Two Vancouver MPs are decrying a decision to support the extradition of marijuana activist Marc Emery to the United States.

In 2005, Emery was arrested as part of a joint Canada-U.S. law enforcement effort on charges that relate to an alleged online marijuana seed-selling business based in Vancouver.

Emery had been out on bail for the past six months from the North Fraser Pretrial Centre. With the period of his release set to expire, Emery surrendered himself to authorities this morning (May 10) at the Vancouver courts to await a decision on extradition.

Emery’s wife, Jodie, told the Straight earlier today that she had learned federal justice minister Robert Nicholson approved an extradition order.

The decision has now come under fire from NDP MP Libby Davies and Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh. Both MPs tabled a 12,000-signature petition earlier this year in the House of Commons that opposed Marc Emery’s extradition.

“It’s about Canadian sovereignty,” Davies, the MP for Vancouver East, told the Straight. “Why would we cart off a Canadian to serve time in America for something he wouldn’t have been charged with in Canada? Now what we’re left with is trying to press that he at least be allowed to serve his time in Canada.”

Dosanjh, the MP for Vancouver South, told the Straight that Emery faces a “disproportionate sentence that he wouldn’t have received in Canada”.

“I believe in that case we as a country should ensure that he’s at least able to serve his sentence in a Canadian prison,” Dosanjh said. “He’s not a dangerous offender.”

The federal department of justice could not be reached for comment.