Background
The case revolved around two Canadian citizens, Glen Sebastian Burns and Atif Ahmad Rafay, who were accused of murdering Rafay's family by the police department in Bellevue, Washington, of the United States. After returning to Canada, Burns and Rafay confessed to undercover Royal Canadian Mounted Police. After the investigation was complete, Burns and Rafay claimed their confessions were fabricated, but plans were nevertheless made to extradite them.
The extradition would be possible through an extradition treaty under which the Minister of Justice for Canada may seek assurances that the fugitive accused would not be subject to the death penalty. However, the Minister of Justice did not seek assurances in the case.
Burns and Rafay launched a number of Charter challenges to the Canadian government's decision, including that section 6 mobility rights provided them rights against extradition and to be charged in Canada (since the murders occurred in the US, Canada could only charge them with planning the crime, so this option was ruled out). It was further argued that, while the Kindler case had held that it was not a breach of fundamental justice to extradite persons regardless of the risk of execution, the Burns case was special because it involved Canadian citizens; section 6 rights against exile were used to reinforce this argument.
A documentary concerning this case was made in 2007 Mr. Big (film)
Read more about this topic: United States V. Burns
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