The federal Conservatives will not intervene in the case of a Canadian on death row in the U.S., a move being blasted by some Opposition MPs as a government endorsement of capital punishment.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said he won't ask American authorities to hand over Ronald Allen Smith, an Alberta man who has been on death row in Montana for more than 20 years.
"We will not actively pursue bringing back to Canada murderers who have been tried in a democratic country that supports the rule of law," Day told the House of Commons on Thursday.
Smith faces death by lethal injection for murdering two men in 1982 during a road trip south of the border in 1982. He is the only Canadian currently on death row in the U.S.
For years, it's been standard practice for Canada to lobby foreign governments to show mercy to its citizens when they face the death penalty. Ottawa would ask that their sentence be reduced to life in prison or request that the prisoner serve their term in a Canadian penitentiary.
But that policy has now officially changed.
In Canada, a 1967 bill placed a moratorium on the death penalty, except in cases involving the murder of a law-enforcement officer. A bill to officially ban the death penalty passed in a free vote in 1976.
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Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said he won't ask American authorities to hand over Ronald Allen Smith, an Alberta man who has been on death row in Montana for more than 20 years.
"We will not actively pursue bringing back to Canada murderers who have been tried in a democratic country that supports the rule of law," Day told the House of Commons on Thursday.
Smith faces death by lethal injection for murdering two men in 1982 during a road trip south of the border in 1982. He is the only Canadian currently on death row in the U.S.
For years, it's been standard practice for Canada to lobby foreign governments to show mercy to its citizens when they face the death penalty. Ottawa would ask that their sentence be reduced to life in prison or request that the prisoner serve their term in a Canadian penitentiary.
But that policy has now officially changed.
In Canada, a 1967 bill placed a moratorium on the death penalty, except in cases involving the murder of a law-enforcement officer. A bill to officially ban the death penalty passed in a free vote in 1976.
Full story
What do you think of this move?
More...
