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Bill C-296

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First Reading

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SUMMARY
Short Title
Criminal Code

First Session, Forty-fourth Parliament,

70-71 Elizabeth II, 2021-2022

HOUSE OF COMMONS OF CANADA

BILL C-296
An Act to amend the Criminal Code (increasing parole ineligibility)

FIRST READING, June 20, 2022

Mr. Bezan

441177

SUMMARY

This enactment amends the Criminal Code to provide that a person convicted of the abduction, sexual assault and murder of the same victim in respect of the same event or series of events is to be sentenced to imprisonment for life without eligibility for parole until the person has served a sentence of between twenty-five and forty years as determined by the presiding judge after considering the recommendation, if any, of the jury.

Available on the House of Commons website at the following address:

www.ourcommons.ca

1st Session, 44th Parliament,

70-71 Elizabeth II, 2021-2022

HOUSE OF COMMONS OF CANADA

BILL C-296

An Act to amend the Criminal Code (increasing parole ineligibility)

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

Short Title

Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Respecting Families of Murdered and Brutalized Persons Act.

R.‍S.‍, c. C-46

Criminal Code

2 Section 745 of the Criminal Code is amended by adding the following after paragraph (a):

Start of inserted block
(a.‍1) in respect of a person who has been convicted, in respect of the same victim and the same event or series of events, of

(i) an offence under section 279, 280, 281, 282 or 283,
(ii) an offence under section 151 to 153.‍1, 271, 272 or 273, and
(iii) murder,

that the person be sentenced to imprisonment for life without eligibility for parole until the person has served at least twenty-five years of the sentence or any greater number of years, not being more than forty years, that has been substituted for those twenty-five years under section 745.‍52;

3 The Act is amended by adding the following after section 745.‍21:

Recommendation by jury

745.‍22 When a jury finds an accused guilty, in respect of the same victim and the same event or series of events, of an offence referred to in subparagraph 745(a.‍1)‍(i), an offence referred to in subparagraph 745(a.‍1)‍(ii) and murder, the judge presiding at the trial shall, before discharging the jury, put to them the following question:

You have found the accused guilty of (state offences) and the law requires that I now pronounce a sentence of imprisonment for life against the accused. Do you wish to make any recommendation with respect to the number of years that the accused must serve before the accused is eligible for release on parole? You are not required to make any recommendation but if you do, your recommendation will be considered by me when I am determining whether I should substitute for the twenty-five year period, which the law would otherwise require the accused to serve before the accused is eligible to be considered for release on parole, a number of years that is more than twenty-five but not more than forty.

4 The Act is amended by adding the following after section 745.‍51:

Ineligibility for parole

745.‍52 At the time of the sentencing under section 745 of an offender who is convicted, in respect of the same victim and the same event or series of events, of an offence referred to in subparagraph 745(a.‍1)‍(i), an offence referred to in subparagraph 745(a.‍1)‍(ii) and murder, the judge who presided at the trial of the offender or, if that judge is unable to do so, any judge of the same court may, having regard to the character of the offender, the nature of the offences and the circumstances surrounding their commission, and to the recommendation, if any, made under section 745.‍22, by order, substitute for twenty-five years a number of years of imprisonment (being more than twenty-five but not more than forty) without eligibility for parole, as the judge deems fit in the circumstances.

Published under authority of the Speaker of the House of Commons