CAFE Urges U.S. Gov’t Not To Extradite Political Prisoner Bill Whatcott to Canada

CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION Inc., (CAFE)

P.O. Box 332,

Rexdale, ON., M9W 5L3

November 8, 2026

Office of the Legal Adviser for Law Enforcement and Intelligence (L/LEI)U.S. Department of StateRoom 43312201 C Street NW Washington, DC 20520U.S.A.
Re: Opposition to Surrender – Extradition Request by Canada for William Gary Whatcott – A #076739183
To Whom It May Concern:
The Government of Canada has made a request to extradite William Gary Whatcott A#076739183 now currently being held in the ICE Detention Centre in Tacoma, Washington

The Canadian Association for Free Expression (CAFE) is a non-profit Canadian non-profit corporation incorporated by Letters Patent in the Province of Ontario. We have worked to maximize freedom of speech in Canada since 1983, Canada regrettably does not have a First Amendment. We have intervened in numerous legal cases on behalf of people punished for the non-violent exercise of their speech in religious or political matters.

We consider Mr. Whatcott both a political prisoner and a prisoner of conscience as defined by Amnesty International: ” Prisoners of conscience are those who have been jailed or had their freedom restricted because of their political or religious beliefs, ethnic origin, gender, race, language, economic status, sexual orientation, or other status.
People who have used or advocated violence, even in the defense of their beliefs, cannot be labeled prisoners of conscience.“

Among other issues, Mr. Whatcott faces double jeopardy in Canada. In 2018, he was charged under Canada’s notorious “hate law” Sec.. 319 of the Criminal Code for “willfully promoting hate” against a protected privileged group: in this case, the LGBTQ community. The issue at law was his circulating a pamphlet at the 2016 Toronto Gay Pride Parade which, on one side, provided medical facts about negative consequences of homosexual sex, and, on the other side, stated the traditional Christian teaching condeming homosexual sex and urging participants to take a different course and save their health and their souls. In 2021, at his first “hate law” trial Mr. Whatcott was acquitted. The Province of Ontario appealed and a second trial was ordered and held in the Spring of 2026. On September 16, Mr. Whatcott was convicted in an Ontario Court by Madam Justice Anne Molloy.. Sentencing was set for December 3. Later on September 16, Mr. Whatcott crossed into the United States. The next day he filed a claim for refugee status.

I have known Mr. Whatcott for more than 15 years. He admits he led a dissolute youth and committed minor crimes and used and sold narcotics. He went through a complete conversion when he was 18, detailed in his book Born in a Graveyard. Since then he has been an active committed Christian. His “crime” for which he could face up to two years in prison involved the peaceful, non-violent expression of his religious views on the practice of homosexual sex. He, thus, fits Amnesty International’s definition of “prisoner of conscience” and “political prisoner,” Mr. Whatcott’s behaviour was non-violent. As he sees it in conversations with me, he was fulfilling the Gospel directive: “Go forth and teach ye all nations” the Gospel.

Full disclosure: CAFE intervened on Mr. Whatcott’s behalf in 2016 in a British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal Case Oger v Whatcott, a civil case also involving free speech and political pamphleteering during a provincial election.

We hope that Mr. Whatcott will be granted political asylum as a person persecuted for his religious beliefs. The quest for religious liberty was what drew many of the original colonists to America’s shores. In this matter, we urge that you deny the extradition request of the Government of Canada.
This is our respectful submission.

Paul Fromm

Director