Canada
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · Canada also cosponsored the resolution on the moratorium...
- News items in the archive
- 141
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Canada is classified as Abolitionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 141 news items on Canada, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- JANUARY 1, 2006CanadaDEATH PENALTY
Canada abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes in 1976, after a nine-year moratorium.
Canada abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes in 1976, after a nine-year moratorium.
- NOVEMBER 25, 2005CanadaDEATH PENALTY
CANADA SUPPORTS INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS TOWARD ABOLITION OF THE DEATH PENALTY
Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew and Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler announced Canada’s accession to a UN treaty that confirms its continued opposition to the death penalty.
- NOVEMBER 9, 2005CanadaDEATH PENALTY
USA. NO DEATH PENALTY IN NEW GUANTANAMO CASES
the Pentagon said the United States would not seek the death penalty against any of the five Guantanamo Bay prisoners it had announced charges against on November 7.
- NOVEMBER 8, 2005CanadaDEATH PENALTY
USA. CANADA WANTS ASSURANCES THAT GUANTANAMO TEENAGER WON'T BE EXECUTED
Canadian diplomats sought a promise from the Pentagon that it would not seek to execute a teenager being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
- OCTOBER 24, 2005CanadaDEATH PENALTY
Canada abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes in 1976, after a nine-year moratorium.
Canada abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes in 1976, after a nine-year moratorium.
- OCTOBER 5, 2005CanadaDEATH PENALTY
UNITED NATIONS. CANADA TO BLAST 'POOR' IRAN HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD AT UN
Canada planned to dress down Iran by presenting a resolution at the United Nations to address Tehran's "poor regard for human rights," officials announced.
- JUNE 29, 2005CanadaDEATH PENALTY
RWANDA. NO DEATH PENALTY IF CANADA DEPORTS GENOCIDE SUSPECT
Rwanda was ready to forego seeking the death penalty to ensure that Leon Mugesera was returned from Canada to face charges related to the 1994 genocide, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Martin Ngoga said.
- JUNE 15, 2005CanadaDEATH PENALTY
CANADA. POLICE CHIEF COMES OUT AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY
the death penalty has no place in Canada's criminal justice system, even when dealing with brutal killers such as Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, Toronto police Chief Bill Blair said at the unveiling of a plaque commemorating the city's first jail and "h
- APRIL 20, 2005CanadaDEATH PENALTY
Canada was a cosponsor and voted in favour of the resolution on the death penalty at the 61st UN Commission on Human Rights.
Canada was a cosponsor and voted in favour of the resolution on the death penalty at the 61st UN Commission on Human Rights.
- APRIL 11, 2005CanadaDEATH PENALTY
CANADA. COURT AGAIN REJECTS REFUGEE STATUS FOR CHINESE FUGITIVE
the federal appeals court in British Columbia province, Canada, affirmed a lower court's February 2004 decision to refuse refugee status refused to Lai Changxing, a Chinese man considered China's most wanted fugitive.
- OCTOBER 28, 2004CanadaDEATH PENALTY
Canadian authorities agreed to review a 45-year-old...
Canadian authorities agreed to review a 45-year-old death sentence case against a 14-year-old found guilty of raping and murdering a classmate
- OCTOBER 4, 2004CanadaDEATH PENALTY
Opponents of the death penalty from around the world...
Opponents of the death penalty from around the world were to have their second world congress in Montreal
- JULY 19, 2004CanadaDEATH PENALTY
The European Union, former US president Jimmy Carter...
The European Union, former US president Jimmy Carter and the ex president of the former Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev called on the US Supreme Court to end the death penalty for offenders younger than 18 at the time of their crimes
- JUNE 4, 2004CanadaDEATH PENALTY
Conservative leader Stephen Harper was on the defensive...
Conservative leader Stephen Harper was on the defensive about his party's social agenda after he said a Tory government would allow free votes in Canada on issues such as abortion and capital punishment
- JUNE 1, 2004CanadaDEATH PENALTY
The bedrock conservative issue of the death penalty...
The bedrock conservative issue of the death penalty in Canada had been abandoned by the new Conservative party in its policy platform for the June 28, 2004 election
- MAY 31, 2004CanadaDEATH PENALTY
Canada supported Bulgaria in connection with the trial...
Canada supported Bulgaria in connection with the trial against the Bulgarian medics in Libya, Paul Dubois, Assistant Deputy Minister at the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said after a meeting with Bulgarian Deputy Foreign Minister Gergana Gruncharo
- MAY 5, 2004CanadaDEATH PENALTY
Canada's parliament launched a wide-ranging probe into...
Canada's parliament launched a wide-ranging probe into China's human rights record, with damning evidence of the treatment meted out to Tibetans by Beijing
- APRIL 21, 2004CanadaDEATH PENALTY
Canada was a cosponsor of the resolution on the death...
Canada was a cosponsor of the resolution on the death penalty at the 60th UN Commission on Human Rights
- APRIL 11, 2004CanadaDEATH PENALTY
Canada abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes in 1976, after a nine-year moratorium.
Canada abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes in 1976, after a nine-year moratorium.
- APRIL 9, 2004CanadaDEATH PENALTY
Lai Changxing, the alleged mastermind of a vast Chinese...
Lai Changxing, the alleged mastermind of a vast Chinese smuggling ring who said he faced execution if expelled to China was denied asylum in Canada
- MARCH 4, 2004CanadaDEATH PENALTY
Song Dae Ri, a North Korean defector, thanked Canada...
Song Dae Ri, a North Korean defector, thanked Canada for saving him after it decided not to deport him to probable execution in his homeland
- FEBRUARY 26, 2004CanadaDEATH PENALTY
Iran has refused to send to Canada the body of a man
Iran has refused to send to Canada the body of a man
- FEBRUARY 18, 2004CanadaDEATH PENALTY
A civic group, Democracy Network Against the North...
A civic group, Democracy Network Against the North Korean Gulag, submitted a petition to the Canadian Embassy in Seoul, requesting that the Canadian government grant political refugee status to Ri Song-dae, 36, a former North Korean diplomat
- FEBRUARY 6, 2004CanadaDEATH PENALTY
Canadian Immigration Minister Judy Sgro said she would...
Canadian Immigration Minister Judy Sgro said she would consider the humanitarian appeal of Song Dae Ri, a North Korean dissident whose asylum plea was rejected by the national refugee board leaving him to face execution for treason in his homeland
- DECEMBER 26, 2003CanadaDEATH PENALTY
(continued from above) The sudden public interest -...
(continued from above) The sudden public interest - news of the group's plans has made headlines in Canada - has surprised some Muslims who say they already used sharia in divorce arbitration and other disputes
- DECEMBER 26, 2003CanadaDEATH PENALTY
Some Canadian Muslims will soon be able to use an Islamic...
Some Canadian Muslims will soon be able to use an Islamic tribunal to arbitrate civil disputes, bringing Muslim sharia law to a largely secular society and raising concerns about the extent to which it might be applied
- DECEMBER 22, 2003CanadaDEATH PENALTY
The General Assembly adopted a resolution on the situation...
The General Assembly adopted a resolution on the situation of human rights in Iran, in which the Assembly expressed its serious concern at the continuing violations of human rights in Iran, the continued deterioration of the situation with regard to freed
- DECEMBER 19, 2003CanadaDEATH PENALTY
Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin said he did not...
Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin said he did not believe ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein should be executed for crimes against humanity
- NOVEMBER 26, 2003CanadaDEATH PENALTY
Five years after Canada deported a man to Pennsylvania,...
Five years after Canada deported a man to Pennsylvania, with the full knowledge he was headed for death row, the federal government asked that the death penalty not be carried out against convicted killer Roger Judge
- NOVEMBER 26, 2003CanadaDEATH PENALTY
Five years after Canada deported a man to Pennsylvania,...
Five years after Canada deported a man to Pennsylvania, with the full knowledge he was headed for death row, the federal government asked that the death penalty not be carried out against convicted killer Roger Judge