Admissibility of Hearsay Gathered Under MLAT: A Tempest in Canada

Abstract

One of the most pervasive and longstanding problems in the practice of mutual legal assistance in criminal matters between states has been ‘form of evidence’ – specifically, can the requested state provide evidence in such form as will be useful and admissible under the criminal evidence laws of the requesting state? It tends to be common law states that have difficulties with admissibility of MLAT-sourced evidence, and these often develop ‘work-arounds’ in their laws which attempt to relax admissibility standards. Canada is one such state, but a series of recent prosecutions has revealed judicial resistance to the tools employed. This note examines these cases and suggests some lessons they contain for broader practice.