On October 28, 2019, the Court of Appeal for British Columbia granted judicial review of a May 18, 2018 order of surrender, authorizing extradition of a Canadian national to the United States to face prosecution for money laundering offenses. In Sheck v. Canada,[1] the Court returned the case to the Minister of Justice for reconsideration. Sheck had previously been unsuccessful in obtaining a stay of extradition.
In the written judgment, the Court considered Section 44(1)(a) of the Extradition Act,[2] and questioned whether surrendering Sheck would shock the conscience or be unjust or oppressive in regard to all relevant circumstances.” [3]
Justice Griffin states in her judgment that, “Extradition violates the Charter right of Canadian citizens to remain in Canada unless extradition is demonstrably justified as a reasonable limit to this right.” Some of the factors the Court will consider are the “Cotroni factors,”[4] that include “which jurisdiction has a greater link with the crime or a greater ability to prosecute; the nationality and residence of the accused; and the severity of the sentence the accused is likely to receive in each jurisdiction.”
The judgment cites an earlier case, R. v Gladue, [5] which addressed an obligation pursuant to Canadian law, to pay particular attention to the circumstances of indigenous offenders at sentencing. This provision responded to the over-incarceration of indigenous offenders in Canada.[6]
The Court accepted the proposition that a person’s indigenous heritage is a relevant factor for the Minister to consider when determining whether surrender would be unjust, oppressive, or contrary to the principles of fundamental justice.
Ultimately, the Court found that the Minister had made errors that affected the analysis of whether Sheck’s surrender would shock the conscience or be unjust or oppressive:
“For the reasons that follow, I find that the Minister failed to properly take into account Mr. Sheck’s Indigenous heritage in three relevant ways, which, when taken cumulatively, are material and could have affected the analysis of whether his surrender would shock the conscience, or be unjust or oppressive:
- The Minister concluded without any basis for doing so, that Mr. Sheck’s Indigenous status could be taken into account as a mitigating factor if he was prosecuted and sentenced in the US;
- The Minister did not consider the likely sentence Mr. Sheck would have received, if convicted of a parallel offence in Canada, considering only the maximum sentence available in Canada; and
- The Minister did not consider the impact of Mr. Sheck’s separation from his children in the context of his and his children’s common Indigenous heritage.”
The Court granted the Petition for Review concluding,
“Had the Minister considered these factors, she may have concluded that it would shock the conscience, or be unjust or oppressive, to extradite an Indigenous man, separating him from his four Indigenous children, and perpetuating the systemic destruction of Indigenous families and communities, to face a likely sentence in the US of 27 years’ imprisonment that was grossly in excess of a likely Canadian sentence in the range of two to four years’ imprisonment.”
The Minister of Justice has also been directed to consider additional submissions from Sheck regarding his role, if any, in supporting his children’s cultural and social connections with their indigenous heritage. [7]
[1] Sheck v. Canada (Minister of Justice), 2019 BCCA 364.
[2] Justice Laws Website https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/E-23.01/page-5.html#h-213075 (last updated November 5, 2019).
[3] Scheck supra paragraph 29.
[4] United States v Cotroni, [1989] 1 S.C.R. 1469.
[5] [1999} 1. S.C.R. 688.
[6] 718.2 A court that imposes a sentence shall also take into consideration the following principles:……
- e) all available sanctions, other than imprisonment, that are reasonable in the circumstances and consistent with the harm done to victims or to the community should be considered for all offenders, with particular attention to the circumstances of Aboriginal offenders.
[7] Sheck at paragraph 107.
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