Canada-China Relations committee  I can't testify to legal advice, but I can tell you that prisoner exchanges are a matter for the Department of Public Safety.

Canada-China Relations committee  I repeat that I can't discuss legal advice.

Canada-China Relations committee  There is a piece of legislation related to the transfer of offenders. It applies to circumstances in which people are actually convicted of offences and serving sentences. That offender can bring an application to have their sentence transferred to be served in another country.

Canada-China Relations committee  I can't give you legal advice. To be fair, I have no expertise in prisoner exchange.

Canada-China Relations committee  First of all, the Extradition Act is what we call “complete code”. It has all of the information in it that is required to begin and complete an extradition process. There is no reference in the Extradition Act to prisoner exchange, so it's not a concept known to extradition law.

Canada-China Relations committee  Thank you. The minister's decision balances the interests of the person sought against Canada's international obligations. He applies the mandatory and discretionary grounds of refusal in the Extradition Act. If the minister orders surrender, his decision is subject to judicial review in the provincial court of appeal.

Canada-China Relations committee  That document is available in French. I believe we provided it in both languages.

Canada-China Relations committee  We started by mentioning that there are three phases, but there is a possible preliminary phase, which is a request for a provisional arrest warrant. The Extradition Act and Canada's extradition agreements allow parties to apply for provisional arrest under urgent circumstances in order to avoid the flight of a particular person.

Public Accounts committee  That's an interesting question that I don't think I'm equipped to fully answer. Every country has its own laws, and I am not an expert in the laws of every country. Many countries have no plea bargaining at all for their domestic procedures. I think Colombia might be one of them.

Public Accounts committee  We always consider whether any laws can be improved, so I guess the answer to that is yes, we are always looking at whether it's possible to improve the legislation, but whether or not amendments are made is a matter for the government to decide.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, I'd say it's part of the system.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for that question. I think you are reading that correctly on the basis that 15% of the delay is not an unreasonable amount of time. Just because we use the word “delay” doesn't mean it's unreasonable delay. In terms of 15% of the time taken to process a mutual legal assistance request, there has to be time involved in processing it.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and honourable members of the committee. As indicated, I am the director general and senior general counsel of the international assistance group, which is part of the litigation branch of the Department of Justice. First of all, I would like to thank the committee for the opportunity to comment on the recommendation made in the Auditor General's 2014 report on the mutual legal assistance process and the extradition process in Canada.