The Supreme Court rules that a part of the Criminal Code that allows for repeated 25-year parole ineligibility terms in circumstances involving multiple first-degree murders is unconstitutional.
Alexandre Bissonnette entered the Great Mosque of Québec on the evening of January 29, 2017, armed with a semi-automatic rifle and a pistol, and began firing on the worshippers. He was responsible for the deaths of six individuals and the serious injuries of five others. He pled guilty to all charges, including six counts of first-degree murder at his trial.
In Canada, the penalty for first-degree murder is life in prison without the chance of parole for a period of 25 years. When a person is found guilty of multiple first-degree murders, each murder receives the same 25-year sentence. Normally, criminals serve all of their sentences concurrently, however the Crown prosecutor requested that section 745.51 of the Criminal Code be applied at trial. This provision allows each murder conviction period of ineligibility for parole to be served consecutively instead of concurrently. This would have resulted in the accused serving six 25-year terms of parole ineligibility in a row, for a total of 150 years. The accused contended that the provision is unlawful. The trial judge agreed, and the accused was sentenced to serve five of the 25-year terms concurrently, as well as 15 years for the sixth first-degree murder, for a total of ineligibility for parole of 40 years.
The accused took his case to the Quebec Court of Appeal, which deemed the provision unconstitutional as well, but ordered the accused to serve the six terms concurrently for a total of 25 years of ineligibility. The Crown then took the case to Canada's Supreme Court.
The appeal was dismissed by the Supreme Court.
Section 745.51 of the Criminal Code violates section 12 of Charter and is therefore unconstitutional.
Chief Justice Richard Wagner wrote for a unanimous Supreme Court that section 745.51 of the Criminal Code violates section 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in a way that cannot be justified in a free and democratic society. The right to be free of cruel and unusual punishment is guaranteed by Section 12 of the Charter. Its goal is to defend human dignity and ensure that each person’s sense of worth is respected.
A life sentence with no realistic chance of release implies that the accused is beyond redemption and that he or she cannot be rehabilitated. In nature, this is humiliating and incompatible with human dignity. It's the equivalent of harsh and unusual punishment. "Section 745.51 disturbs the very basis of Canadian criminal law by denying convicts in advance of any hope of reintegration into society," the Chief Justice remarked.
As a result of this decision, the Chief Justice declared section 745.51 to be unconstitutional as of its enactment in 2011. As a result, the law in effect before to that date still applies. This implies the accused must serve a total of 25 years in prison without the possibility of parole.