Peter Nygard's extradition hearing can be broadcast in November, Manitoba court says

A Manitoba court will allow cameras to broadcast Peter Nygard's extradition hearing later this year.

That decision came after the attorney general of Canada dropped initial opposition to a motion to allow the hearing, which begins Nov. 15, to be broadcast.

The camera access application came from a consortium of media outlets, including CBC.

The November hearing will come 11 months after Nygard was arrested in Winnipeg on a nine-count indictment in the United States on charges including racketeering and sex trafficking. 

At an already scheduled case management conference on Monday — which was supposed to sort out procedural issues ahead of a July 9 hearing that would have decided on whether the extradition hearing could be broadcast — Nygard's lawyers said they wouldn't oppose the motion to broadcast, either.

With the motion from the media consortium unopposed, Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal approved the November broadcast and cancelled the July 9 hearing. 

The charges against Nygard are related to what the the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York alleges is "a decades-long pattern of criminal conduct involving at least dozens of victims in the United States, the Bahamas, and Canada, among other locations."

None of the charges against him have been proven in court.

Nygard has been behind bars since his arrest last winter. His application for bail was denied and an appeal dismissed.

The November extradition hearing is scheduled for five days in Manitoba's Court of Queen's Bench. 

Protocols for camera access are still being sorted out. Another case management conference is slated for July 8, when any disputes between the Attorney General and the media consortium can be dealt with.