Canadians in foreign jails

I'm not sure the issue is as clear cut as suggested.

Transfers from foreign jails depend on the other country agreeing and Canada being satisfied as to safety issues. Also the numbers are so small that statistics may not mean much.

That said, there is little doubt the Conservatives have little sympathy for Canadians who run afoul of foreign laws -- see the whole death penalty brouhaha.

NDP backs bid to get public safety minister to reconsider denial of transfer request to Canadian prison

Penticton Herald
Wed Aug 12 2009
Page: A4
Section: News

Ottawa's refusal to allow a Canadian serving a U.S. prison
term for drug trafficking to transfer to a Canadian prison suggests the Conservatives' law-and- order stance is affecting its decisions, the NDP claims.

The New Democrats are supporting efforts by the family of B.C. resident Perley Holmes to get Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan to reconsider his transfer denial.

Public safety critic Don Davies says statistics suggest the number
of transfers approved under federal legislation has declined since the Tories took power in 2006.

"I think the minister is reading into this act ideological considerations that are not present in the legislation," said Davies, MP for Vancouver Kingsway.

It's part of the Tories' philosophy to leave Canadians caught up in
a foreign justice system to deal with it on their own, he said.

The Corrections Service of Canada report on international transfers, ending with fiscal 2006-07, says 39.4 per cent of applications in the last five years were denied, while 27.9 per cent were approved.

Davies said while the number of applications between 2003-04 and
2006-07 ranged in the mid-to-high 200s, approvals dropped sharply to 53 in 2006-07, from 90 in 2005-06.

"I see a precipitous drop on approvals in the first year of the
Conservatives taking power," he said.

James Morton
1100-5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
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