Canada Won't Extradite Without No-Execution Promise

Last week's announcement regarding Canada not intervening in U.S. death penalty cases is somewhat contrary to the nation's extradition policy.

Despite its new hard-line stance on Canadians facing the death penalty in the U.S., the federal government says Canada will continue seeking no-execution guarantees for American citizens being extradited from this country to the U.S.

The clemency contradiction - which went unaddressed by the government last week as the controversy over the fate of a Canadian on death row in Montana raged in the House of Commons - was confirmed Tuesday by a spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier.

Asked by CanWest News Service if the government was reviewing Canada's current policy of refusing extradition without a no-execution promise from the U.S., Bernier spokesman Neil Hrab responded by e-mail: "The answer is 'No.' "

Therefore, the issue of the death penalty among Canadians remains contentious and unresolved.