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Capital punishment in Canada dates to Canada's earliest history, including its period as first a French and then a British colony. From 1867 to the elimination of the death penalty for murder on July 26, 1976, 1,481 people had been sentenced to death, and 710 had been executed. Of those executed, 697 were men and 13 were women. The only method used in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
for
capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...
of civilians after the end of the French regime was
hanging Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...
. The last execution in Canada was the double hanging of Arthur Lucas and Ronald Turpin on December 11, 1962, at
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
's
Don Jail The Don Jail was a jail in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located to the east of the Don River, on Gerrard Street East in the Riverdale neighbourhood. The original building was completed in 1864 and was reopened in 2013 to serve as the administrati ...
. The ''National Defence Act'' prescribed the death penalty for certain military offences until 1999, although no military executions had been carried out since 1946. The death penalty was ended in practice in Canada in January 1963 and was abolished in two stages, in 1976 and 1999. Prior to 1976, the death penalty was prescribed under the ''Criminal Code'' as the punishment for murder, treason, and piracy. In addition, some service offences under the ''
National Defence Act The ''National Defence Act'' (NDA; ; ''LDN'') is an Act of the Parliament of Canada, which is the primary enabling legislation for organizing and funding the military of Canada. The Act created the Department of National Defence, which merged ...
'' continued to carry a mandatory death sentence if committed traitorously, although no one had been executed for those offences since 1945. In 1976, Parliament enacted Bill C-84, abolishing the death penalty for murder, treason, and piracy. In 1999, Parliament eliminated the death penalty for the military offences.https://www.parl.ca/Content/Bills/361/Government/C-25/C-25_1/C-25_1.pdf shows the old text with the death penalty in effect. https://parl.ca/Content/Bills/361/Government/C-25/C-25_4/C-25_4.pdf shows royal assent on December 10, 1998. http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/1999/1999-07-21/pdf/g2-13315.pdf (p. 1960, SI/99-75) shows the law in force September 1, 1999.


History


New France

The post of executioner in
New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...
was briefly held by André Bernard in 1645, but was not permanently occupied until 1648, when a military drummer stationed at the French garrison in Ville-Marie, New France, was sentenced to death for
sodomy Sodomy (), also called buggery in British English, principally refers to either anal sex (but occasionally also oral sex) between people, or any Human sexual activity, sexual activity between a human and another animal (Zoophilia, bestiality). I ...
by the local
Sulpician The Society of Priests of Saint-Sulpice (; PSS), also known as the Sulpicians, is a society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right for men, named after the Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, where it was founded. The members of the Society add the ...
priests."Looking back at Quebec queer life since the 17th century"
. ''
Xtra! ''Xtra Magazine'' (formerly ''DailyXtra'' and ''Xtra!'') is an LGBTQ-focused digital publication and former print newspaper published by Pink Triangle Press in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The publication is a continuation of the company's former p ...
'', December 15, 2009.
After an intervention by the
Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
s in
Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...
, the drummer's life was spared on the condition that he accept the position of New France's first permanent executioner. As only the drummer was placed on trial, some historians have suggested that his sexual partner may have been a
First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...
man who was not subject to French religious law."Montreal"
. glbtq.com, 2004.
The drummer's real name has never been confirmed in historical records; however, in his 2006 book , historian Patrice Corriveau identified the drummer as René Huguet dit Tambour, although other historians have challenged this identification as no known historical records place a person of that name in New France any earlier than 1680. With the role of executioner being unpopular, it was common in New France that a male criminal who had been sentenced to death could have his life spared if he agreed to take the job of executing others, while a female prisoner could have her life spared if the executioner agreed to marry her. Similar cases included Jacques Daigre, who was sentenced to death for theft in 1665 but managed to avoid being executed by agreeing to testify against and execute his associate, and Jean Corolère, who took the job in 1751 and simultaneously saved the life of fellow prisoner Françoise Laurent by marrying her.


British North America

In 1749, Peter Cartcel, a sailor aboard a ship in the Halifax harbour, stabbed Abraham Goodsides to death and wounded two other men. He was brought before a Captain's Court where he was found guilty and sentenced to death. Two days later he was hanged from the yardarm of the vessel as a deterrent to others. This is one of the earliest records of capital punishment in English-speaking Canada. It is difficult to accurately state numbers of capital punishment since there were no systematic efforts to accurately record names, dates, and locations of executions until after 1867, and many records have been lost because of fires, floods, or decay. In 1840, an innocent man was hanged in what is now
Windsor, Ontario Windsor ( ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from the U.S city of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Esse ...
, and this was learned after the true perpetrator of the crime had made a deathbed confession. This contributed to the abolition of
capital punishment in Michigan Capital punishment in Michigan was legal from the founding of Sault Ste Marie in 1668 during the French colonial period, until abolition by the state legislature in 1846 (except nominally for treason). Only one federal execution has ever been c ...
across the river from Windsor.


Post-Confederation

After Confederation, a revision of the statutes reduced the number of offences punishable by death to three: murder, rape, and treason. In 1868, Parliament also stated that the location of the execution was to be within the confines of the prison instead of public hangings. By the 1870s, the jails had begun to build the gallows from the ground with a pit underneath instead of the previous high scaffold, the platform of which was level with the prison wall.
Robert Bickerdike Robert Bickerdike (17 August 1843 – 28 December 1928) was a Canadians, Canadian live stock shipping and insurance agent and politician. Born in Kingston, Ontario, Kingston, Canada West the son of Thomas Bickerdike, of Yorkshire, England, an ...
was a businessman, politician, and social reformer, who believed the abolition of capital punishment was an imperative and to some extent his life’s mission. Few spoke as loudly or as eloquently as he did for this reform. As a Member of Parliament, in 1914 and again in 1916 he introduced a bill to replace the death penalty with a life sentence. He opposed capital punishment on many grounds, considering it an insult to Christianity and religion in general and a blot on any civilized nation. "There is nothing", he stated in the house, "more degrading to society at large ... than the death penalty." He also spoke of class disparities, pointing out that the punishment was administered to the poor far more often than to the wealthy. He refuted the notion that state-sponsored killing acted as a deterrent to murder and cautioned against the possibility of mistake. In 1950, an attempt was made to abolish capital punishment.
Ross Thatcher Wilbert Ross Thatcher, (May 24, 1917 – July 22, 1971) was a Canadian politician who served as the ninth premier of Saskatchewan from 1964 to 1971. Thatcher began his career as a member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation in 1942, elect ...
, at that time a
Cooperative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; , FCC) was a federal democratic socialistThe following sources describe the CCF as a democratic socialist political party: * * * * * * and social-democraticThese sources describe the CCF as ...
Member of Parliament, moved Bill No. 2 in order to amend the ''Criminal Code'' to abolish the death penalty. Thatcher later withdrew it for fear of Bill No. 2 not generating positive discussion and further harming the chances of abolition. In 1956, the Joint Committee of the House and Senate recommended the retention of capital punishment as the mandatory punishment for murder, which opened the door to the possibility of abolition. In 1961, legislation was introduced to reclassify murder into capital and non-capital murder, later renamed to first degree and second degree murder. A capital murder involved a planned and deliberate murder, murder during violent crimes, or the murder of a
police officer A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...
or prison guard. Non-capital murder did not carry the death sentence, and juvenile offenders convicted of capital murder were to receive life sentences instead, thus officially raising the minimum execution age to 18. However, the only death sentences carried out after the reform were that of Turpin and Lucas. Turpin was hanged for murdering a police officer and Lucas was hanged for premeditated murder.


Abolition

Following the success of
Lester Pearson Lester Bowles Pearson (23 April 1897 – 27 December 1972) was a Canadian politician, diplomat, statesman, and scholar who served as the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968. He also served as Leader of the Liberal Party of C ...
and the
Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...
in the 1963 federal election, and through the successive governments of
Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau (October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000) was a Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. Between his no ...
, the federal cabinet commuted all death sentences as a matter of policy. Hence, in practice the death penalty ceased to be used in Canada in 1963. On November 30, 1967, Bill C-168 was passed creating a five-year moratorium on the use of the death penalty, except for
murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...
s of police and corrections officers. On January 26, 1973, after the expiration of the five-year experiment, the Solicitor General of Canada continued the partial ban on capital punishment, which would eventually lead to the abolition of capital punishment. On July 14, 1976, Bill C-84 was passed by a narrow margin of 130:124 in a
free vote A conscience vote or free vote is a type of vote in a legislative body where legislators are allowed to vote according to their own personal conscience rather than according to an official line set down by their political party. In a parliamentar ...
, resulting in the abolition of the death penalty for murder, treason, and piracy. It was given royal assent on July 16 and came into force July 26, 1976. Capital murder was replaced with first degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence without eligibility for
parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...
until the person has served 25 years of the sentence. On June 30, 1987, a bill to restore the death penalty was defeated by the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
in a 148–127 vote, in which Prime Minister
Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney (March 20, 1939 – February 29, 2024) was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studi ...
,
Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
Ray Hnatyshyn Ramon John Hnatyshyn ( ; March 16, 1934December 18, 2002) was a Canadian lawyer and statesman who served as the 24th governor general of Canada from 1990 to 1995. Hnatyshyn was born and educated in Saskatchewan and served in the Royal Canadian ...
, and Minister of External Affairs
Joe Clark Charles Joseph Clark (born June 5, 1939) is a Canadian businessman, writer, and retired politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Canada from 1979 to 1980. He also served as Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada), leader of the ...
opposed the bill, while Deputy Prime Minister
Donald Mazankowski Donald Frank Mazankowski (July 27, 1935 – October 27, 2020) was a Canadian politician who served as a cabinet minister under prime ministers Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney, including as deputy prime minister under Mulroney. After retiring from ...
and a majority of Progressive Conservative MPs supported it. Certain military offences under the ''
National Defence Act The ''National Defence Act'' (NDA; ; ''LDN'') is an Act of the Parliament of Canada, which is the primary enabling legislation for organizing and funding the military of Canada. The Act created the Department of National Defence, which merged ...
'' (committed by members of the
Canadian Armed Forces The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; , FAC) are the unified Military, military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air commands referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Under the ''National Defenc ...
) continued to carry the death penalty (cowardice, desertion, unlawful surrender, and spying for the enemy), with
mandatory death penalty Mandatory sentencing requires that people convicted of certain crimes serve a predefined term of imprisonment, removing the discretion of judges to take issues such as extenuating circumstances and a person's likelihood of rehabilitation into co ...
if committed traitorously. Bill C-25 replaced those death penalties with life imprisonment, resulting in the complete legal abolition of the death penalty in Canada, effective September 1, 1999.


Last executions in Canada

The last two people executed in Canada were Ronald Turpin, 29, and Arthur Lucas, 54, convicted of separate murders, at 12:02 am on December 11, 1962, at the
Don Jail The Don Jail was a jail in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located to the east of the Don River, on Gerrard Street East in the Riverdale neighbourhood. The original building was completed in 1864 and was reopened in 2013 to serve as the administrati ...
in
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
. The last woman to be hanged in Canada was Marguerite Pitre on January 9, 1953, at Bordeaux Prison in Montreal, for her part in the bombing of Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 108. The last person sentenced to death was Mario Gauthier on May 14, 1976, for the murder of a prison guard in
Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
. He was reprieved when capital punishment was abolished for all ''Criminal Code'' offences on July 14 the same year.


Military executions

During the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, 25 Canadian soldiers were executed. Most were shot for service offences such as
desertion Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ...
and
cowardice Cowardice is a characteristic wherein excessive fear prevents an individual from taking a risk or facing danger. It is the opposite of courage. As a label, "cowardice" indicates a failure of character in the face of a challenge. One who succumb ...
, but two executions were for murder. For details of these see '' List of Canadian soldiers executed during World War I''. One Canadian soldier, Private
Harold Pringle Harold Joseph Pringle (14 January 1920 - 5 July 1945) was the only soldier of the Canadian Army to be executed during the Second World War. Biography Pringle was born in the small hamlet of Flinton, Ontario, near Napanee. He and his father tr ...
, was executed during the Second World War for murder. Furthermore, five German prisoners-of-war (POWs) convicted of the murders of other POWs were among the six executed in Canada's last mass execution in 1946.


Executioners


John Radclive

John Radclive was Canada's first professional executioner, placed on the federal payroll as a hangman by a Dominion order-in-council in 1892, on the recommendation of the justice minister Sir John Thompson. Radclive is often described as having trained under British hangman William Marwood although there is no documentary proof for this. He can be shown to have hanged at least 69 people in Canada, although his life total was likely much higher. At his death, the ''Toronto Telegram'' said he had 150 executions. He died of alcohol-related illness in Toronto on February 26, 1911, at the age of 55.


Arthur Ellis

Arthur Ellis was the
pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...
of Arthur B. English, a British man who became Canada's official hangman in 1913, after Radclive's death. Ellis worked as a hangman in Canada until the botched execution of Thomasina Sarao in Montreal in 1935, in which she was decapitated. He died in poverty in Montreal in July 1938. The Arthur Ellis Awards—named after this pseudonym—is an annual literary award presented by the
Crime Writers of Canada {{primary sources, date=January 2015 Founded in 1982 by mystery reviewers Derrick Murdock and Doug Marshall, editor John Pierce and mystery and thriller authors Tony Aspler, Howard Engel, Tim Heald, and Larry Morse, Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) i ...
. Ellis is featured in the 2009 documentary '' Hangman's Graveyard''.


Camille Branchaud

The executioner who worked as Camille Branchaud, a pseudonym, succeeded Ellis. Branchaud was on the Quebec government payroll as a hangman, and executed people elsewhere in the country on a piecework basis. The hangman was traditionally based in Montreal, where between 1912 and 1960 the gallows at Bordeaux Prison saw more executions (85) take place than any other correctional facility in Canada. Branchaud carried out many executions (for which he was not paid) in the postwar period in Canada, such as the double hanging of Leonard Jackson and Steven Suchan of the Boyd Gang at the Don Jail in 1952, and Robert Raymond Cook's execution in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, in 1960.


Methods

The first official method of hanging for executions in Canada was "hoisting" in which a rope would be thrown over a beam and the convicted person would then be hoisted into the air by others pulling on the rope. The slip knot would then tightly close around the neck until
strangulation Strangling or strangulation is compression of the neck that may lead to unconsciousness or death by causing an increasingly hypoxic state in the brain by restricting the flow of oxygen through the trachea. Fatal strangulation typically occurs ...
. A variation of this included the person with a rope around the neck to stand on a cart and then it would be pushed from under him. This led to the development of suspension in which "the drop" caused by jerking something from underneath the offender became the main component of the execution. Executioners experimented with the length of the rope for the drop. They discovered new ways of causing instant unconsciousness and quick death upon hanging. In 1872, the length of a drop extended to nearly , which dislocated the neck perfectly. Almost one year later, the length of the drop was extended to . The majority of offenders put to death by Canadian civilian authorities were executed by long-drop hanging developed in the United Kingdom by William Marwood. This method ensured that the prisoner's neck was broken instantly at the end of the drop, resulting in the prisoner dying of
asphyxia Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects all the tissues and organs, some more rapidly than others. There are m ...
while unconscious, which was considered more humane than the slow death by strangulation which often resulted from the previous short-drop method. The short drop sometimes gave a period of suffering before death finally took place. Early in his career, John Radclive persuaded several sheriffs in Ontario and Quebec to let him use an alternative method in which the condemned person was jerked into the air. A gallows of this type was used for the execution of Robert Neil at Toronto's Don Jail on February 29, 1888:
The old plan of a "drop" was discarded for a more merciful machine, by which the prisoner is jerked up from a platform on the ground level by a weight of , which is suspended by an independent rope pending the execution … At the words "Forgive us our trespasses," the executioner drove his chisel against the light rope that held the ponderous iron at the other end of the noose, and in an instant the heavy weight fell with a thud, and the pinioned body was jerked into the air and hung dangling between the rough posts of the scaffold.
The hanging of Reginald Birchall in
Woodstock, Ontario Woodstock is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The city has a population of 46,705 according to the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 Canadian census. Woodstock is the seat of Oxford County, Ontario, Oxford County, at the head of the Thames River, On ...
, in November 1890, seems to be the last time a device of this kind was used. Radclive had first been exposed to executions as a
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
seaman helping with shipboard hangings of pirates in the
South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...
, and it is possible he was trying to approximate something similar to hanging a man on a ship's yardarm. After Birchall's hanging, Radclive used the traditional long drop method, as did his successors. While hanging was a relatively humane method of execution under ideal conditions with an expert executioner, mistakes could and did happen. Condemned prisoners were decapitated by accident at Headingley Jail in Manitoba and Bordeaux Jail in Montreal, and a prisoner at the Don Jail in Toronto hit the floor of the room below and was strangled by the hangman.Minutes of proceedings and evidence – Special Committee on the Criminal Code (Death Penalty) (Ottawa, Printer to the King, 1937) Some Canadian jails—such as those in Toronto, Whitby and Ottawa, Ontario; Headingley, Manitoba; and Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta—had permanent indoor execution facilities, but more typically offenders were hanged on a scaffold built for the occasion in the jail yard. Military prisoners sentenced to death under Canadian military law were shot by a firing squad.


Public opinion

Although reintroducing the death penalty in Canada is extremely unlikely, support for capital punishment is similar to its support in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, where it is carried out regularly in some states and is on the books in most states and on the federal level. While opposition to the death penalty increased in the 1990s and early 2000s, in recent years, Canadians have moved closer to the American position; in 2004, only 48 percent of Canadians favoured death for murderers compared to 62 percent in 2010. According to one poll, support for the death penalty in Canada is approximately the same as its support in the United States, at 63 percent in both countries . A 2012 poll by the ''
Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices are located at Pos ...
'' found that 66 percent of Canadians favoured capital punishment, but only 41 percent would actually support its re-introduction in Canada. A 2020 poll by Research Co. found that 51 percent of Canadians are in favour of reinstating the death penalty for murder in their country. However, almost half of Canadians (47%) select life imprisonment without the possibility of parole over the death penalty (34%) as their preferred punishment in cases of murder. A 2023 poll by Research Co. found that 54 percent of Canadians are in favour of reinstating the death penalty for murder in their country. A 2024 poll found 57 percent of Canadians support reinstating the death penalty. Since abolition, only two parties were known to have advocated to bringing it back: the
Reform Party of Canada The Reform Party of Canada () was a right-wing populism, right-wing populist and conservative List of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada that existed from 1987 to 2000. Reform was founded as a Western Canada- ...
(1988–2000) and the National Advancement Party of Canada (since 2014). Among the reasons cited for banning capital punishment in Canada were fears about
wrongful conviction A miscarriage of justice occurs when an unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Innocent ...
s, concerns about the state taking people's lives, and uncertainty about the death penalty's role as a deterrent for crime. The 1959 conviction of 14-year-old
Steven Truscott Steven Murray Truscott (born January 18, 1945) is a Canadian man who, at age fourteen, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1959 for the rape and murder of classmate Lynne Harper. Truscott had been the last known person to see her alive. He wa ...
, who was sentenced to death and whose conviction was later overturned, was a significant impetus toward the abolition of capital punishment. Truscott was sentenced to death for the murder of a classmate. His sentence was later commuted to a life sentence, and in 2007, he was acquitted of the charges (although the appeal court did not state that he was in fact innocent).


Policy regarding foreign capital punishment

In the 1990s, Canada extradited a criminal,
Charles Ng Charles Chi-tat Ng (born Ng Chi-tat) ( zh, t=吳志達, j=ng4 zi3 daat6; born 24 December 1960) is a Hong Kong-born convicted serial killer who committed numerous crimes in the United States. He is believed to have raped, tortured, and murder ...
to the United States, even though he appealed to the authorities, as he did not want to potentially face execution. The
Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...
, in the case '' United States v. Burns'', (2001), determined that Canada should not extradite persons to face trial in other countries for crimes punishable by death unless Canada has received an assurance that the foreign state will not apply the death penalty, essentially overruling '' Kindler v. Canada (Minister of Justice)'', (1991). This is similar to the extradition policies of other nations such as Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, Israel, Mexico, Colombia and Australia, which also refuse to extradite prisoners who may be condemned to death. Extradition where the death penalty is possible was ruled a violation of the
European Convention of Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is a supranational convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the ...
in the case of '' Soering v United Kingdom'' outlawing the practice in member states of the
Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...
, of which all of the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
member states are part. In November 2007, Canada's minority
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
government reversed a longstanding policy of automatically requesting
clemency A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...
for Canadian citizens sentenced to capital punishment. The ongoing case of
Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
-born
Ronald Allen Smith Ronald Allen Smith (born September 7, 1957) is a Canadian man who was sentenced to death in Montana for murdering two people. As of 2019, Smith is one of two prisoners on Montana's death row (the other is William Gollehon). Judge Jeffrey Sherloc ...
, who has been on death row in the United States since 1982 after being convicted of murdering two people and who continues to seek calls for clemency from the Canadian government, prompted Canadian Public Safety Minister
Stockwell Day Stockwell Burt Day Jr. (born August 16, 1950) is a former Canadian politician who served as leader of the Canadian Alliance from 2000 to 2001 and later as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. A provincial cabinet minister from Alber ...
to announce the change in policy. Day stated that each situation should be handled on a case-by-case basis. Smith's case resulted in a sharp divide between the Liberals and the Conservatives, with the Liberals passing a motion declaring that the government "should stand consistently against the death penalty, as a matter of principle, both in Canada and around the world". However, an overwhelming majority of Conservatives supported the change in policy. In a 2011 interview given to Canadian media, Prime Minister
Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...
affirmed his private support for capital punishment by saying, "I personally think there are times where capital punishment is appropriate."Tasha Kheiriddin: Tori Stafford case shows why Canada needs the death penalty
Accessed March 2012: "Prior to the 2011 election, when asked about the subject in an interview by the CBC’s Peter Mansbridge, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said, 'I personally think there are times where capital punishment is appropriate.'" "So how do Canadians feel about the death penalty? Shortly after the Prime Minister’s interview, Abacus Data published a study finding that 66% of Canadians support the death penalty "in certain circumstances."


See also

* Albert Guay * Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty * List of revoked death sentences in Canada * Madame le Corbeau * Richmond, Dr. Guy. Prison Doctor.(1975) New Westminster, British Columbia: Nunaga Publishing. ISBN 0-919900-08-9


Footnotes


Notes


References


External links


Canada and the Death Penalty (Department of Justice Canada)

CBC Digital Archives—Death Penalty Debate
{{North America in topic, Capital punishment in 1976 disestablishments in Canada 2003 in law