Parliamentary report calling for extradition reform adopts Prof. Joanna Harrington’s recommendations

A new report, issued by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, has endorsed Professor Joanna Harrington’s expert advice on extradition reform.

Published in June, Reforming Canada’s Extradition System extensively cites Harrington, who has long advocated for changes to Canadian extradition law and practice.

The report includes 20 recommendations for the government’s consideration. Many of those recommendations draw on Harrington’s expertise and years of extradition law research.

The report quotes her directly on how “enabling a more robust role for the extradition judge would allow an individual’s circumstances, the values of the Canadian legal system, and the human rights record of the requesting country to be considered directly and openly by a court.”

Harrington gave oral evidence before the committee in February, alongside Alex Neve, former head of Amnesty International Canada’s English Branch, and Professor Rob Currie from the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University. Currie and Harrington also work together as colleagues in the SSHRC-funded Canadian Partnership for International Justice.

Harrington’s advice to the committee included recommendations for greater transparency, a statutory requirement for greater public disclosure, the need for improved collaboration between the ministers of justice and foreign affairs, and the need for more robust judicial scrutiny.

“I am delighted to see my work in this area endorsed by the committee,” says Harrington. “I have spent many years looking at the balance between securing inter-state cooperation and protecting human rights. That balance has been badly tilted to one side in recent years, and it needs resetting to ensure fairness, and the protection of human rights.”

“I’m also pleased to see my recommendations, and those of Professor Rob Currie and Alex Neve – as well as those of the Halifax Colloquium on Extradition Law Reform with which we were all involved back in 2018 – receive the committee’s support,” says Harrington. 

In addition to her participation in the Halifax Colloquium, Harrington’s evidence also drew upon her recent publications on extradition, ministerial roles, assurances, and human rights found in the Transnational Criminal Law Review and the Supreme Court Law Review.

“Academics, these days, are often working on two tracks. We contribute to legal knowledge through publications in traditional venues such as law journals, but these days, it is important to reach out beyond academia to make the effort to translate that scholarship into public policy.”

The committee has urged the government to act quickly to reform the Extradition Act and its processes to safeguard against further injustices due to flaws in the current system.