Pubdate: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 Source: Province, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2005 The Province Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476 Author: Ian Bailey Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?196 (Emery, Marc) COTLER MUM ON EMERY EXTRADITION CASE Federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler refused to take a stand yesterday on a bid by the U.S. to extradite marijuana activist Marc Emery. "To steal a line from Dickens, I think it was a very artful dodge," said Kirk Tousaw, a campaign manager for Emery's B.C. Marijuana Party. Tousaw, at a question-and-answer session with Cotler at the 2005 convention of the Canadian Bar Association in Vancouver, asked why Cotler allowed the launch of extradition proceedings against Emery and others who are "being targeted for life prison terms" in the U.S. as part of a "politically motivated prosecution." Noting Cotler could refuse any extradition request, Tousaw said: "It is not simply a question of rubber-stamping a U.S. request. He can refuse. The act is quite clear." Emery is wanted in the U.S. for selling hemp seeds over the Internet. The U.S. extradition request is before the courts. Cotler said he could not discuss the Emery case. "I find it somewhat surprising that people will approach me with respect to an extradition matter, for or against, and ask me, say, not to extradite X when the matter of X is before the courts, which is presupposing how the courts will deal with that matter," he said. "The matter will not come before me until such time as the courts commit somebody for extradition." On other issues, Cotler said: - - He supports tougher sentences for impaired driving, driving causing death or serious injury and even street racing. - - He intends to eliminate conditional sentences for crimes of violence, including sexual misconduct. "I will be proposing reforms in that regard this fall," he said. Conditional sentences allow an offender to serve a sentence of less than two years "in the community." - - He has no plans to change the law that makes it an offence for a juror to divulge the secret deliberations in the jury room. Academics say there are flaws in our jury system -- especially regarding how little jurors understand of their instructions from the judge -- but as long as they are muzzled from speaking about events in the jury room, there is no way to fix the flaws. - - He supports national standards for civil legal aid and will propose standards to cabinet this fall. "We have to look at legal aid as being important to access justice as, in another context, we look at the question of health care as being important." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom