What are the requirements for disclosure at a committal hearing?

The committal hearing is intended to be an expeditious process designed to ensure prompt compliance with Canada’s international obligations. A requesting state is not required to prove guilt and must only establish a prima facie case. The disclosure rules applicable to a domestic criminal proceeding do not apply and the person sought is normally only entitled to disclosure of those materials upon which the requesting state seeks to rely to establish a prima facie case for committal: United States of America v. Dynar, 1997 CanLII 359 (SCC), [1997] 2 S.C.R. 462 [Dynar] at paras. 122, 130‑132 and 134.

An extradition judge may order additional disclosure relating to a possible Charter claim by the person sought only if the person sought first establishes at least an “air of reality” to the suggestion of a Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms violation: Dynar at para. 141; United States of America v. Kwok, 2001 SCC 18 at para. 106.

An “air of reality” means some realistic possibility that the allegations can be substantiated. There must be an evidentiary foundation to justify an extradition judge embarking on an inquiry to adjudicate an alleged Charter breach; and an air of reality will not be established on the basis of “vague and unsubstantiated suggestions, or conjecture and speculation”: United States of America v. Wong, 2017 BCCA 109 at paras. 24-26.