JustFacts

Firearm-Related Offences Subject to a Mandatory Minimum Penalty, 2014/2015 to 2019/2020

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January 2023

This fact sheet presents information on criminal court cases where the most serious offence in the case is a firearm-related offence subject to a mandatory minimum penalty (MMP).Footnote1 Data were obtained through a request to the Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics (CCJCSS) and cover the period from 2014/2015 to 2019/2020.Footnote2

Most firearms offences with an MMP were originally given mandatory minimum penalties in the Firearms Act, implemented in 1995. The Tackling Violent Crime Act was later enacted in 2008 to amend the minimum and maximum penalties for certain offences.

All firearm-related offences subject to an MMP during the period from 2014/2015 to 2019/2020 were included in the study’s dataset, namely:

  • s. 85, use of a firearm in the commission of an offence (28% of all firearm-related offences included in the dataset);
  • s. 344, robbery, use of a firearm (27%);
  • s. 244.2, discharging a firearm recklessly (9%);
  • s. 244, discharging a firearm with intent (8%);
  • s. 95, possession of a prohibited or restricted firearm with ammunition (7%);
  • s. 99, weapons trafficking (7%);
  • s. 239, attempt to commit murder (4%);
  • s. 100, possession of a firearm for the purpose of trafficking (3%); and,
  • s. 279, kidnapping (2%).

The remaining firearm-related Criminal Code offences subject to an MMP (sections 92, 96, 102, 103, 220, 236, 272, 273, 279.1 and 346) are also included in this dataset and each made up 1% or less of all cases with a firearm-related offence subject to an MMP.

The number of casesFootnote3 with a firearm-related offence subject to an MMP increased steadily, but represents a small proportion of all cases involving offences subject to an MMP

The number of cases with a firearm-related offence subject to an MMP increased by 43% over the course of the study period, from 580 in 2014/2015 to 829 in 2019/2020. Of note, 2018/2019 had the highest number of cases (881) over the course of the study period.

From 2014/2015 to 2019/2020, cases with a firearm-related offence subject to an MMP as the most serious offence in the case comprised 2% of all cases with an MMP (most serious in the case).

The proportion of cases with a firearm-related offence subject to an MMP with a guilty decisionFootnote4 decreased, while those with a withdrawn or stay of proceedings decision increased

Over the course of the study period, the most common type of decision in cases with a firearm-related offence subject to an MMP was a finding of guilt. The proportion of cases with a guilty decision decreased from 46% in 2014/2015 to 40% in 2019/2020.

Withdrawn decisions were the second most common type of decision in cases with a firearm-related offence subject to an MMP. The proportion of cases with a withdrawn decision decreased slightly from 33% in 2014/2015 to 30% in 2016/2017, before trending upward until the end of the study period, reaching 37% in 2019/2020. Similarly, between 2016/2017 and 2019/2020, there was an increase in the proportion of cases with a firearm-related offence subject to an MMP that were stayed (from 14% to 17%, respectively).

The proportion of cases with a firearm-related offence subject to an MMP with a guilty decision receiving a custodial sentence remained relatively stable

Custody was the most common sentenceFootnote5 for cases with a firearm-related offence subject to an MMP with a finding of guilt during the study period. Each year, the proportion of guilty cases with a custodial sentence was 90% or higher. From 2014/2015 to 2019/2020, the proportion of guilty cases receiving a custodial sentence decreased slightly from 95% to 91%, while the proportion of cases receiving a probation sentence increased slightly from 3% to 5%.

The most common custodial sentence length for cases with a firearm-related offence subject to an MMP was over 4 years

The highest proportion of cases with a firearm-related offence subject to an MMP sentenced to custody fell within the “over 4 year” sentence length range, with an average of 28% of cases over the six-year study period. This proportion remained stable between 2014/2015 to 2019/2020. The next most common sentence length ranges were “over 1 to 2 year” and “over 2 to 4 year” ranges (27% and 25% of cases, respectively). From 2014/2015 to 2019/2020, the proportion of cases in the “over 2 to 4 year” sentence length range decreased from 32% to 21%.

The medianFootnote6 custodial sentence length for firearm-related offences subject to an MMP dropped 27% from 1,000 days (or 2.7 years) in 2014/2015 to 730 days (or 2 years) in 2017/2018, but remained stable until the end of the study period (2019/2020).

The time to case resolution decreased slightly, but overall averaged around 10 months

The median case processing time (i.e., how long it takes a case to be resolved)Footnote7 for cases with a firearm-related offence subject to an MMP decreased slightly over the course of the study period. In 2014/2015, the median case processing time was 305 days (or 10 months). By 2019/2020, the median case processing time had decreased by 7% to 283 days (or 9.3 months).