First Session, Forty-fifth Parliament,
4 Charles III, 2026

HOUSE OF COMMONS OF CANADA

BILL C-___

## An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (equality of the sexes in sentencing)

FIRST READING, ____________

Sponsor: ____________

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## SUMMARY

This enactment amends the Criminal Code to remove the sex of an accused person
as a determinant of criminal liability and of sentence.

It removes the distinction that the offence of infanticide draws on the basis of
sex. That offence may at present be committed only by a female person, and it
carries a maximum of five years, while a male person whose conduct is otherwise
identical answers for murder and is liable to imprisonment for life.

**Part 1 is presented in two alternative versions, and Parliament is to enact one
of them.** Version A repeals the offence, so that every person answers under the
law of homicide. Version B extends the offence to any person having the care of
the newly-born child, so that every person may rely on it. The sponsor and the
Legislative Counsel select the version; this enactment does not prefer either. What
it does not permit is that the distinction survive because neither version is
convenient.

It adds to the principles of sentencing a principle that a sentence is neither to
be increased nor reduced by reason of the sex or the gender of the offender, and
requires a court to state, when imposing sentence, that it has complied with that
principle.

It requires the Minister of Justice to cause to be tabled in each House of
Parliament an annual report setting out sentencing outcomes disaggregated by the
sex of the offender and controlled for the offence, the criminal record, the plea
and the aggravating circumstances, and it requires a review of that report by a
committee of Parliament.

It amends the Corrections and Conditional Release Act to require that
classification, programming, work, education and health services be provided
without discrimination on the basis of sex, and to require public reporting of the
per-offender cost of custody by sex and by institution.

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**Preamble**

Whereas section 28 of the *Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms* provides that,
notwithstanding anything in that Charter, the rights and freedoms referred to in
it are guaranteed equally to male and female persons;

Whereas section 15 of that Charter provides that every individual is equal before
and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of
the law without discrimination based on sex;

Whereas the Criminal Code continues to define an offence, and to fix its
punishment, by reference to the sex of the person who commits it;

Whereas Parliament has never required that differences in sentencing outcomes
between male and female offenders be measured, published or explained;

Whereas equality before the law is not satisfied by equality of intention alone
and requires equality of measured outcome;

Whereas the difference in liability may be removed either by withdrawing the
reduced offence from those who now hold it or by extending it to those now excluded
from it, and the choice between those two courses belongs to Parliament;

Whereas what does not belong to Parliament is the preservation of the difference on
the ground that neither course is convenient;

And whereas Parliament affirms that no person is to receive a heavier or a lighter
sentence in Canada because that person is a man or because that person is a woman;

Now, therefore, His Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and
House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

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## SHORT TITLE

**1** This Act may be cited as the *Equal Sentencing Act*.

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## PART 1 — R.S., c. C-46 — CRIMINAL CODE

### Infanticide — VERSION A (repeal: every person answers under the law of homicide)

**2** Sections 233 and 237 of the Criminal Code are repealed.

**3** Section 662 of the Act is amended by striking out every reference to
infanticide.

**4** Section 663 of the Act is repealed.

**5** For greater certainty, nothing in sections 2 to 4 limits any defence,
excuse or justification available at law to a person charged with an offence in
respect of the death of a newly-born child, including the defence of mental
disorder under section 16 and the provisions governing unfitness to stand trial.

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### Infanticide — VERSION B (extension: every person may rely on the offence)

**2** Section 233 of the Criminal Code is replaced by the following:

> **233 (1)** A person commits infanticide when, by a wilful act or omission, the
> person causes the death of a newly-born child of whom the person has the care, if
> at the time of the act or omission the mind of that person is disturbed by reason
> of
>
> **(a)** not having fully recovered from the effects of giving birth to the child,
> or from the effect of lactation consequent on the birth of the child; or
>
> **(b)** a disorder of the mind arising from the care of that newly-born child,
> including a disorder arising from sustained deprivation of sleep.
>
> **(2)** For greater certainty, subsection (1) applies to a person without regard
> to the sex or the gender of that person.

**3** Section 237 of the Act is replaced by the following:

> **237** Every person who commits infanticide is guilty of an indictable offence
> and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.

**4** Section 663 of the Act is amended by replacing every occurrence of
"a female person" with "a person" and every occurrence of "she" and "her" with
wording appropriate to a person of any sex, without any other change in effect.

**5** For greater certainty, nothing in sections 2 to 4 increases the punishment to
which any person is liable in respect of any conduct.

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> **NOTE TO THE LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL.** Version A and Version B are alternatives.
> One of them is to be enacted, and Parts 1 (from "Principles of sentencing"
> onward) and 2 apply unchanged whichever is chosen. The petitioners and the
> sponsor of this measure express no preference between them. The object is the
> removal of the distinction, not its relocation.

### Principles of sentencing

**6** Section 718.2 of the Act is amended by striking out "and" at the end of
paragraph (d), by adding "and" at the end of paragraph (e) and by adding the
following after paragraph (e):

> **(f)** a sentence shall be neither increased nor reduced by reason of the sex or
> the gender of the offender, and a difference between the sentences ordinarily
> imposed on male offenders and those ordinarily imposed on female offenders for
> substantially similar conduct is not a reason for imposing a sentence that
> departs from the sentence that would otherwise be fit.

**7** The Act is amended by adding the following after section 726.2:

> **726.3 (1)** When imposing a sentence, a court shall state on the record that it
> has complied with paragraph 718.2(f).
>
> **(2)** Where a court imposes a sentence outside the range of sentences
> ordinarily imposed for substantially similar conduct by offenders of the other
> sex, the court shall state the reasons for doing so.
>
> **(3)** A failure to comply with this section does not affect the validity of the
> sentence, but the statement or its absence forms part of the record for the
> purposes of an appeal against sentence.

### Reporting

**8** The Act is amended by adding the following after section 718.3:

> **718.31 (1)** The Minister of Justice shall, within six months after the end of
> each fiscal year, cause to be tabled in each House of Parliament a report setting
> out, in respect of proceedings under this Act concluded during that fiscal year:
>
> **(a)** the number of charges, of convictions and of stays or withdrawals,
> disaggregated by the sex of the accused;
>
> **(b)** the proportion of convictions resulting in a custodial sentence, a
> conditional sentence, a suspended sentence, a fine or a discharge, disaggregated
> by the sex of the offender;
>
> **(c)** the median and mean length of custodial sentences imposed, disaggregated
> by the sex of the offender; and
>
> **(d)** the figures required by paragraphs (b) and (c), adjusted so as to hold
> constant the offence charged, the offender's prior criminal record, whether the
> offender pleaded guilty, whether a weapon was used and the degree of harm caused.
>
> **(2)** The report shall state, for each difference disclosed by the figures
> required by paragraph (1)(d), whether that difference is statistically
> significant, and shall set out the methodology used.
>
> **(3)** Where the data necessary to produce a figure required by subsection (1)
> are not collected, the report shall say so expressly, shall identify the body
> that would collect them and shall state the date by which their collection will
> begin.
>
> **(4)** The Minister shall discharge the duties under this section from moneys
> appropriated by Parliament for the ordinary operation of the Department of
> Justice and in cooperation with the Chief Statistician of Canada.
>
> **718.32** Within one year after the third report is tabled under section 718.31,
> a committee of the Senate, of the House of Commons or of both Houses that is
> designated or established for that purpose shall review those reports and shall
> report to the House or Houses that established it, stating whether any difference
> in sentencing outcome by sex remains unexplained and, if so, recommending
> measures to eliminate it.

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## PART 2 — 1992, c. 20 — CORRECTIONS AND CONDITIONAL RELEASE ACT

**9** The Corrections and Conditional Release Act is amended by adding the
following after section 4:

> **4.1 (1)** The Service shall provide security classification, correctional
> programs, work, education, vocational training, health care and mental health
> care to offenders without discrimination on the basis of sex.
>
> **(2)** Nothing in subsection (1) prevents the Service from taking a measure that
> is required to respond to a need arising from pregnancy, childbirth or a health
> condition specific to one sex, or from housing offenders separately.
>
> **(3)** The Commissioner shall publish annually, in respect of the preceding
> fiscal year:
>
> **(a)** the average annual cost of custody per offender, by sex and by
> institution;
>
> **(b)** the number of hours of correctional programming, of education and of
> vocational training made available per offender, by sex and by institution; and
>
> **(c)** the ratio of health care and mental health care staff to offenders, by
> sex and by institution.

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## COMING INTO FORCE

**10 (1)** Sections 2 to 5 and 9 come into force on the ninetieth day after the day
on which this Act receives royal assent.

**(2)** Sections 6 and 7 come into force on the first day of the fiscal year that
begins after the day on which this Act receives royal assent.

**(3)** Section 8 applies in respect of the first full fiscal year that begins after
the day on which this Act receives royal assent.