After their execution, many debates were discussed about capital punishment in the House of Commons. The first major debate on the issue took place in the House of Commons in 1966. Following a lengthy and controversial debate, the government introduced and passed Bill C-168, which limited capital murder to the killing of on-duty police officers and prison guards. On July 16, 1976, the House of Commons passed Bill C-85, which officially abolished the death penalty in Canada. The vote for the abolition of the death penalty was extremely close: 130 for and 124 against. Rather than having capital and non-capital murder, the Bill now created three new categories of murder, first-degree murder, second-degree murder and manslaughter. First degree murder is murder that is planned or deliberate, murder of a police officer or prison employee or murder committed during another crime such as sexual assault. The punishment is life imprisonment without parole for twenty-five years. Canada retained the death penalty for a number of military offenses, including treason and mutiny. No Canadian soldier has been charged with or executed for a capital crime in over 50 years. On 10 December 1998, the last vestiges of the death penalty in Canada were abolished with the passage of legislation removing all references to capital punishment from the National Defense Act. (www.mcc.org).
Despite capital punishment having been abolished in Canada 20 years ago, the majority of Canadians continue to favor the death penalty as a sentencing option. A national poll conducted in June 1995 found that 69% of Canadians moderately or strongly favored the return of the death penalty, exactly the same level of support 20 years ago. Many reports and studies have taken place to see if the homicide rate has increased or decreased after the abolition. Unlike the United States, the homicide rate actually increased rather than decreased according to reports.
