Does the Minister of Justice have a basis to refuse surrender to surrender on the grounds that extradition to the United States is a violation of section 6(1) of the Charter of Charter Rights?

It is common ground that the extradition of a Canadian citizen constitutes a prima facie violation of s. 6(1) of the Charter that must be justified as a reasonable limit under s. 1: see United States of America v. Cotroni, 1989 CanLII 106 (SCC), [1989] 1 S.C.R. 1469. The appellant argues that the relaxed evidentiary standard of reliability introduced by ss. 32 and 33 of the Act is, when applied to a Canadian citizen, fundamentally unfair and therefore cannot be justified as a reasonable limit on the appellant’s s. 6(1) right. The Minister rejected this submission on the following ground: The evidentiary rules under the Act do not alter the fact that extradition is a justified limitation upon section 6 Charter rights. It is my view that admissibility of evidence at an extradition hearing is a procedural fairness and fundamental justice issue and not a citizenship rights issue. Accordingly, the real issue is whether committing an individual for extradition based upon evidence provided in a Record of the Case accords with the principles of fundamental justice. As indicated above, these provisions have been judicially determined to comport with the principles of fundamental justice. Consequently, I see no basis to refuse surrender based on this submission.