The wife of a man imprisoned in Mexico is shocked that the Canadian government has denied what her family says is a simple request that could help her husband be set free. A Mexican judge in Pavel Kulisek's trial asked the American and Canadian governments to help arrange testimony from several character witnesses outside Mexico. But while the Americans granted the request in a matter of weeks, the Canadian government said no, said Kulisek's wife, Jirina. "I thought some time ago that the government would help me, but now I'm losing my hopes. So far nothing is happening," she said. Kulisek was arrested almost two years ago while his family was on vacation. His ATV buddy turned out to be a drug dealer -- and Kulisek was accused of being part of organized crime. The family says Kulisek didn't know who his ATV friend really was, and that Kulisek was in the wrong place at the wrong time. They have been pushing for his release ever since. One way the family can convince the judge to drop the charges is to present character witnesses that support Kulisek. That's difficult because most of Kulisek's friends live in Canada, said Jirina. So the family has been trying to get the Canadian government to arrange testimony in Vancouver. Their lawyer got the Mexican judge to send a formal request. But that request was denied because there was no Canadian/Mexican treaty that specifically allowed Canada to help, said Conservative MP Andrew Saxton. "It's really the Mexican authorities that have to facilitate this part of it," said Saxton. "It's [the family's] defence lawyer that has to request the judge in Mexico to get an order to go to the Mexican consulate." Liberal MP Dan McTeague says there's no treaty that stops such a request either -- so it's up to Canadian bureaucrats. "What's blocking them is reticence, navel gazing and foot dragging by the government," said McTeague. "It's not acceptable, and it doesn't give any Canadian the reassurance that they won't end up like Pavel Kulisek with an indeterminate time in jail." Kulisek's wife Jirina says at the end of the day all of this amounts to more delays -- and more time between when Kulisek can see his wife and children again. With a report from CTV British Columbia's Jon Woodward
