Every now and then the debate on capital punishment is resurrected.
Usually it reappears when we hear the news of a horrible crime, or we hear of an upcoming execution outside our borders.
Canada eliminated the death penalty for murder on July 14, 1976 with the bill passing by a narrow margin of 130-124. I was a mere 15 years old at the time, and the last execution to be held in Canada was in 1962 when I was just a toddler.
How would we react today if there were a successful lobby to bring back the death penalty?
Capital punishment in Canada dates back to 1759. And prior to 1869, the offences punishable by death in Canada included murder, rape, robbery with wounding, buggery of animal or beast, assault, casting away a ship, and unlawful abuse of a girl under ten. In 1824 an 18-year old Saint John boy was hanged for stealing 25 cents. After 1869, only three crimes remained punishable by death: murder, rape, and treason.
The first recorded executions in Saskatchewan (the Northwest Territories at the time) were George Stevenson and John Stevenson. They were hanged in Regina on April 3, 1884 for the murder of John McCarthy at Qu'Appelle. Louis Riel, the fourth recorded person to be hanged in Regina, suffered his fate on Nov. 16, 1885 for his role in starting the Northwest Rebellion and John Morrison is the last recorded hanging in Regina, Northwest Territories prior to the area becoming the province of Saskatchewan. He was hanged for the murders of eight members of the McArthur family at Welwyn, SK. The only police officer to be hanged in Canada was John Wilson. Wilson, a member of the Northwest Mounted Police, shot his wife Mary and then proceeded to marry his sweetheart. He was hanged at Regina April 23, 1920. In total there were 51 recorded hangings in Saskatchewan between 1884 and 1946.
The elimination of the death penalty in 1976 was but a formality following years of debate and amendments to the Criminal Code. In 1950 W. Ross Thatcher, a member of parliament at the time, introduced a bill to amend the Criminal Code to abolish the death penalty. He later withdrew the bill after negative discussion for fear it would harm the chances of abolition. The death penalty was on its way out.
Following the Federal election in 1963, cabinet commuted all death sentences to life in prison and in 1967 a moratorium was passed on the use of the death penalty except in cases where a police officer of corrections officer was murdered.
Some of the reasons noted for banning capital punishment in Canada were the fears about wrongful convictions, concerns about the country taking people's lives, and uncertainty about the death penalty's role as a deterrent. Many studies have shown the death penalty is not a deterrent and over the years there have been many wrongful convictions. Steven Truscott was sentenced to death in 1959 for the murder of classmate Lynne Harper. He was 14-years-old at the time. Truscott was to be hanged on Dec. 8, 1959 but was granted a temporary reprieve and his execution was postponed to February, 1960. In January of 1960 his sentence was commuted to life in prison. In 2001 Truscott filed an application for a review of his conviction and in 2007 after a review of nearly 250 pieces of evidence the conviction was declared a miscarriage of justice. In 2008 he was awarded $6.5 million in compensation.
In 1987 a bill to restore the death penalty was put forth and defeated in the House of Commons by a very close vote (148-127). Prime minister of the day Brian Mulroney and the Minister of External Affairs Joe Clark opposed the bill, although a majority of Progressive Conservative MPs supported it.
Prior to the death penalty being abolished in Canada, 1,481 people had been sentenced to death, and 710 were actually executed.
I hope we never see the dark days of capital punishment in Canada again. I cannot believe the state has the right to end a life. Remember the names - Donald Marshall Jr., David Milgaard, Guy Paul Morin and many more - wrongfully convicted.
