After nearly 3 years, we're still searching for the meaning of Meng Wanzhou's detention

Jason Proctor is a CBC reporter and the writer of the podcast Sanctioned: The Arrest of a Telecom Giant. The final chapter of the series will be released on Nov. 1.

In the past three years, I've spent hundreds of hours thinking about Meng Wanzhou. 

I've stood outside her house. I've sat behind her in a courtroom. And on one memorable spring evening, I hid behind a tree as the Huawei executive posed on the steps of the B.C. Supreme courthouse to celebrate a victory that never happened while she thought no one was watching.

But I've never actually spoken to Meng.

It's been a month since she returned to China. Now that she's back, I'll likely never have the chance to ask her about her take on the U.S. extradition request that upended her life, shredding relations between Canada and China in the process.

She knows who Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor are — her lawyers raised the situation of the two Canadians imprisoned in China in apparent retaliation for Meng's arrest in court documents arguing for her release.

But I'll never get to ask Meng what it feels like to be on the other end of what most observers believe was hostage diplomacy. Not that I would have held my breath for a satisfactory answer anyway.

Perhaps that's the perfect ending to the Meng Wanzhou saga, a legal conflict that was — in reality — always about a geopolitical battle.

Nothing was ever completely as it seemed, from the motivations behind Meng's arrest to the conclusion of the charges against her, which happened in court but were almost certainly manipulated by forces far beyond the reach of any judge in New York or British Columbia.

So what was it all about?

As a reporter, the question I've been asked most frequently since Meng resolved fraud charges through a deferred prosecution agreement with U.S. prosecutors on Sept. 24 is just how much the extradition proceedings in this country cost.

And not just in terms of money.

Canada Border Services Agency and RCMP officers saw their reputations dragged through the mud during testimony about the events surrounding Meng's arrest in December 2018. 

One CBSA supervisor cried on the stand.