DRUG DEALERS GETTING DAY IN COURT

Public Safety Minister Ordered To Answer For Decision Not To
Repatriate B.C. Residents Serving Time In California

Two Metro Vancouver drug dealers serving sentences in the U.S. are
taking the federal public safety minister to court, arguing that
denying their transfers to Canadian prisons violates a recent ruling
that reined in his propensity to block repatriation.

Vancouver lawyer John Conroy accused Stockwell Day of "contempt of
court" for refusing to transfer Winnie Lam and Steve Czinege from
California prisons.

The two are the latest Canadians imprisoned abroad who have been
turned down for serving their sentences in Canada -- a trend since the
Conservatives came to power in 2006.

"Before, most of the time people would be approved here and the
problem was in the U.S., but now the problem is here," said Conroy.

In separate applications filed in the Federal Court, Lam and Czinege
are seeking a reversal of Day's refusal on grounds that they would
"constitute a threat to the security of Canada."

In late August, Federal Court Justice Michael Kelen criticized Day for
using the reason too liberally in denying transfers. But in
mid-September, the minister rejected Lam's and Czinege's applications
for the same reason, even though the United States has already
approved both transfers.

Lam, of Vancouver, was 19 when she was arrested and court was told she
was addicted to a high-flying lifestyle.

She is serving a seven-year sentence for drug smuggling after she was
caught at the Seattle airport with 1,000 ecstasy pills, bringing them
from B.C. to the "rave" scene in Seattle nightclubs. "The government
believes it was because of what it brought her -- popularity, friends
and lots of money," U.S. prosecutors said in court documents.

Czinege, a Surrey trucker, was convicted after he was caught by U.S.
agents at Lynden trying to smuggle more than 112 kilograms of cocaine
into Canada in the fuel tanks of a truck in 2006. According to a news
report, the drugs were hidden in three duffle bags and they had an
estimated value of $1.8 million.

The International Transfer of Offenders Act gives the public safety
minister discretion to reject applicants if they threaten national
security -- an exception that Kelen said should be reserved for
"threats of general terrorism and warfare against Canada or threats to
the security of Canadians en masse."

In his decision, Kelen ordered the minister to reconsider his "wholly
unreasonable" decision to block convicted child molester Arend
Getkate's request to return from a Georgia prison. The government did
not appeal the ruling before the late September deadline.

"When they decided not to appeal, why didn't they say, 'OK, what other
ones are out there, we need to reconsider them?' " asked Conroy, who
was also Getkate's lawyer.

Day's spokesman, John Brent, would not comment on the Lam and Czinege
cases, citing privacy reasons.

"Our government's first priority is protecting the safety and security
of all Canadians," Brent said in an e-mail. "Be assured, that Minister
Day will continue to make the protection of Canadians his highest
priority as he considers the requests of offenders to return to Canada."

In refusing Lam's transfer on Sept. 11, Day relied on his discretion
to declare her a threat to national security, based on evidence she
had ties to a criminal organization and "that there is no reason to
believe that her criminal activity would not continue upon transfer to
Canada." Day gave similar reasons for denying Czinege's transfer on
Sept. 8.

In a 2006 column in the Penticton Western News, a newspaper in his
B.C. riding, Day wrote of his disgust with transferring drug dealers
from the U.S.

"B.C. dope dealers busted in the U.S. are demanding to be transferred
back to cosier Canadian jails and reduced prison times," he wrote.
"Memo to drug dealer: I'm no dope . . . Enjoy the U.S."