestic extradition law.

Once the other nation (e.g., the United States) makes a formal extradition request, Canada will usually arrest the person and subject him or her to our extradition process. The process is subject to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as international human rights laws and policies.

In Canada, the Extradition Act, SC 1999, c 18 provides the legal steps that must be taken. The superior court of a particular province deals with the matter (e.g., in Alberta, the Court of Queen's Bench). A person can be extradited if a formal request is provided from a state with which Canada has a treaty. Further, the following are required under the Extradition Act:

3 (1) A person may be extradited from Canada in accordance with this Act and a relevant extradition agreement on the request of an extradition partner for the purpose of prosecuting the person or imposing a sentence on--or enforcing a sentence imposed on--the person if

(a) subject to a relevant extradition agreement, the offence in respect of which the extradition is requested is punishable by the extradition partner, by imprisoning or otherwise depriving the person of their liberty for a maximum term of two years or more, or by a more severe punishment; and

(b) the conduct of the person, had it occurred in Canada, would have constituted an offence that is punishable in Canada,

(i) in the case of a request based on a specific agreement, by imprisonment for a maximum term of five years or more, or by a more severe punishment, and

(ii) in any other case, by imprisonment for a maximum term of two years or more, or by a more severe...