5 years (documents) / 10 years (victim under 18)
Withholding or destroying identity, travel, or immigration documents to facilitate trafficking is a hybrid offence with a 5-year maximum, rising to a 10-year indictable offence where the victim is under 18. It can ground criminality under IRPA s.36 and organized criminality under s.37, and is directly relevant to immigration document control.
(1) Every person who, for the purpose of committing or facilitating an offence under subsection 279.01(1), conceals, removes, withholds or destroys any travel document that belongs to another person or any document that establishes or purports to establish another person's identity or immigration status, whether or not the document is of Canadian origin or is authentic, is guilty of (a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years; or (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction. (2) Withholding or destroying documents, trafficking of person under 18 years: Everyone who, for the purpose of committing or facilitating an offence under subsection 279.011(1), conceals, removes, withholds or destroys any travel document that belongs to another person or any document that establishes or purports to establish another person's identity or immigration status, whether or not the document is of Canadian origin or is authentic, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 10 years and to a minimum punishment of imprisonment for a term of one year.