TRANSFER DENIAL NOT JUSTIFIED, COURT SAYS

Toews Ordered to Take Another Look at Request to Return to Canada For
Jail Term

The Federal Court of Canada has ruled that Public Safety Minister Vic
Toews had no justification for denying a B.C. cocaine trafficker's
transfer to a Canadian jail from a U.S. prison.

And the court said Toews must take another look at the case of Alexie
Randhawa, who was sentenced in California in 2008 to five years after
being caught with 107 kilos of cocaine.

Toews sent a letter to Randhawa in July 2010, denying his request to
return to Canada to serve his sentence, saying his offence was
premeditated and linked to organized crime.

"The Act requires that I consider whether, in my opinion, the offender
will, after the transfer, commit a terrorism offence or criminal
organization offence," Toews wrote.

"I do not believe that a transfer would achieve the purpose of the
Act."

But Federal Court Judge Douglas Campbell said Toews speculated on the
criminal case and included information that was not part of the
record. He said Toews did not meet the requirement in law in order to
deny a transfer.

Campbell said Toews failed to "provide what is required: an opinion
supported by cogent evidence, as to whether the applicant, after the
transfer, will commit a terrorism offence or criminal organization
offence.

"As a result, I find that the minister's decision is not defensible in
respect to the facts and law." Campbell ordered Toews to take another
look at the case within 60 days and to pay Randhawa's legal bill for
his challenge.

Randhawa's lawyer John Conroy said in an interview that the
Conservative government has been denying an increasing number of
requests from Canadians doing time abroad to serve their sentences in
Canada.

He said while the Randhawa ruling is positive news, other clients have
lost in the Federal Court, which is not taking a consistent stance on
the issue.

"They are all over the map," Conroy said of the court. "Since this
government came in, it is certainly my experience that there are a
huge number of denials."

Even when cases are referred back to the minister for review, the
delays are usually so long that the person in custody abandons the
application and awaits the end of their term and deportation, Conroy
said.

During question period in Ottawa Tuesday, a Conservative backbencher
asked Toews about the Randhawa case. Kootenay MP David Wilks said
"Canadians are rightly outraged" by the Federal Court ruling.

"Can the minister of public safety please tell the House what our
Conservative government is doing to ensure that dangerous criminals
serving their sentences in the country where they committed their
crime are not sent to Canada?" Wilks asked.

Toews said he couldn't comment on the specific case, but that his
government tabled legislation in the last session "to ensure Canadians
are kept safe from international offenders."

The legislation would make it more difficult for Canadians serving
time abroad to qualify to return home to jails in this country.

"Law-abiding Canadians can be reassured we will reintroduce this
legislation as soon as possible," Toews said.

In his letter to Randhawa, Toews said the trafficker "worked with an
accomplice and the nature of their activity suggests that other
accomplices were involved who were not apprehended.

"Furthermore, the applicant had ties to a drug trafficking
organization believed to be involved in the transportation of drugs
from Canada into the United States," Toews said.

"If the transaction had been successfully completed, it would have had
long-term implications on society."

Toews noted that Randhawa had family support in B.C. and lacked a
criminal record here and appeared remorseful.

According to U.S. court documents, Randhawa was caught with two other
men near Los Angeles in June 2008 as they transported 107 kilos of
cocaine in suitcases and boxes.

The documents said the trio worked for the "Jason Cavezza drug
trafficking organization," which smuggled marijuana and ephedrine from
Canada and transported cocaine north.

Randhawa said during his sentencing that he was a hardworking
longshoreman in Vancouver whose criminality was "a blip on the radar
screen of his life which should not completely define who he is."