Canada-China Relations committee  But we can tell you that there was an authority to proceed issued, because that's public record. The authority to proceed identifies an offence that we believe was made out on the evidence provided by the foreign state. The authority to proceed in the Meng case identifies the offence of fraud.

Canada-China Relations committee  Yes. We only have to be satisfied there is a Canadian offence that could be made out on the facts. We don't have to match all of our offences with the foreign offence. We look at the conduct and we ask, “Is there a Canadian offence that arises from that conduct?” If so, we identify it and put it in the authority to proceed.

Canada-China Relations committee  I can't really comment on that, but as I indicated earlier, the Extradition Act does not contemplate prisoner exchange.

Canada-China Relations committee  The purpose of double criminality is the basic principle underlying extradition. A country does not want to send somebody from their territory to another territory to be prosecuted for something that they don't consider to be criminal. If a country has an offence that we would not recognize in criminal law, we wouldn't extradite somebody for it, and vice versa.

Canada-China Relations committee  I don't have any examples directly in mind. It happens very rarely, simply because we assess the evidence before we bring it before the court. We don't bring cases before the court if we think there's insufficient evidence for the judge to find double criminality. Occasionally there might be a gap in the evidence where it doesn't quite meet the test for a particular offence.

Canada-China Relations committee  That's a good question, which I'm not sure I can answer.

Canada-China Relations committee  I can advise that when we receive a provisional arrest request, they provide us with a summary of the evidence. We don't get the actual evidence at that stage, just a summary. We assess whether or not, in our view, it would meet the criteria for double criminality. If it doesn't, then we wouldn't proceed to seek a warrant for provisional arrest.

Canada-China Relations committee  We assess it before—

Canada-China Relations committee  The first step is to assess it and be satisfied that we think it's possible that this evidence is going to justify the issuance of an authority to proceed down the road and whether it meets the criteria for urgency that would allow a judge to issue a provisional arrest warrant. We review it, and in some cases we refuse to seek the warrant.

Canada-China Relations committee  I couldn't say for certain what the repercussion would be, but there would be a risk that it could bring the treaty to an end. It could vitiate the treaty.

Canada-China Relations committee  Mutual legal assistance is to assist prosecutors in different countries to access evidence for criminal prosecutions. There's a wide variety of things that could be sought to be of assistance in pursuing a prosecution. It could be witness testimony; it could be documentary information.

Canada-China Relations committee  I think it's just a question of population. Canada is big geographically but relatively small in population. We have treaties with countries all around the world. If we add up all the crimes being committed around the world versus the crimes being committed in Canada, there will be more requests coming to us than requests that we'll be making.

Canada-China Relations committee  That's correct.

Canada-China Relations committee  The ministerial aspect of it is delegated to officials, and officials have conducted the analysis that led to the authority to arrest and the authority to proceed.

Canada-China Relations committee  I can indicate that the authority to arrest and the authority to proceed were issued by officials without consultation directly with politicians.