Justice committee  Thank you. Members of the committee, as a guy who's been 51 years in the criminal justice system in this country, my perspective is that this is the most unfair process and law that I've encountered in that half century. I am also Hassan Diab's lawyer. On the first day of Dr. D

Justice committee  The year was 2018. The day was May 31.

Justice committee  I think the first two pages were dealing with the type of review that the government was going to mandate, but what will interest this committee is the following. I write, “And what, sir, is so very wrong with the current Extradition Act?” Then there are numbered paragraphs. Th

Justice committee  It was in a kind of a generic way: “Thank you, Mr. Bayne, for your letter.”

Justice committee  The justice minister, I believe, has this letter. I met him. I had a face-to-face meeting with him and asked him—because of all of this—to undertake a review of the current law.

Justice committee  This is 2023. Dr. Diab came back to Canada in 2018, so I would say it was that year or the next year.

Justice committee  No.

Justice committee  This letter does that. It talks about the folly of basing a system, when the liberty of Canadians is involved, on unsworn material that is presumed to be reliable but can't be tested and when there is no obligation by the requesting state to show exculpatory evidence. Let me ad

Justice committee  Absolutely, and even on the question—

Justice committee  I do, Mr. Naqvi. There are four, I would say, to redress the imbalance. The first is the most important, and that's to do away with this unreasonable presumption of reliability of third hand hearsay, and instead put the onus on the requesting state rather than on the individual

Justice committee  There are two more, but—

Justice committee  Thank you, Mr. Fortin. I wouldn't say there are only four, but these are four that are, to me, critical if the system is going to work. Number three is that if the requesting state, such as France, does not in fact reciprocate with Canada by extraditing requested citizens to C

Justice committee  I meant by the final one that there be extradition only for a trial that is ready to proceed within a reasonable time—

Justice committee  —and not for any further investigation. That's the fourth one. That's what happened here.

Justice committee  The second one was full disclosure, to the person sought, of any expert evidence the requesting state requires. Any exculpatory evidence—evidence showing innocence—should be disclosed; and certainly all evidence that is produced in Canada and doesn't come from abroad, whatever th