CBA Dublin 2009

The federal government should immediately restore the policy of unequivocally seeking clemency for all Canadians facing the death penalty abroad. That was the opinion expressed Sunday morning by CBA Council, which voted to approve a resolution on the subject at the 2009 Canadian Legal Conference in Dublin.

Last month, the government published a “Clemency Intervention” policy. It set forth a lengthy list of considerations that the government might choose to take into account when deciding whether to seek clemency for Canadians sentenced to death in other countries. The policy was in response to a Federal Court ruling in the Smith case that the government needed to have a policy in place to determine under what circumstances clemency should be sought.

The CBA, however, believes the policy amounts to intervention on a case-by-case basis based on an overlong list of factors, and that the decision to seek clemency should not depend on the individual circumstances of each case. Canada abolished the death penalty from the Criminal Code in 1976, and Canadian law does not permit  extradition of citizens to countries where they may face the death penalty. Until 2007, the federal government had always  requested clemency for Canadians facing death in foreign countries; the CBA believes it is time for the government to resume that policy.