14 years (indictable) / 6 months + $5,000 (summary)
Unauthorized production, including illicit cultivation or growing more than four plants per dwelling, is a hybrid offence with a 14-year indictable maximum. Under IRPA s.36(3)(a) it is deemed indictable, and the 14-year maximum is serious criminality under s.36(1)(a). Some provinces prohibit home cultivation entirely under provincial law.
12 (1) Unless authorized under this Act, it is prohibited (a) to obtain or offer to obtain cannabis by any method or process, including by manufacturing, by synthesis or by using any means of altering the chemical or physical properties of cannabis; or (b) to alter or offer to alter the chemical or physical properties of cannabis by the use of an organic solvent. (4) Unless authorized under this Act, it is prohibited for an individual who is 18 years of age or older to cultivate, propagate or harvest, or to offer to cultivate, propagate or harvest, (a) any cannabis plant from a seed or plant material that they know is illicit cannabis; or (b) more than four cannabis plants at any one time in their dwelling-house. (9) Subject to section 51, every individual who is 18 years of age or older who contravenes any of subsections (1), (4), (5) and (6) or any organization that contravenes subsection (1) or (7) (a) is guilty of an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 14 years; or (b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and is liable (i) in the case of an individual, to a fine of not more than $5,000 or imprisonment for a term of not more than six months, or to both, or (ii) in the case of an organization, to a fine of not more than $100,000.