Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to have the opportunity today to speak on Bill C-40, an act respecting extradition, to amend the Canada Evidence Act, the Criminal Code, the Immigration Act and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act and to amend and repeal other Acts in consequence.
First let me speak a bit about why we are here today even debating this bill. This legislation is before us today because Canada's current extradition policies are outdated, slow and complex.
Those are three characteristics that when we are dealing with justice issues we ought not to have. In fact, the situation should be just the opposite. Matters should be dealt with expeditiously, currently and in a simple, steadfast and straightforward way.
I am sure we all can think of many delays in the justice system where we see people are suffering grievances because, as we know, justice delayed is justice denied.
I am involved in a court matter I started around the spring of 1996. It is still lingering on. Here we are in December 1998. I am sure the matter will carry on well into the new year, perhaps even close to the millennium.
I am basically a man of patience. Fortunately I have the wherewithal to finance these legal proceedings. But I often think of the many people in our society who are not in as fortunate a position as I and what they must go through when they are undergoing legal proceedings that taken that long, when the time is dragging out and the matters go on indefinitely because of our justice system.
That is one of the reasons we are here today talking about the extradition policies. They have been and they are currently outdated, slow and complex.
The bill before the House combines the Fugitive Offenders Act and the existing Extradition Act to provide a single act to simplify the extradition process in Canada. Simplify is the key word.
The proposed legislation is intended to bring our extradition policies and procedures closer to those of other countries and to prevent Canada from becoming a safe haven for fugitives who want to avoid facing the justice system in countries where they commit crimes.
One of the major concerns with the current legislation is the difficulty for Canada to meet its international obligations to a international criminal court or tribunal such as the UN tribunal on international war crimes.
Canada cannot extradite a fugitive to such a body under the present legislation. We support being able to extradite individuals to face international courts like the Rwanda and Yugoslavia war crimes tribunals.
These tribunals and the concept of an international court with independent powers to prosecute war criminals have been years in the making and certainly need our support. An important feature of the bill is that it will allow extradition not just to states but to the United Nations war crimes tribunals and any future bodies of this nature, including the UN international criminal court. The bill will enable us to fulfil our international obligations to comply with the United Nations security council resolution establishing the international criminal tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.
According to these resolutions we have to provide assistance and surrender fugitives to the tribunals as so requested. As our law now stands, we could be in breach of our obligations as members of the United Nations if persons sought by either tribunal were located in Canada and we were not able to extradite.
The NDP also supports measures to modernize the act and to deal with high tech and organized crime. The current legislation does not deal with the newer high tech crime and is not flexible enough to accommodate changes arising from the globalization of criminal activity. Indeed we see a lot of that happening today. We know there is drug trade and organized crime taking place globally. It is not as if now things that happen in our community are isolated from the rest of the world. Quite often these crimes originate in another part of the world and come across to our borders.
There is increased mobility of individuals today. I saw a fine example of this increased mobility earlier. I was sitting in the opposition lobby and I looked up and there was the hon. government House leader standing there talking to some of our people. I put my head down, took another bite out of my meal and I looked up and there was the government House leader in the Chamber making a speech about an emergency debate tonight. In the blink of an eye he can be one place and then another place.
This is true for hon. members of this House and really right across our society. Globalization enables us to commute from one place to another very quickly. Therefore it is very important that our legislation and our laws be able to handle situations which involve this kind of increased mobility and flexibility of individuals across borders.
We in the NDP are also in favour of the enhanced human rights protections and safeguards for persons who are the subject of an extradition request. It is very important that we treat people who are going to come to our country, if they are subject to extradition, with the same degree of fairness and justice we accord to our own citizens. In Canada we have very good human rights legislation and I was happy to see that the bill was amended to include some of those human rights issues and to take those into consideration when dealing with extradition.
Section 44 of the act states the minister shall refuse to make a surrender order if the minister is satisfied that the request for extradition is made for the purpose of prosecuting or punishing the person by reason of their race, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, language, colour, political opinion, sex, sexual orientation, age, mental or physical disability or status or that the person's position may be prejudiced for any of these reasons.
In that section we have the same basic human rights covered that we have in our human rights legislation in Canada, in all provinces. We support this amendment. We feel it is very important to carry through that kind of consistency in terms of extradition matters.
At the same time, we are concerned that while there is considerable ministerial discretion in denying extradition, there are areas that are not as legally binding as we would like, as in the case of an extradition of an individual to a state that may impose the death penalty. This was mentioned by my hon. colleague from the Bloc. If we in Canada feel the death penalty is contrary to what we see as being humanistic treatment of fellow human beings, it is equally important to make sure the same principle carries through with respect to the people we are dealing with under possible extradition orders.
We would have some concerns about the discretionary power of the minister in that regard. We feel perhaps it would be better if it were mandatory. Nonetheless, it is a step forward to at least include that consideration.
The bill allows the Minister of Justice to grant an application for extradition if she has received assurances that the death penalty will not be considered. We would like to see stronger and more binding safeguards to prevent the imposition of the death penalty.
We have some concerns about the legislation. For example, the changes permitting the admissibility of evidence not normally accepted in Canada, such as hearsay evidence. This would weaken the burden of proof for foreign nations to extradite. We feel that there has to be a high standard maintained, so we are a bit concerned about that.
The powers to exclude persons from extradition hearings in certain circumstances, the non-publication of evidence provisions and safeguards against the imposition of the death penalty, as I have mentioned, have not been made binding, and there is a possible loophole resulting from the double criminality provision.
However, even with those concerns we are supportive of this legislation. We feel it is a good step forward. It is a measure that attempts to prevent Canada from becoming a safe haven for fugitives. It enhances the human rights protections and safeguards of persons who are subject to an extradition order. As well, there are provisions for the extradition of persons to international tribunals and courts.
The act is modernized to deal with high tech and organized crime. There are provisions for the protection of young offenders and provisions for consultation between the ministers of justice and immigration in relation to refugees. This is a very important feature. Far too often within government the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing, or sometimes people take advantage of certain provisions under one department to avoid their responsibilities under another. This kind of co-operation and consultation between the ministers of justice and immigration will certainly expedite matters concerning extradition. It will make them more fair, just and appropriate.
With those remarks I will conclude. I would certainly urge members of the House to give support to this legislation, which is a good step forward.