A cornerstone of refugee protection is the principle of non-refoulement. Under international treaties and domestic law, Canada has an obligation not to return refugees to face the persecution they fled.
The principle of non-refoulement prohibits the direct or indirect removal of refugees to a territory where they run a risk of being subjected to human rights violations.
๐๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ท. ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ฅ๐ข (๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ) 2010 ๐๐๐ 56
Canada also has obligations under treaties and domestic law to extradite persons who are sought by foreign states to face criminal prosecutions or serve sentences. This obligation relates to the effectiveness of law enforcement.
The obligations in relation to non-refoulement and extradition may collide and trigger competing obligations with respect to extradition and refugee protection.
Under certain conditions, an individual may be extradited to their country of origin even though their refugee status under Canadian law has not formally ceased or been revoked. Extradition may happen without formal revocation of refugee status.
Where a person has been found, according to the processes established by Canadian law, to be a refugee and therefore to have at least a prima facie entitlement to protection against refoulement, that determination must be given appropriate weight by the Minister in exercising his duty to refuse extradition on the basis of risk of persecution.
The burden of showing that Canadaโs non-refoulement obligations would not be violated is with Minister and refusal of extradition request to surrender an individual is mandatory if the Minister is satisfied that the conditions which led to conferral of refugee status still exist and it is not shown that the person sought has become ineligible for refugee status.
The relevant time for assessing entitlement to non-refoulement protection is the time removal is sought and the question of entitlement to protection against refoulement arises at the time surrender is being considered and must be assessed in light of the circumstances at the time.
The obligations under the Refugee Convention and the analogy to the cessation and revocation provisions under the law suggest that a refugee should not have to establish at the surrender phase that the conditions which led to conferring refugee status, and thus to non-refoulement protection, continue to exist.
While it is accepted that protection against refoulement under the Refugee Convention applies to expulsion by extradition and where possible statutes should be interpreted in a way which makes their provisions consistent with Canadaโs international treaty obligations and principles of international law, the presumption that legislation implements Canadaโs international obligations is rebuttable.
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๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ: ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐จ๐ถ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐จ๐ถ๐ช๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ช๐ณ๐ค๐ถ๐ฎ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ.
