B.C. criminal lawyer Gary Botting focused almost exclusively on extradition matters throughout 2021, particularly the efforts of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou to avoid being sent to the United States to face charges.

In January, Botting, principal of Gary N.A. Botting, Barrister, praised the B.C. Court of Appeal for overturning the dangerous offender designation for one of his clients and ordering a new hearing. B.C. appeal court the first to give my client a second chance

Later that month, he talked about the GPS-tracking ankle bracelet that Meng was forced to wear as part of her house arrest as she awaited a decision on her appeal on an extradition order. Botting wrote “the forced wearing of an ankle bracelet in public – is nothing short of a national disgrace.” Meng’s ankle bracelet represents a modern-day ‘Scarlet Letter’

In March, he wrote about the inaugural issue of the Wrongful Conviction Law Review for which he is an editorial board member. The first edition quoted former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada Beverley McLachlin, who noted that “wrongful convictions occur in every country in the world. Canada, despite its claim to be a just society, is no exception.” Wrongful convictions, right to silence explored by new law journal

Extradition a ‘stacked deck’

Later in March, he wrote about various extradition cases he has been involved with and how frustrating it can be to oppose these requests. Extradition a ‘stacked deck’ resulting in anguish, even suicide

In May, Botting railed against the government for its handling of the Hassan Diab case, which saw the Canadian academic sent to France to be held in custody for three years before being discharged, and he may still be sent back. Hassan Diab deserves better from the justice minister

Botting continued on the same theme in June, calling on Canada to suspend extraditions to France “in light of abuses of process and misrepresentations by that country in the case of Canadian professor Hassan Diab.” It is time to suspend Canada’s extradition treaty with France

In August, said that the “stairway to extradition in the case of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou has been unnecessarily long and convoluted” because the government lacks the “courage or the political will to intervene to stop it in its tracks, as they are entitled to do at any time.” Political courage could end Meng’s ‘stairway to extradition’

Later in August, he noted that more than 15 million people around the world had signed a petition to free Meng by the time she had completed 1,000 days of detention in Canada. 15 million urge Canada to do the ‘right thing’ and release Meng

Dangerous political games in Calgary

In September, Botting speculated that Alberta’s decision to allow the Calgary Stampede to go ahead during the COVID-19 pandemic was based on politics more than public health. Calgary Stampede not the only dangerous game in Alberta

Later in September, wrote about Helmut Oberlander, the former interpreter for a Nazi death squad during the Second World War, who successfully evaded attempts to extradite him from Canada to face charges back in Germany until his death at age 97. Oberlander’s convoluted deportation process beaten by the clock

In October, Botting wrote that various media outlets got it wrong in reporting that disgraced fashion mogul Peter Nygard had consented to extradition to face charges, as in fact he had only signed a “consent to committal [which] serves little or no purpose in extradition proceedings beyond wasting the time and resources of the accused – and the court.” Nygard’s ‘consent committal’ signals a whole new round of extradition

In November, he focused on the report coming out of the Halifax Colloquium of Extradition Law Reform, whose core message was “Canada’s laws on extradition are in need of reform.” Canada’s extradition procedures in desperate need of an overhaul