Murder and Manslaughter Lawyers Toronto

Homicide means the taking, directly or indirectly, of someone's life. Culpable homicide includes first-degree murder, second-degree murder, infanticide and manslaughter. A homicide that is not culpable, such as a killing in lawful self-defence, is not an offence.

Canadian law recognizes that within the spectrum of homicide, there are different degrees of culpability. Thus, the broad category of homicide has been divided into three main subcategories: first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and manslaughter. Each subcategory reflects the level of responsibility of the alleged offender in the death.

First-degree murder refers to a murder that is both planned and deliberate. A murder is planned if it was conceived of and thought out before it was carried out. A murder is deliberate if the acts involved were intended and purposeful. The plan to kill need not be elaborate or complicated and the deliberation need not be lengthy. All that matters is that some form of planning to kill the person occurred at some point and that they deliberately carried out the plan (successfully). An unsuccessful plan to kill someone may amount to attempted murder.

A murder committed under an arrangement to pay or reward the killer is planned and deliberate by definition.

Yes. There are several circumstances in which a homicide will be categorized as first-degree murder regardless of whether it was planned or deliberate. Murdering a police officer (assuming the accused knew the person was a police officer) who is acting in the course of their duties is always first-degree murder. The same applies to prison staff on duty.

In addition, a murder is considered first-degree murder if it is committed in the course of the commission of particular enumerated offences such as a hijacking, sexual assault, sexual assault with a weapon, aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping, forcible confinement, hostage taking, criminal harassment, terrorism, intimidation of a justice system participant, or any offence committed on behalf of a criminal organization.

Since July 18, 2026, a murder is also first degree when it is committed during or after a pattern of coercive or controlling conduct against an intimate partner, while exploiting the victim (as in human trafficking), while committing any offence of a sexual nature, or when motivated by hate.

Second-degree murder is any murder that is not first-degree murder. A homicide is categorized as a murder if the defendant meant to kill the victim, or meant to cause bodily harm they knew was likely to cause death and was reckless whether death followed. Thus, second-degree murder is a catch-all category for all intentional homicides that do not fall under the specific categories of first-degree murder.

Any culpable homicide that is not murder or infanticide is manslaughter. Since murder requires an intent to kill, or an intent to cause bodily harm known to be likely to cause death, any unlawful killing without that intent is manslaughter. A murder reduced by provocation is also manslaughter. The most common types of manslaughter are unlawful act manslaughter and manslaughter by criminal negligence.

Unlawful act manslaughter refers to situations where an individual does something illegal that unintentionally leads to another person's death. For example an intentional assault that unintentionally caused a person to die could be classified as unlawful act manslaughter. The unlawful act must be one that a reasonable person would see as creating a risk of bodily harm that is more than trivial or transitory.

Manslaughter by criminal negligence requires that the person's act or omission showed wanton or reckless disregard for the lives or safety of others: a “marked and substantial departure” from the standard of behaviour expected of a reasonable person in the circumstances. The offence also requires that death or bodily harm was a foreseeable consequence of the defendant's act or omission. The foreseeability requirement means that a reasonable person in the defendant's place would have realized that the actions or omissions perpetrated would put another individual's life in danger. Criminal negligence causing death carries up to life imprisonment, with a four-year minimum where a firearm is used.

In some cases, an omission can be considered criminal negligence if the defendant had a positive duty to act and failed to do so. This can be seen in person who has a duty to care for their child but fails to do so, resulting in the death of the child. However, absent a positive duty, such as that imposed on a parent towards their child, the law does not impose a duty on individuals to go to the aid of others in distress. Deaths caused by driving are often charged as dangerous driving causing death.

Attempted murder carries a maximum of life imprisonment. Where a firearm is used the minimum is four years, rising to five years (seven for a repeat offence) where the firearm is restricted or prohibited or the offence is committed for a criminal organization. The Crown must prove an intent to kill; an intent to cause bodily harm, even serious harm, is not enough for attempted murder.

Unlike murder, attempted murder is not reserved to the Superior Court: bail can be decided in the Ontario Court of Justice, and the accused can choose the court and mode of trial.

Provocation

In limited circumstances, a person who commits murder in a heat of passion caused by provocation could have the offence reduced to manslaughter. The courts view provocation as something which deprives an ordinary person of the power of self-control. It is a partial defence: it can apply even where the intent for murder is proven. Since 2015, the victim's conduct must amount to an indictable offence punishable by five years or more, and the accused must have acted on the sudden, before there was time for their passion to cool.

Drunkenness

Drunkenness or any drug induced mental state that would affect an individual's ability to form the requisite intent for murder could also reduce murder to manslaughter. Ordinary intoxication is not a defence to manslaughter, and section 33.1 of the Criminal Code limits the defence of extreme intoxication for violent offences.

Self-defence

Where a person uses force to protect themselves or another person from harm, that force can reduce or eliminate criminal culpability. Whether self-defence applies depends on factors including the nature of the threat, whether the response was proportionate, and the accused's honest belief that force was necessary. The belief must also be reasonable, and the act reasonable in the circumstances.

Not criminally responsible (NCR)

A person may be found not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder if, at the time of the offence, the mental disorder rendered them incapable of appreciating the nature or quality of their actions, or of knowing that what they were doing was wrong. An NCR verdict does not result in a conviction but leads to a review board hearing to determine appropriate supervision or treatment. The party raising it must prove the mental disorder on a balance of probabilities.

Other defences challenge identity or causation: that the accused was not the person responsible, or that their conduct was not a significant contributing cause of the death.

Though the distinctions between first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and manslaughter are meant to distinguish between more and less blameworthy behaviour, all three offences carry serious penalties.

Individuals found guilty of first or second-degree murder will automatically be sentenced to life in prison. A person convicted of first degree murder is only eligible for parole after serving a minimum of 25 years of their life sentence. A person convicted of second-degree murder will generally be eligible for parole after a minimum of 10 years imprisonment. It is within the Judges discretion to increase the parole ineligibility period up to a maximum of 25 years. A person with a previous murder conviction serves 25 years before parole eligibility. Parole is not automatic at the end of the period: the Parole Board of Canada decides.

An individual convicted of manslaughter, the least culpable type of homicide, is still liable to a maximum penalty of imprisonment for life. In cases where manslaughter was committed using a firearm, the offence also carries a minimum sentence of four years. Since July 18, 2026, a court must impose less than that minimum where four years would be cruel and unusual punishment for the offender. In other cases, there is no minimum sentence for manslaughter and the penalty is left to the discretion of the trial judge.

Yes, but it is harder than on any other charge. Only a judge of the Superior Court of Justice can release a person charged with murder, and the accused must show that detention is not justified by clearly demonstrating that the release plan addresses the risk of flight, the risk to public safety, and public confidence in the administration of justice. A detention order can be reviewed by the Court of Appeal. Read more about bail hearings.

No. A 2011 amendment allowed judges to order parole ineligibility periods for multiple murders to be served one after another. In R v Bissonnette, 2022 SCC 23, the Supreme Court of Canada declared that provision, s. 745.51, of no force or effect, retroactively to its enactment, because blocks of 25 years deny any realistic possibility of parole. The periods are served at the same time. The 2026 amendments to the Criminal Code did not revive it.

The “faint hope” clause, which allowed a person serving life for murder to seek a reduced parole ineligibility period after 15 years, was closed in 2011. It remains available only for a single murder committed before December 2, 2011.