Thank you.
The issue we're talking about today touches on both our mandates, which are to advocate on behalf of Canadian Sikhs as well as to protect human rights for all individuals.
In short, Canada's extradition process is deeply flawed and needs urgent reform.
At the outset, I'd like to say that our organization supports and endorses the Halifax colloquium's proposals for law reform. Specifically, it's our position that human rights considerations must be at the core during extradition processes. While charter protections apply only to Canada and not to foreign states, where there's a causal connection between the abuse of human rights of an accused in a foreign country and Canada’s decision to extradite, charter protections must be in force.
While in the current process human rights are contemplated, those considerations are tempered by considerations of reasonableness and deference by the court to the minister in matters of foreign affairs and international co-operation. This is based on the court's assumption that Canada does not enter extradition treaties with countries not worthy of its trust. For this reason, the Minister of Justice's decision to extradite is largely a political one. We believe that leaves the extradition process open to misuse and abuse.
Specifically, with regard to the concerns of the Sikh community, Canada’s extradition treaty with India is highly problematic. That treaty was entered into in 1987. According to Joe Clark, who was then foreign affairs minister, the key consideration between the negotiating countries was India's desire to extradite Canada-based Sikh “extremists”.
What makes this treaty especially problematic and surprising is that while Canada has [Technical difficulty—Editor].