A reward poster for the arrest of Ryan Wedding at a U.S. Justice Department news conference announcing the indictment of the former Canadian Olympic snowboarder.Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
The RCMP says it is actively investigating Ryan Wedding’s alleged criminal activities, in the hopes of laying criminal charges in Canada against members of the organization.
In the wake of charges in the U.S. against Canadians allegedly tied to the Wedding organization, two senior Mounties told The Globe and Mail that they are continuing to pursue their own probe.
“The outcome that is wanted, of course, is to lay charges here in Canada, if we can,” said Superintendent Marie-Eve Lavallée of Eastern Region RCMP, which is leading the Canadian investigation out of Montreal. “If we have enough to charge here, we will.”
The RCMP has been intermittently investigating Mr. Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder turned fugitive and alleged cocaine kingpin, since at least 2006. The Mounties issued a warrant for his arrest in 2015, but have not laid more recent charges against him.
Who are the Canadians facing charges connected to Ryan Wedding?
Since July, 2023, the RCMP and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation have been collaborating on a probe known as Operation Giant Slalom. The U.S.-led collaboration was initiated when the FBI asked the RCMP for assistance, according to court-filed documents. That October, the Mounties launched their parallel investigation.
Since then, about 30 individuals have been arrested or are being sought under U.S. laws, according to indictments filed in California. At least 12 accused have been arrested by police in Canada. Most of them are now fighting extradition. Several Canadians charged in the indictments remain at large – including the group’s leader.
The United States has recently announced a US$15-million reward for the capture of Mr. Wedding. The U.S. says he is in hiding in Mexico, sheltered by the Sinaloa cartel. American officials allege that Mr. Wedding has ordered “dozens” of killings around the world, including some fatal shootings in Canada and others targeting “innocent family members” of his perceived enemies.
Liam Price, the RCMP’s director-general of International Special Services, said Mounties have been dispatching liaison officers to Los Angeles, Mexico City and Bogota in bids to bolster the FBI-led case.
“The reality is that Mr. Wedding’s network continues to pose a significant threat to public safety – and the sooner that he can face justice in the United States, the better for everyone,” Mr. Price said.
He said that the Mounties do not choose where transnational police collaborations are prosecuted in court. “It would be inappropriate for us to forum shop,” he said.
A timeline of Ryan Wedding’s shift from Olympic snowboarder to alleged drug kingpin and FBI fugitive
Though police across jurisdictions collaborate on transnational crime probes, one jurisdiction will generally take the lead and hold the lion’s share of evidence. Often, experts say, this role falls to the U.S. criminal-justice system, which has unique levers to turn suspects into witnesses and tackle organized crime.
“Pragmatically, what the FBI wants, the FBI gets – and typically, Canadian police are willing to co-operate,” said Robert Currie, a Dalhousie University law professor who is an expert in extradition.
However, it is crucial that Canadian police lay their own charges when they can, says Toronto lawyer Paul Cavalluzzo.
Mr. Cavalluzzo acted as commission counsel to a judicial inquiry in the 2000s that exposed how RCMP counterterrorism exchanges with American agencies led to several Canadian citizens being tortured in Middle East prisons.
He says the lingering lesson is that U.S. agencies can escalate investigations in ways that their Canadian partner agencies can neither predict nor condone.
“I would think that if we’re going play tag team with American agencies at this time, we should be very, very careful,” Mr. Cavalluzzo said. “If there’s a significant nexus to Canada, I don’t think the RCMP should be playing minor league to the FBI.”
Mr. Price pushed back against such characterizations. The U.S. charges against Mr. Wedding’s organization are beneficial, he said, adding that it does not much matter if no charges have been laid as yet in Canada.
“I don’t think it says anything negative, to be honest,” he said. “I think it can be very misleading when we equate an outcome with a charge in one country or another. The important bit is the harm prevented and the network disrupted.”
Ciaran McEvoy, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California, declined to comment for this story. Canadian Department of Justice officials did not respond.
Long before Ryan Wedding was one of the FBI’s most wanted, he was swept up in a U.S. drug case
Extradition proceedings against Canadians are now under way in Quebec, Ontario and Alberta. These hearings could be hard-fought and complicated by legal questions – including whether the U.S. may seek the death penalty. Several Canadians face allegations that they helped Mr. Wedding plot murder conspiracies alleged to have occurred in Canada or against Canadian nationals.
Legal experts say that some of these charges could be pursued in Canada – but that may be seen by justice officials as messy, especially with proceedings in Los Angeles looming.
“The fact that the extradition proceedings are going on at all means that the decision on Canada’s side has already been made – we will not prosecute, we will instead run the extradition processes,” Prof. Currie said.
He said that while Canadian and U.S. investigators have been closely working together, prosecutors may not necessarily have the same access to the same witnesses and evidence.
“The U.S. might very well refuse to share the evidence it has,” he said. He added that complex crime prosecutions are relatively challenging for Canada.