Murder vs Manslaughter in Canada

By Robb MacDonald · Updated 6 October 2026

In Canada, murder is a killing where the accused meant to cause death, or meant to cause bodily harm they knew was likely to kill and was reckless about whether it did. Manslaughter is an unlawful killing without that intent. First-degree murder is murder that was planned and deliberate, or falls in a listed category. All other murder is second-degree.

What counts as murder under the Criminal Code?

The Code starts with homicide, which is causing the death of a human being. Section 222 then splits homicide into culpable and non-culpable. Only culpable homicide is a crime. It comes in three forms: murder, manslaughter and infanticide.

What makes a culpable homicide murder is set out in section 229. The main routes are a person who means to cause death, and a person who means to cause bodily harm that they know is likely to cause death and is reckless whether death follows. Section 229 also covers the person who means to kill one victim and kills another by accident or mistake, and the person who, pursuing some other unlawful object, does something they know is likely to cause death.

The word that matters in every one of those routes is know. Since R. v. Martineau, [1990] 2 S.C.R. 633, the Charter has required proof that the accused subjectively foresaw death. It is not enough that a reasonable person would have seen it coming. So a jury can accept that the accused caused the death, and that the accused acted unlawfully, and still acquit of murder.

What is the difference between first- and second-degree murder?

Degree is a classification that applies only after the Crown has proved murder. It is set out in section 231. Murder is first-degree in two broad situations.

One is a murder that was planned and deliberate. Planned means a scheme thought through before it was carried out. Deliberate means considered rather than impulsive. A long-running dispute that ends in a sudden fight is not planned and deliberate just because the two people had a history.

The other is a murder that falls in a listed category, whatever the planning. The list includes killing a police officer or prison employee on duty, and murder committed while the accused was committing or attempting certain offences such as sexual assault, kidnapping, forcible confinement or hostage-taking. Murders connected to criminal harassment, terrorism, a criminal organization or intimidation are also in it.

The list grew in July 2026. Under the new section 231(5.1), murder is also first-degree, planned or not, when the person killed an intimate partner while engaging in a pattern of coercive or controlling conduct, killed while exploiting a trafficking victim, killed while committing a sexual offence, or was motivated by hate.

Everything else is second-degree. In practice, many first-degree charges are laid on a theory of planning that the evidence later fails to support, and the classification becomes its own fight at trial.

What is manslaughter?

Section 234 defines manslaughter by what it is not: culpable homicide that is not murder or infanticide. There are two common ways to get there.

Unlawful act manslaughter is a death caused by an unlawful act, usually an assault, where a reasonable person would have foreseen a risk of bodily harm that is more than trivial or transitory. No intent to kill is needed. A single punch that leads to a fatal fall can be manslaughter.

The other route is criminal negligence: conduct showing wanton or reckless disregard for the lives or safety of others. Fatal driving cases are now usually charged under their own sections, but the principle is the same.

Manslaughter is also where a murder charge can land when intent is in doubt. Under section 662(3), a jury trying a murder count can convict of manslaughter instead. A partial defence can get there too. Provocation, in section 232, reduces murder to manslaughter in narrow circumstances. Intoxication can also raise a doubt about whether the accused actually foresaw death.

What sentence does murder carry in Canada?

Life imprisonment, every time. Section 235 makes it mandatory for both degrees. What the judge decides is the period before the person can apply for parole.

For first-degree murder that period is fixed at 25 years. For second-degree it is at least 10 years and can be set anywhere up to 25, after the jury has been asked for a recommendation. Parole eligibility is not release. A person granted parole remains under sentence for the rest of their life, and can be returned to custody.

Consecutive parole periods for multiple murders were struck down by the Supreme Court in R. v. Bissonnette, 2022 SCC 23, so 25 years is the longest ineligibility period a court can impose.

Manslaughter has no mandatory life sentence. The maximum is life, and the only minimum is four years where a firearm was used. Below that, the range is wide. Sentences run from a few years to the high end, depending on how close the facts come to murder. Since July 2026, where a manslaughter falls into one of the four new section 231(5.1) situations, the court must consider a life sentence.

What defences apply to a murder charge?

The defence depends on which element is weakest, and in homicide cases there are several to test. Identity can be in issue, particularly where the Crown relies on circumstantial evidence or eyewitnesses. Causation can be in issue where there was an intervening event or a medical complication. Intent is in issue in almost every case.

Self-defence under section 34 is a complete defence if it applies. It asks whether the accused believed on reasonable grounds that force was being used or threatened, acted for a defensive purpose, and responded reasonably in the circumstances. The history between the two people is part of that assessment. Getting that history in front of the court can decide the case.

That is what happened in one of Robb's files from 2025. His client, K.S., was charged with second-degree murder in the death of her child's father. She had been in custody for two years and eight months. Robb brought a motion for records about her ex-partner, which established a documented history of violence and criminal activity. Once the Crown and the court had that record, every charge was withdrawn. It was one of five people Robb's team took from a murder charge to going home between December 2024 and December 2025. You can read the clients' own accounts of those cases. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

How does a murder case move through the courts?

Murder is tried in the Superior Court of Justice, and bail can only be granted by a judge of that court under section 522. The onus is on the accused, and since July 2026 the accused has to clearly demonstrate that their release plan addresses the risks the court is concerned about. Our article on bail in homicide cases explains how that hearing works.

Most murder prosecutions include a preliminary inquiry, where the Crown has to show there is enough evidence to go to trial. It is the first chance to cross-examine the Crown's witnesses under oath, and it sometimes ends a case early. In one of the 2025 files, a murder preliminary with three co-accused, Robb's associate Michael Kachkar describes the main witness telling the court that their client had only been an observer. The client was discharged mid-inquiry.

Trial is by jury unless both the accused and the Attorney General agree to a judge alone. Under R. v. Jordan, 2016 SCC 27, a Superior Court case is presumptively too slow once it passes 30 months from the charge, excluding delay the defence caused. A stay is no longer automatic, though. Since July 2026, section 492.31 allows a stay for delay only where no other remedy would be appropriate and just.

For how a defence is put together over that time, see how a homicide defence strategy is built.

Talk to a lawyer before you talk to anyone else

If police want to speak with you about a death, you have the right to remain silent and the right to speak to a lawyer first. Use both. Statements given in the first hours of a homicide investigation are often the most important evidence at trial, and they cannot be taken back.

Robb MacDonald has practised criminal defence for more than twenty years and defends murder and manslaughter charges across Ontario. He earned his J.D. at Queen's University in 2006, was called to the Ontario bar in 2007, and trained under Edward Greenspan QC. He is a two-time provincial advocacy champion (Arnup Cup, OTLA Cup) and is in court about five days a week. Every Ontario lawyer is regulated by the Law Society of Ontario.

Call (416) 315-1505 or email rm@lawintoronto.com. The office is at 130 Spadina Ave. #606, Toronto, ON M5V 2L4, and Robb answers day and night. You can also request a confidential consultation.