David Zweig

Opinion | Canada’s duty lies in freeing Kovrig and Spavor from China. This means letting Meng go

The suffering of the two Canadians, in detention since December 2018, makes a powerful case for Ottawa to prize pragmatism and sympathy over politics

Should Canada choose to, a sound legal case can be made for the release of the Huawei executive wanted by a US determined to blunt China’s tech challenge

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People hold placards calling for China to release Canadian detainees Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig outside a court hearing for Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in March 2019. Photo: Reuters

David Zweig

Published: 3:00am, 2 Jul 2020Updated: 1:55am, 26 Dec 2021

A heated debate is raging across Canada. Should the Canadian government give in to China’s “hostage diplomacy” and release Meng Wanzhou, before a British Columbia court decides whether she should be extradited to the US to face charges of bank and wire fraud?

Or should Canada defend its principles and, despite the incarceration of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor for more than 560 days, let the hearing go forward?

I worked closely with Kovrig after he moved to Hong Kong, jointly briefing foreign diplomats and sharing membership in several study groups. I also regularly attended his well-informed and thoughtful presentations on China’s views of Northeast Asia, particularly North Korea, his brief with the International Crisis Group and what he had been researching when the Chinese hauled him in.

So, when I recently read his letters from prison, heard his ailing father’s plea to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to do something, and read how his wife, Vina Nadjibulla, lauded his courage, I was moved to tears.

As his friend, I must speak out on his, and Michael Spavor’s, plight and publicly call for Meng’s release, if that is what is necessary to bring these Canadians home. The tide is turning, and it is time to act.

First, a new opinion by a triad of Canada’s best legal minds argues that, in his role as Canada’s justice minister, rather than as its attorney general, David Lametti has the legal authority to terminate America’s extradition request and let Meng go.