OTTAWA (AFP) — Canada on Thursday gave a cold shoulder to its only citizen on death row in the United States, saying it would not to try and save the convicted double murderer.
In a sweeping policy change, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said Ottawa would also no longer campaign for the repatriation of any Canadian national on death row in foreign countries, if they received a fair trial.
"We will not actively pursue bringing back to Canada murderers who have been tried in a democratic country that supports the rule of law," Day told the House of Commons.
"It would send a wrong message. We want to preserve public safety here in Canada and that is our position."
Canadian Ronald Allen Smith, 50, confessed to marching two Blackfeet Indians at gunpoint into the Montana backwoods in 1982 and shooting them in the head, while he was on a drug and alcohol binge.
He spent the past two decades on death row for the murders.
His defenders say Smith has since transformed himself into a "compassionate man" in prison, and deserves a second chance.
According to reports, Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer said last week he was pressured by Ottawa to grant Smith clemency and a possible transfer to a Canadian prison, where he might be freed under more lenient sentencing rules.
The foreign affairs department had previously told local media that Canada "does not support the death penalty" and that Canadian policy is to "seek clemency, on humanitarian grounds, for Canadians sentenced to death in foreign countries."
Canadian officials would not comment further on the policy reversal.
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