An Act to amend the Criminal Code (independence of the judiciary)

This bill, introduced in the Senate, would change several sentencing rules in the Criminal Code to give judges more flexibility. Right now, many offences carry mandatory minimum sentences or fixed periods before someone can seek parole, and judges have no choice but to impose them. Under this bill, judges would gain discretion to set a different punishment than what a law prescribes, even when that law calls for a minimum sentence. Before departing from a minimum sentence, however, a judge would have to first consider all other realistic options and conclude that no other outcome would be just and reasonable, and they would have to explain that decision in written reasons.

The bill also changes the rules around delaying sentencing so a convicted person can attend a treatment or counselling program. Currently this requires the consent of both the offender and the Crown (the Attorney General); under the bill, only the offender's consent is needed, and the judge decides which program is appropriate rather than it needing to be a specific government-approved program.

Finally, for people convicted of first- or second-degree murder, the bill requires the judge to ask the jury whether it wishes to recommend how many years the convicted person should serve before being eligible for parole, and it explicitly says the judge must take that jury recommendation into account when deciding on parole ineligibility. Currently this jury question is only required for second-degree murder cases; the bill extends it to first-degree murder as well.

The preamble explains the senator's reasoning for the changes — concerns that mandatory minimums can produce sentences disproportionate to an offender's actual responsibility, and that this particularly affects women who plead guilty under pressure, Indigenous people, and people with mental disabilities, who are all overrepresented in the prison system.

This bill amends the Criminal Code to let judges depart from mandatory minimum prison sentences and parole ineligibility periods set out in any federal Act, and changes rules on court-supervised treatment programs and jury recommendations at murder sentencing.

• Judicial discretion over minimums — courts convicting a person may impose a punishment other than a minimum punishment of imprisonment or a set parole ineligibility period prescribed in any federal Act, despite limitations in that Act's text.
• Required process before departing — before imposing a minimum sentence or parole ineligibility period, a court must consider all other available options and determine that no alternative is "just and reasonable"; it must then give written reasons for whichever choice it makes.
• Treatment program decisions — a court may delay sentencing to allow a person to attend a treatment or counselling program the court itself considers appropriate, removing the current requirement that the program be one approved by the province and that the Attorney General consent; only the convicted person's consent is now needed.
• Jury input at murder sentencing — a judge must ask the jury, after a first- or second-degree murder conviction, whether it wishes to recommend a number of years before parole eligibility, and the judge is to take that recommendation into consideration when setting the actual ineligibility period.
• No new body or reporting mechanism — the bill creates no commission, office, or reporting requirement; the changes operate directly through individual court decisions, with no review or sunset provision stated in the text.