Manslaughter
236 Every person who commits manslaughter is guilty of an indictable offence and liable
(a) where a firearm is used in the commission of the offence, to imprisonment for life and to a minimum punishment of imprisonment for a term of four years; and
(b) in any other case, to imprisonment for life.
Annotations | French
- Section 236
- Manslaughter carries a maximum punishment of life imprisonment. There is no mandatory minimum sentence except in cases involving a firearm. These cases carry a mandatory minimum of 4 years: Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46, s 236(a).
- Manslaughter captures a wide and disparate range of conduct. Consequently, the courts have rejected efforts to create subcategories of manslaughter cases for sentencing and a wide range of sentences have been imposed for this offence. This includes a suspended sentence in the case of an accused who was a victim of intimate partner violence: R v Alexander, 2014 ONCA 22 at para 41; R v Bennett, [1993] OJ No 1011 at paras 78-80
- The penalty can be relative to the foreseeability of harm in the circumstances: R v Laberge, 1995 ABCA 196 at para 17; R v Campbell, 2022 ABCA 410 at paras. 35-36; R v Bushby, 2021 ONSC 4082 at para 86.
- When Self-Defense Made Out in Relation to Unlawful Act
- When self-defence is made out with respect to the predicate offence, then the act is not unlawful. As such, the homicide is not culpable, and the accused must be acquitted: R v Baker, 45 C.C.C. (3d) 368 at para 12; R v Audette, 2022 ONCJ 104 at para 74. However, the timing of when to assess the accused’s state of mind with respect to self-defence is a fact-specific inquiry. It is not the case that where the judge assesses the elements of murder prior to self-defence, that the court is unable to properly assess self-defence in a case: R v Sylvester, 2021 ABCA 312 at paras 45-48.