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Criminal Code

s. 229 Murder

  • Homicide & Related
  • Homicide
Maximum sentence
Life imprisonment (mandatory)
Classification
Indictable

Last verified: June 2026 · Source: laws-lois.justice.gc.ca

The law says

Criminal Code s. 229
Verify on justice.gc.ca(opens in a new tab)

Culpable homicide is murder (a) where the person who causes the death of a human being (i) means to cause his death, or (ii) means to cause him bodily harm that he knows is likely to cause his death, and is reckless whether death ensues or not;

  • (b)where a person, meaning to cause death to a human being or meaning to cause him bodily harm that he knows is likely to cause his death, and being reckless whether death ensues or not, by accident or mistake causes death to another human being, notwithstanding that he does not mean to cause death or bodily harm to that human being; or
  • (c)if a person, for an unlawful object, does anything that they know is likely to cause death, and by doing so causes the death of a human being, even if they desire to effect their object without causing death or bodily harm to any human being.
Amendment History (2)
  • R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 229
  • 2019, c. 25, s. 77

Justice Laws is the authoritative version. If this copy and it ever differ, Justice Laws wins.

Immigration

Where this offence sits under IRPA

Murder carries a mandatory life sentence. Parole waits are set in s.745, which this page does not hold. Under it, parole for first-degree murder is possible only after at least 25 years. For second-degree murder, the wait is 10-25 years. A conviction is treated as serious criminality under IRPA s.36(1), and time alone does not clear it. The route is a record suspension for a conviction in Canada (s.36(3)(b)), or an application to be found rehabilitated for one outside Canada (s.36(3)(c)).

This is how the law sorts the offence, not a reading of any one record. An officer decides each case.

IRPA sections involved