The organization representing Canada's top Catholic clerics has issued a stern rebuke to Prime Minister Stephen Harper over his government's refusal to seek clemency for Ronald Smith, a Canadian killer facing the death penalty in the U.S.In a letter sent this week to Harper, the president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said the group is "most concerned that you and the government of Canada are prepared to accept the execution of Canadians" by other countries.
"It is basic Catholic teaching that the life and dignity of each human person must be respected and protected without exception," wrote CCCB president James Weisgerber, the Archbishop of Winnipeg, on behalf of the country's 85 bishops, archbishops and cardinals.
He urged Harper "to reconsider your present stance and to return to the earlier policy of strenuously intervening with other governments when Canadians face a sentence of execution."
Quoting Catholic doctrine, Weisgerber argued "civil authorities should limit themselves to non-lethal means to defend and protect people's safety from an aggressor, 'as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the dignity of the human person.' "
The clergymen's appeal concluded: "We respectfully ask you, Mr. Prime Minister, to modify this latest policy change. Capital punishment is a serious undermining of human dignity and of basic respect for human life."
The letter was also sent to Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, the government's pointman in defending the new policy toward Canadians on death row in democratic countries.
Until Oct. 26, Canadian policy had been to automatically seek clemency, "on humanitarian grounds," for any Canadian facing execution anywhere in the world. But following a CanWest News Service story about diplomatic efforts to secure clemency for Smith - an Alberta-born double-murderer facing a lethal injection in Montana - the Conservative government reversed Canada's stance.
On Oct. 31, in an e-mail message to CanWest News Service, a Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson revealed Canada would no longer "seek clemency in cases in democratic countries, like the United States, where there has been a fair trial."
A few days later, Harper said: "The reality of this particular case is that were we to intervene, it would very quickly become a question of whether we are prepared to repatriate a double-murderer to Canada. In light of this government's strong initiatives on tackling violent crime, I think that would send the wrong signal to the Canadian population."
Later, in the House of Commons, Nicholson and other federal ministers appeared to soften the government's stance, suggesting the non-intervention policy might only be applied to "mass" or "multiple" murderers, and that decisions would be reviewed on a "case-by-case" basis.
On Nov. 27, a team of four defence lawyers led by University of Ottawa law professor Craig Forcese filed a lawsuit on behalf of Smith in the Federal Court of Canada in a bid to force the government to reverse its decision.
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