Prime Minister Stephen Harper announces the Government’s intent to introduce legislation to keep Canada’s most heinous criminals behind bars for life.
Scarborough, Ontario - 4 March 2015
Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced the Government’s intent to introduce legislation to keep Canadian families and their communities safe by ensuring that the most heinous criminals will be sentenced to life behind bars without possibility of parole. The Prime Minister was joined by Peter MacKay, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and Roxanne James, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.
Canadians expect their Government to protect them from the worst type of criminal, those who truly deserve to be called a menace to society. Individuals who commit the most heinous crimes, such as: those who plot kidnapping or sexual assault that results in murder; those with such contempt for law and order that they kill the police and correctional officers who are charged with protecting our streets; those who despise our values and way of life that carry out deadly acts of terrorism; and those who commit crimes of a particularly brutal nature.
That is why our Government will introduce legislation to amend the Criminal Code to ensure that Canada’s most heinous criminals – those whose actions mean we cannot risk permitting them on the streets – receive a life sentence with no chance for parole.
This legislation will follow through on the 2013 Speech from the Throne commitment to ensure that a life sentence means a sentence for life, building on the Government’s ongoing commitment to keep Canada’s streets and communities safe by holding violent offenders accountable and ensuring that the rights of victims are placed over the rights of criminals.
