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. Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem - the United Kingdom anthem God Save the Queen is commonly used England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Unified  -  by Athelstan 927 AD  Area  -  Total 130... Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. ... Hanging is the suspension of a person by a ligature, usually a cord wrapped around the neck, causing death. ...

Executioners

John Radclive

John Radclive was Canada's first professional executioner, placed on the federal payroll as a hangman in 1892. He can be shown to have hanged at least 69 people in Canada, although his life total was probably much higher. At his death, the Toronto Telegram said he had 150 executions.

He died of alcohol-related illness in Toronto at the age of 55 in February 1911.[1]

Arthur Ellis

Arthur Ellis was the pseudonym of Arthur B. English, a British man who became Canada's official hangman in 1913, after Radclive's death. Ellis worked as a hangman in Canada until the botched execution of Thomasina Sarao in Montreal in 1936, in which she was decapitated. A pseudonym (Greek pseudo + -onym: false name) is an artificial, fictitious name, also known as an alias, used by an individual as an alternative to a persons true name. ... Arthur B. English was a British man who became Canadas official hangman in 1913. ... Hanging is the suspension of a person by a ligature, usually a cord wrapped around the neck, causing death. ...

He died in poverty in Montreal in July, 1938.

The Crime Writers of Canada present annual literary awards – the Arthur Ellis Awards – named after this pseudonym. The Crime Writers of Canada is a national organization for Canadian crime writers. ... The Arthur Ellis Awards are a group of Canadian literary awards, presented annually by the Crime Writers of Canada for the best Canadian crime and mystery writing. ...

Camille Blanchard

The executioner who worked as Camille Blanchard, a psuedonym, succeeded Ellis. Blanchard was on the Quebec government payroll as a hangman, and executed people elsewhere in the country on a piece-work basis.^[1]

Blanchard carried out many executions in the postwar period in Canada, such as the double hanging of Leonard Jackson and Steven Suchan of the Boyd Gang in the Don Jail in 1952, and Robert Raymond Cook's execution in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. in 1960.^[2] The Boyd Gang was a notorious gang in Canada led by Edwin Alonzo Boyd. ...

History

In 1961, legislation was introduced to reclassify murder into capital or 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, Bill C-168 was passed creating a five year moratorium on the 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 of 130:124 in a free vote, resulting in the abolition of the death penalty, except for certain offences under the National Defence Act. These were removed in 1998. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... A police officer is a warranted employee of a police service. ... Look up Moratorium in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... is the 195th day of the year (196th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A conscience vote or free vote is a type of vote in a legislative body where legislators are each expected to vote according to their own personal conscience rather than according to an official line set down by their political party. ...

However, since Liberal cabinets after Lester Pearson's victory in 1963 commuted all death sentences as a matter of policy, the de facto abolition of the death penalty in Canada occurred in 1963, with the legal abolition a formality.

Military executions

During the First World War, 25 Canadian soldiers were executed. Most were shot for service offences such as desertion and cowardice, but two executions were for murder. For details of these see Canadian soldiers executed in first world war. “The Great War ” redirects here. ... For other uses of Desertion, see Abandonment. ... Cowardice is a vice that is conventionally viewed as the corruption of prudence, to thwart all courage or bravery. ... There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ...

One Canadian soldier, Pte. Harold Pringle, was executed during the Second World War for murder.

Reasons for banning the death penalty

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.[2] A miscarriage of justice is primarily the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime that they did not commit. ...

The case of Steven Truscott, who was just 14 years old when convicted of a murder that many continue to believe he did not commit, was a significant impetus (although certainly not the only one) toward the abolishment of capital punishment. Steven Murray Truscott (born January, 1945) is a Canadian who was convicted of murder in 1959. ...

Last people executed in Canada

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. December 10 is the 344th day (345th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, 21 days before the next year. ... Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Don Jail is a notorious municipal jail in the city of Toronto, Ontario. ...

The last woman to be hanged in Canada was Marguerite Pitre on January 9, 1953, for her part in the Albert Guay affair. January 9 is the 9th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Joseph-Albert Guay (most commonly known as Albert Guay) was a resident of Quebec City who was responsible for the in-flight airplane bombing of a passenger airplane on September 9, 1949, killing all on board including his wife Rita (née Morel). ...

Method

Offenders put to death by Canadian civilian authorities 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. Hanging is the suspension of a person by a ligature, usually a cord wrapped around the neck, causing death. ... William Marwood (1820 - 1883), a cobbler, of Church Lane, Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England at the age of 54 persuaded the governor of Lincoln prison to allow him to conduct an execution. ... Suffocation redirects here, for the band, see Suffocation (band). ...

While hanging was a relatively humane method of execution under ideal conditions with an expert executioner, mistakes could happen. Condemned prisoners were decapitated by accident at Headingley Jail in Manitoba and Bordeaux Jail in Montreal, and a prisoner at the Don Jail in Toronto hit the floor of the room below and was strangled by the hangman. ^[3]

Some Canadian jails - such as those in Toronto, Headingley, Man. and Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. - had permanent indoor execution facilities, but more typically offenders were hanged on a scaffold built for the occasion in the jail yard.

At least in theory, hangings were supposed to take place in private after the 1870s.

Military offenders were shot by firing squad.

Jurisdiction

The great majority of Canadian hangings took place in local jails, under the authority of local sheriffs.

Modern punishment for murder

First-degree murder, which before abolition was the offence of capital murder, now carries a mandatory life sentence without eligibility for parole until the person has served 25 years of the sentence. Eligibility may refer to: Eligibility or passive suffrage in elections Category: ...

External links

• Canada and the Death Penalty (Department of Justice Canada)
• CBC Digital Archives - Death Penalty Debate