CANADIAN INMATES FACE NEW DELAYS IN RETURNING

OTTAWA -- Canadians convicted of crimes abroad have been told they
must now undergo security checks by Canada's spy agency before they
can be transferred to a prison in this country. The process will delay
the transfers for months - possibly even years - regardless of the
type of crime committed and the threat the prisoners pose to public
safety.

Critics suggest the policy was introduced at the request of Public
Safety Minister Stockwell Day, who does not approve of returning drug
dealers to Canada to serve their time. But it has been left to the
bureaucrats at the International Transfers office within Correctional
Service Canada to pass on the news to prisoners and their families.

"I have been told by the International Transfers office - and I know
that clients' families who have been anxious over the situation of
their loved ones have called and have also been told - that there is a
new procedure in place to do what is called security checks," said
Washington lawyer Sylvia Royce.

Ms. Royce, who is handling a number of the cases, added: "And that it
takes a long time."

"There has been a tremendous slowdown" in sending prisoners back to
Canada, she said. "I had a conversation with [those responsible for
prisoner transfers] in which they told me that about 50 cases had
piled up in the minister's office and that they came back to the
International Transfers office with instructions to institute a new
security-check process."

The Public Safety department offers conflicting responses about what
is being demanded.

Melanie Carkner, a department spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail that
"CSIS security screenings are not required for all current
international prison transfers." That conflicts with what families of
the prisoners say they have been told.

Melisa Leclerc, a spokeswoman for Mr. Day, said the requirement that
the prisoners be checked by CSIS is not new. That also conflicts with
what the families say they were told.

"The International Transfer of Offenders Act [introduced under the
Liberals in 2004] is clear, and there is a requirement for the
Minister to consider several factors prior to consenting to a
transfer," Ms. Leclerc wrote in an e-mail, "one of which is if the
offender will, after the transfer, commit a terrorism offence or
criminal organization offence."

One of the people affected by the policy is a 57-year-old former
firefighter who was severely injured on the job in 1989. Emotionally
distraught, he helped an acquaintance attempt to transport marijuana
from Texas into Canada.

The man, who does not want his name used, was arrested and released on
bond and returned to Canada. But guilt haunted him. After living as a
law-abiding citizen for years, he voluntarily went back to Texas last
year.

A Texas judge sentenced him to four years in jail and the U.S. Justice
Department quickly approved his transfer back to Canada. But Canadian
authorities have put up roadblocks.

A bureaucrat in the Prisoner Transfer office told the man's wife that
all of the transfer requests piling up in Mr. Day's office for
approval were sent en masse to CSIS on May 20.

"I spoke with the International Transfer office," the wife said, "and
I said 'Is this a requirement for all transfers?' And she said, 'Yes,
it is a new requirement, an additional security requirement, that is
now a requirement from Mr. Day's office. Regardless of the crime,
everyone must go through this CSIS background terrorism check.' "

Since Mr. Day took over the Public Safety portfolio, prison transfers
have dropped off dramatically. According to statistics released by the
department last week, transfers ranged from 79 to 96 between 2001 and
2006, but fell to 56 the year the Tories took office.

"In one fell swoop of an ideological pen, Mr. Day has once again
demonstrated his unwillingness to follow through on a treaty
obligation that Canada has established over the years," said Liberal
MP Dan McTeague.

"What we have is a minister who has now decided to find another route
in order to do what he wanted to do originally, which is not to have
anyone come in under his watch."