Stockwoods lawyers Brendan van Niejenhuis and Justin Safayeni successfully represented the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association as an intervener before the Ontario Court of Appeal in France v. Diab, 2014 ONCA 374. The BCCLA’s submissions focused on the test required to be applied by the Minister of Justice under s. 7 of the Charter when there is a risk that the person sought for extradition will be tried on the basis of torture-derived evidence in the requesting state. The Court of Appeal adopted the two-stage test put forward by the BCCLA (and other participants) for assessing when the risk of being tried on torture-derived evidence will require the Minister to refuse surrender, and endorsed the BCCLA’s submissions on how the first stage of the test should be applied (at para. 242). The decision marks the first time any appellate court in Canada has explicitly addressed the standard of proof and analytical framework to be applied when dealing with the risk of torture-derived evidence under s. 7 of the Charter. To read the Court of Appeal’s reasons, click here.
