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The only method used in Canada and by its ancestor English and French governments for capital punishment was hanging. Before Canada eliminated the death penalty in 1976, 1,481 people were sentenced to death, with 710 executed. Of those executed, 697 were men and 13 were women.

Contents 1 Arthur Ellis 2 History 3 Reasons for banning the death penalty 4 Last people executed in Canada 5 Punishment for Murder 6 Canada's View of International Capital Punishment 7 External links

Arthur Ellis was the pseudonym of Arthur B. English, a British man who became Canada's official hangman in 1913.

All of his successors also adopted the pseudonym Arthur Ellis in their professional duties. The Crime Writers of Canada present annual literary awards – the Arthur Ellis Awards – named for this pseudonym.

In 1961, legislation was introduced to reclassify murder into capital and non-capital offences. A capital murder involved a planned or deliberate murder, murder during violent crimes, or the murder of a police officer or prison guard. Only capital murder carried the sentence of death. In 1967, a moratorium was placed on use of the death penalty, except for murders of police and corrections officers. On July 14, 1976, bill C-84 was passed by a narrow margin in a free vote, resulting in the abolition of the death penalty, except for certain offences under the National Defence Act. In 1987, the House of Commons held another free vote, but MPs favoured maintaining abolition of the death penalty (148 to 127). In 1998, Parliament removed the death penalty for National Defence crimes.

Canada banned the death penalty because of fears about wrongful convictions, concerns about the state taking the lives of individuals, and uncertainty about the death penalty's role as a deterrent for crime.[1]

The last two people executed in Canada were Ronald Turpin, 29, and Arthur Lucas, 54, convicted in separate murders, at 12:02 am on December 10, 1962 at the Don Jail in Toronto. Like previous offenders they were executed by the "long drop" technique of hanging developed in the United Kingdom by William Marwood. This method ensured that the prisoner's neck was broken instantly at the end of the drop, resulting in the prisoner dying of asphyxia while unconscious, which was considered more humane than the slow death by strangulation which often resulted from the previous "short drop" method. The short drop sometimes gave a period of torture before death finally took place.

The last woman to be hanged in Canada was Marguerite Pitre on January 9, 1953, for her part in the Albert Guay affair.

First-degree murder now carries a mandatory life sentence without eligibility for parole until the person has served 25 years of the sentence.

Second-degree murder generally carries a mandatory life sentence without eligibility for parole until the person has served at least 10 years of the sentence, or between 10 years and 25 years of the sentence, as the judge deems fit in the circumstances. Certain cases of second-degree murder, however, have a mandatory parole ineligibilty period of 25 years. Where the person who committed the murder (whether first-degree or second-degree) was under 18 years old at the time of commission of the offence, the parole ineligibility period is less than the periods above specified.

The "Dangerous Offender" provision mandates a sentence of detention for an indeterminate period, with no opportunity for parole for 7 years. This has been applied to a number of murderers in Canada.

The Supreme Court of Canada, in the case United States v. Burns, (2001), has determined that Canada should not extradite condemned persons, unless they have assurances that the foreign state will not apply the death penalty. This is similar to the extradition policies of other nations such as France, Italy, Israel, Mexico, and Australia, which also refuse to extradite prisoners who may be condemned to death.

• Canada and the Death Penalty (Department of Justice Canada)