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I am now awaiting waiting clarification from the Basilians re where Father Kenneth O’Keefe’s  was serving between 1959 and 1977. 

According to the 12 August 2010 article by Michael Swan in the Catholic Register O’Keefe was at St. Joseph’s in Toronto 1959-1977. 

Yesterday I contacted Michael Swan at the Catholic Register.  He tells me the information he put forth is as he received it from the Basilians.  He has asked the Basilians for  clarification.

I sent an email to the Basilians asking clarification.  No response as yet.

Clearly there is an error.  Father O’Keefe was definitely teaching at St. Joseph’s in Ottawa, the question is merely which years?  He is listed there in directories, there have been blogs referencing his time at St. Joe’s, and I have been told personally that he arrived at Pius X from St. Joes around the late 70s. He was at St. Joe’s.

I did find MR. Ken O’Keefe on staff at St. Michael’s College School Toronto in the 1956 yearbook.  That was three years prior to his ordination.  He was teaching Religion and Latin.

Meanwhile, sadly, I shall just have to wait until I hear from the Basilians themselves what’s going on with the cv of Father O’Keefe. 

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There has been no word on the status of the investigation of sex abuse allegations against Father George Smith.  Have charges been laid?  Is the investigation ongoing?   I am awaiting a call back from the RCMP in Deer Lake, Newfoundland.  As soon as I find out I will pass on the info. 

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Yesterday I sent a follow up email to my email of 10 August 2010 to Bishop Robert Harris, Diocese of Saint John, New Brunswick re the status of convicted clerical molester Father Peter O’Hanley.  I received an automated reply: 

I will be away from the office Aug 11 to August 22 incl. Should you need to speak with someone please call 506-653-6800 for assistance. Thank you.

Since I have already tried the Vicar General without success I shall have to wait until the Bishop returns on the 22nd. 

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Below is the information I have received from Justice Canada regarding the extradition process.  My requests for this information were prompted by interest in the situation of Canada’s Oblate fugitive from justice and convicted child molester, Father Eric Dejaeger. omi  

I will simply copy the information which I received from the media relations department of Justice Canada.  The first section is a general overview of the process, and the second is the subsequent Q&As between myself and Justice Canada. 

The majority of the former relates primarily to the extradition process whereby a foreign country requests extradition of a wanted person from Canada.  There is information there which enables understanding of the rest of the material, but take care not to confuse the process of extradition from Canada with extradition to Canada.  I had to re and re-read it several times to get that straight.  In essence, “Extradition to Canada” is the material relevant to Dejaeger situation.   

 There are a few interesting responses in  Q& A section.  I was totally surprised, for example, to learn that the requested country is generally responsible for the extradition costs.  In other words, in the Dejaeger case, if extradition is requested and proceeds it will be Belgium which will probably incur the costs. As you will see, I have interspersed the responses with the questions. 

Here it is then: 

CANADIAN EXTRADITION PROCESS

GENERAL OVERVIEW  

Request for extradition 

*     A foreign country or entity is allowed to make a request for extradition of a person who is wanted to stand trial or to serve a sentence, if that state or entity is an extradition partner under the Extradition Act. 

*     A person may be extradited from Canada only if the alleged criminal conduct in respect of which the extradition is requested is recognized as criminal by both countries.  This is the principle of double criminality. 

*     As communications between states are privileged, all information related to specific cases is confidential and cannot be released publicly until an arrest is made under an extradition warrant. A court may also order that the file be sealed, in which case the information could not be divulged. 

*     The foreign country may seek the extradition of a person in two ways: by providing Canada with a formal extradition request and supporting documentation or by requesting the provisional arrest of a fugitive, which must then be followed by a formal extradition request. 

      Arrest 

*     Upon the arrest (whether provisional or following the formal request for extradition), the person is brought before a judge of the Superior Court of the province or territory where the arrest was made to be spoken to and to set a time for a bail hearing. 

*     When the arrest is provisional, the country or entity has a set number of days (from the date of provisional arrest) to submit its formal request and documentation. 

*     Counsel with the Department of Justice’s International Assistance Group, on behalf of the Minister, must determine within 30 days after the time period provided to submit the formal extradition request whether an Authority to Proceed will be issued.  

*     The Authority to Proceed authorizes an extradition hearing to be held to consider whether the arrested person should be committed for extradition.   

*     Counsel for the Attorney General of Canada handles cases on behalf of requesting states or entities. They initiate and conduct proceedings before a judge of the Superior Court of the province or territory to seek an order for the committal for extradition. 

Extradition hearing (Judicial phase) 

*     At the extradition hearing, the judge hears the case in two ways: If the individual is sought to stand trial, the judge determines if the evidence provided by the extradition partner is sufficient to commit the person for trial in Canada if the conduct had occurred in this country. If it is for imposition or enforcement of sentence, the judge determines if the conviction was in respect of conduct that would be punishable in Canada, including evidence of identification.  

*     If the presiding judge is satisfied with the evidence, he or she will order the person committed for extradition pending the decision of the Minister of Justice on surrender.  Otherwise, the person is discharged and released.   

*     The judicial phase of the extradition process is a determination only that the evidence is sufficient to warrant that the person be extradited.  It is not a trial.  A trial will take place in the requesting state or entity, if surrender is ordered. 

Surrender of person ordered to be extradited (Ministerial Phase) 

*     The Minister of Justice makes the decision with respect to whether the person will be surrendered to the extradition partner.   

*     At this phase of the process, commonly referred to as the executive or ministerial phase, the Minister will receive and consider any submissions from the person committed for extradition or counsel with respect to why he or she should not be surrendered, or concerning any conditions that should be attached to the surrender. 

Possible appeals 

*     The person may appeal the decision of the extradition judge and/or apply for judicial review of the Minister’s decision to a Court of Appeal.  

*     If the appellate Court upholds the decisions of the extradition judge and the Minister, the person may seek leave to appeal either or both decisions to the Supreme Court of Canada. 

*     The above does not take into account the possibility for any person to waive all or part of the extradition process. 

Extradition to Canada 

*     The extradition process is also used when Canada requires the extradition of a person to Canada from another country to stand trial or serve a sentence in Canada. 

*     First, a competent authority (i.e. the Attorney General or the Attorney General of the province responsible for prosecution of the case) must make a request to the Minister. 

*     At the request of a competent authority, officials with the International Assistance Group (IAG), on behalf of the Minister, will review the request and determine if it should be made. 

*     The IAG may make a request to a State or entity for the extradition of a person in order to prosecute them for an offence over which Canada has jurisdiction or to impose or enforce a Canadian sentence.  If it is required, the IAG may also make a request of the foreign country for the provisional arrest of that person. 

*     The foreign country will then go through its own processes in responding to the request.  Canadian officials will be advised of the progress of the proceedings. Canadian officers will bring back the person to Canada. 

_________________________

Q & As 

(My questions in italics)

Re my question about the status of Father Dejaeger.  I would like to confirm that the process which would move toward possible extradition has commenced. 

I can see that communications between states are privileged, but what of the process in Canada before officials in Belgium are contacted? My questions in that regard are: 

(1) Has a competent authority made a request re Father Eric Dejaeger? 

 (2) If yes to the above, has the IAG reviewed the request? 

As extradition requests are confidential communications, we can neither confirm, nor deny, the existence of an extradition request in this matter. 

I have a number of other questions related to the process itself: 

 (1) Does the Ministry of Justice work with Interpol?  

 Yes.  Interpol assists the International Assistance Group at the Department of Justice in various ways.  Interpol may assist in executing foreign requests for evidentiary assistance, e.g. serving documents, obtaining voluntary witness interviews; in locating persons wanted in a foreign state who may have absconded; conducting international checks on criminal records, passport, immigration or other such information pertaining to a person sought by a foreign state in a criminal matter.  

 (2)  Does Justice Canada approve the decision by Interpol to post a Red Notice on a particular Canadian? 

 No. 

 And, more specifically, did Justice Canada agree that Dejaeger should be Red Noticed by Interpol? 

 See response to question (1) above. 

(3) Do I understand correctly that the Minister of Justice can overrule an Attorney General’s request for extradition? 

The Minister of Justice is not obliged to make an extradition request at the behest of a competent authority. That said, it would be a rare instance in which the Minister would refuse to seek extradition when asked to do so by a competent authority. 

(4)  If the minister can overrule a request, at what time and in what manner is the public notified? 

Communications between Justice Canada and competent authorities concerning extradition are confidential in nature.   

(5) What timelines, if any, are attached to each of the various steps of the extradition process?  

There are no deadlines for making an initial request for extradition except to the extent that there is an applicable statute of limitations in the foreign state (Canada has no statute of limitations with respect to criminal charges).  

Once a person is arrested on an extradition warrant in Canada, a Judge of the Superior Court is required to schedule an expeditious hearing. If a person is committed for extradition, the Minister of Justice has 90-150 days to make a decision on surrender. 

(6) IF the request for extradition proceeds, are Belgian authorities obliged by treaty agreement to co-operate? 

We are unable to comment since this question relates to a specific case. 

(7) Who is responsible for the costs incurred in the extradition of a man wanted in Canada? 

This is generally determined in accordance with the terms of the relevant extradition agreement, but, in most instances the costs are absorbed by the requested state (the country from which extradition of the person is sought). 

(8) Does the Belgian process mirror that of the Canadian? 

We are unable to comment on the Belgian extradition process. 

(9) Are additional charges of contempt of court laid when an accused flees the country to avoid criminal proceedings? 

The Criminal Code has a number of charges that would be applicable to someone who absconds while on bail, including Failure to Appear (section 145) and Failure to Comply (section 145).  Whether those charges would be laid in a particular case would be the decision of the relevant prosecuting authority rather than the Department of Justice. 

(10)  Are those who may have aided and abetted an accused to elude justice charged with obstruction of justice? 

While it is possible to charge someone with obstruction of justice for aiding an accused person to flee, whether that charge would be laid in a particular case would be the decision of the relevant prosecuting authority rather than the Department of Justice.

Enough for now,

Sylvia

(cornwall@theinquiry.ca)

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3 Responses to No response

  1. PiusGrad says:

    Whoever has said that Father O’Keefe was at St Joe’s up to 1977 is in error. He was teaching at Pius in the mid-70’s. He was my English teacher.

  2. Victim says:

    Re Father O’Keefe, he taught at St. Joseph’s in Ottawa (889 Broadview Ave near Rex) from approximately 1959 to about 1974. When St. Joes closed its doors in about 1974, he went over to St. Pius. O’Keefe molested me when he was at St. Joes.

  3. Sylvia says:

    Thank you Victim.

    PiusGrad, as I have said, there is obviously an error, both in the media reports which put Father O’Keefe at Pius X in 1972, and in the Basilian cv which put him at a St. Joseph’s High School in Toronto from 1959-77. I am awaiting clarification from the Basilians.

    St. Joe’s probably closed in 1975. From Planted by Flowing Water: The Diocese of Ottawa 1847-1997:

    In 1959, the Basilian Fathers were invited to direct St. Joseph’s High School in Ottawa West. They gave this establishment the benefit of their valuable experience in the filed of Catholic education until 1975. Some Basilians also taught at Saint Pius X High School

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