5 years
Hybrid offence with a 5-year maximum. Creates inadmissibility under IRPA s.36(2). While not serious criminality (under 10 years), assaulting a peace officer is viewed very seriously by CBSA officers at ports of entry.
Assaulting a police officer, or anyone acting in that role, including during an arrest. The serious route carries 5 years, below the 10 year line, so it registers as ordinary criminality. Officers at the border tend to read it more harshly than the number suggests, because of who the victim was.
(1) Every one commits an offence who (a) assaults a public officer or peace officer engaged in the execution of his duty or a person acting in aid of such an officer; (b) assaults a person with intent to resist or prevent the lawful arrest or detention of himself or another person; or (c) assaults a person (i) who is engaged in the lawful execution of a process against lands or goods or in making a lawful distress or seizure, or (ii) with intent to rescue anything taken under lawful process, distress or seizure. (2) Every one who commits an offence under subsection (1) is guilty of (a) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years; or (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.