United States v Burns
| United States v Burns | |
|---|---|
| Hearing: May 23, 2000 Judgment: February 15, 2001 | |
| Full case name | Minister of Justice v Glen Sebastian Burns and Atif Ahmad Rafay |
| Citations | [2001] 1 SCR 283, 2001 SCC 7, 195 DLR (4th) 1, [2001] 3 WWR 193, 151 CCC (3d) 97, 39 CR (5th) 205, 81 CRR (2d) 1, 85 BCLR (3d) 1 |
| Docket No. | 26129 |
| Prior history | Judgment for the respondents in the Court of Appeal for British Columbia. |
| Holding | |
| Extradition without guarantees that the extradited person will not face the death penalty may be a breach of section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and cannot be upheld under section 1. | |
| Court membership | |
| Chief Justice: Beverley McLachlin Puisne Justices: Claire L'Heureux-Dubé, Charles Gonthier, Frank Iacobucci, John C. Major, Michel Bastarache, Ian Binnie, Louise Arbour, Louis LeBel | |
| Reasons given | |
| Unanimous reasons by | The Court |
United States v Burns [2001] 1 S.C.R. 283, 2001 SCC 7, was a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada that found that extradition of individuals to countries in which they may face the death penalty is a breach of fundamental justice under section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The decision reached that conclusion by a discussion of evidence regarding the arbitrary nature of execution although the Court did not go so far as to say that execution was also unconstitutional under section 12 of the Charter, which forbids cruel and unusual punishments.
The case essentially overruled Kindler v Canada (Minister of Justice) (1991) and Reference Re Ng Extradition (1991). In Burns, the Supreme Court justices claimed to be considering different kinds of evidence.