The International Transfer of Sentenced Individuals to Canada: Procedure and Issues

• Author: Adelina Iftene & Olivia Genge
• Profession: Associate Professor and Coordinator of the JD Criminal Justice Program Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University/JD 2022, Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University
• Pages: 496-522

496

twenty-one

e International Transfer of

Sentenced Individuals to Canada:

Procedure and Issues

ADELINA IFTENE & OLIVIA GENGE*

A. INTRODUCTION

e commission of a crime by the citizen of one state on the territory

of another triggers several potential international and transnational

responses. ese actions include extradition, deportation, and transfer of

prisoners. Extradition sends the individual back to their country of origin

for trial. Deportation, in relation to crime, often occurs after an individual

has served their sentence in a foreign country. A prisoner transfer moves

the individual, under sentence in a foreign country, to serve the remainder

of their sentence in the country of citizenship.

e latter process has received far less attention in Canada than the

rst two. In fact, there is very little scholarship and commentary on the

issues raised by the regulation and implementation of the transfer-of-

prisoners framework. Yet, this process aects the lives of hundreds of

* Adelina Iften e, Associate Professor and Coordinator of the JD Criminal Justice

Program Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University, and Olivia Genge, JD

, Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University. ank you to Liam Protheroe,

JD  Dalhousie and Faith Hwang, JD  Dalhousie, for their thorough editing

assistance and to Professor Rob Currie for his thoughtful comments and suggestions

on the substance of this chapter.

 See the chapters by Frédéric Mégret and Jerey Johnston in this book.

 ere is a dearth of scholarship on this issue. One author has written about this issue

from a comparative perspective: Jamil Ddamulira Mujuzi, “ e Supreme Court of

The International Transfer of Sentenced Individuals to Canada

497

individuals and their families yearly, and interacts in complex ways with

human rights, international, constitutional, criminal, and administrative

laws. Internationally, the importance of this process has been recognized

by the UN Oce on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which issued the

Handbook on the International Transfer of Sentenced Persons.

Canada is currently party to fteen bilateral international treaties

and three multilateral agreements that allow for the transfer of sentenced

individuals back to their states of origin to serve the remainder of their

Canada and the Oender’s Right to be Transferred to Ser ve His Sentence in Can-

ada: Interpreting the International Transfer of Oenders Act in Light of Canada’s

National and International Human Rights Obligations” () : Baltic Journal of

Law & Politics ; Jamil Ddamulira Mujuzi, “ e Transfer of Oenders from Other

Countries to Canada: Analysing eory and Practice” () : Chinese Journal of

Comparative Law  [Mujuzi ]; Jamil Ddamulira Mujuzi, “e ‘Best Interests

of the Child’ as a Factor in Allowing Foreigners with Criminal Records to Enter

Canada and in Staying the Deportation of Foreign National Oenders from Canada”

() : Acta Universitas Danubius ; Jamil Ddamulira Mujuzi, “Legal Plur alism

and the Right to Family Life, and the Transfer of Oenders Who Are Nationals of

African Countries, within Africa and to Africa” () : Journal of Legal Pluralism

and Unocial Law  [Mujuzi ]. A handful of Canadian publications include

case commentary related to transfer of prisoners in the broader context of national

security and public international law: Yavar Hameed, “Unmasking the Public Interest

in Discretionary National Security Decisions in Canada” () : Canadian Bar

Review  [Hameed]; Benjamin Oliphant, “Interpreting the Charter with Inter-

national Law: Pitfalls & Principles” ()  Appeal: Review of Current Law and

Law Reform ; Gib van Ert, Greg J. Allen & Rebecc a Robb, “Canadian Cases in

Public International Law in ” []  Canadian Yearbook of International La w

 [van Ert, Allen & Robb ]; and Gib van Ert, Greg J. Allen & Rebecca Robb,

“Canadian Cases in Public International Law in ” []  Canadian Yearbook of

International Law  [van Ert, Allen & Robb ].

 UNODC, Handbook on the International Transfer of Sentenced Persons (United

Nations, ) [UNODC].

 ese include treaties with Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Dominican

Republic, Egypt, France, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Peru, ailand, the USA,

and Venezuela. See Correctional Ser vice Canada, “List of Countries Acceding

a Bilateral Treat y with Canada” (last modied  April ) [“List of Countries

Acceding a Bilateral Treaty with Canada”], online: www.csc-scc.gc.ca/international-

transfers/--eng.shtml.

 Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, () ETS No  (entered into

force  July ); Canada, Commonwealth Scheme for the Transfer of Oende rs (),

online: travel.gc.ca/assistance/emergency-info/consular/framework/commonwealth;

Inter-American Convention on Serving Criminal Sentences Abroad, OAS,  June ,

OR OEA/Ser.P/XXIII.O./Doc. ().