Case information

Charter of Rights — Extradition — Criminal law — Court of Appeal dismissing application for judicial review of surrender order of Minister of Justice — Whether Court of Appeal erred in law by dismissing application for judicial review of decision of Minister of Justice on basis that astronomic difference between possible sentence applicant faces in United States and sentence that might be imposed on him in Canada is not on its own ground for reversing Minister’s decision — Whether, rather than applying only to individual case in which applicant could be sentenced to more than 24 years in prison for having exported to United States, without permit, drugs, namely few hundred pseudoephedrine pills, that are sold over counter in Canada, Court of Appeal’s decision constitutes precedent implying that, regardless of difference between Canadian sentence and sentence imposed in requesting state, courts will never characterize surrender as unjust or oppressive or as tending to shock conscience of Canadians — Extradition Act, S.C. 1999, c. 18, s. 44.

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The applicant, Mr. Damgajian, is the subject of a request for extradition to the United States of America to face charges related to drug trafficking, including alleged offences of manufacturing, importing and distributing pseudoephedrine. The Minister of Justice of Canada issued a surrender order for the applicant on April 18, 2019.

Mr. Damgajian filed a motion for judicial review of the Minister’s decision, describing it as unjust and oppressive and as tending to shock the conscience of Canadians because of the difference between the sentence likely to be imposed on Mr. Damgajian in the United States and the Canadian sentence for the corresponding offence.

The Quebec Court of Appeal dismissed the application for judicial review on February 5, 2021, as it found that the Minister’s decision was reasonable. The Court of Appeal stressed in particular the fact that a difference between a foreign sentence and a Canadian sentence cannot on its own justify a refusal of surrender to a requesting state.