Angry in the Great White North

L. Ian MacDonald makes an interesting point about the Karlheinz Schreiber extradition case:

So now, having made a mockery of our justice system by successfully dragging out an extradition case for eight years, he is making a mockery of the government itself.

The eight-year court case is clearly an abuse of process, which brings the courts and all appearing before them in this case into disrepute. But now the government itself is being held up as a laughingstock. Actually, two governments: Canada, which is trying to get rid of this guy, and Germany, which wants him back.

So just what happens in eight years?

Apparently, you get told "No!" a lot.

From one of Karlheinz Schreiber's many legal filings:

[2] The applicant, a Canadian and German citizen, was arrested in Canada on August 31, 1999 on a provisional warrant of arrest in respect of a request for extradition by Germany. Bail was granted several days later. Motions, evidence, and submissions were made to the extradition judge over the course of the next five years.

[3] On May 27, 2004, the applicant was committed for extradition on all but one of the offences listed in the Authority to Proceed. The formal order was signed on June 3, 2004. On that same day, a notice of appeal was filed in this court and the applicant applied for bail pending appeal which was granted.

[4] Between July 15, 2004 and October 20, 2004, submissions were made to the Minister of Justice regarding his surrender decision. The Minister rejected those submissions on October 31, 2004 and ordered the applicant’s surrender. A notice of application for judicial review was filed with this court on November 29, 2004. On March 1, 2006, this court dismissed the appeal and the judicial review. A notice of application was made to the Supreme Court of Canada which was dismissed on February 1, 2007.

[5] On May 17, 2006 and August 10, 2006, the applicant wrote to the Minister of Justice urging the Minister to reconsider and rescind the earlier surrender decision because of press reports of comments made by the Chief Prosecutor and the judicial spokesperson for the court in Augsburg, Germany about the case. On December 14, 2006, the Minister refused to rescind the earlier surrender decision.

[6] On December 18, 2006, an application for judicial review of the Minister’s decision was filed with this court. On February 8, 2007, the applicant was granted release pending the determination of this judicial review of the Minister’s decision.

No. No. No! No! NO!

I got that background from the judgement rendered by Justices Rouleau, McMurtry, and Juriansz with regards to the December 18, 2006 application. The judgement came down on May 9, 2007:

[23] I am satisfied that the Minister did not err in his interpretation and application of s. 7 of the Charter. The extradition of the applicant will not offend the Canadian sense of what is fair, right, and just bearing in mind the factors set out in Kindler. For these reasons I would dismiss the application.

Again: "No!"

Since then, the Ontario Court of Appeals had the case, and last week it rendered its judgement:

"No!"

Instead of putting Karlheinz Schreiber on a plane, he was given two weeks for yet another run at the Supreme Court. I counted five such filings stretching back to 1998.

Schreiber lost all his Supreme Court fights. Here's a judgement on leave to appeal from February 2007:

The application for leave to appeal from the judgment of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, Numbers C41853 and C42701, dated March 1, 2006, is dismissed.

"NO!"

It is now November 2007. And Schreiber gets to file with the Supreme Court yet again.

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