441-01343 (Justice)

First Nations, Inuit and Metis people face substantial systemic barriers in accessing justice, as victims, offenders, and families. Transformational change is needed within the justice system and at the community level to improve access to justice for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.

The Government of Canada is committed to facilitating systemic transformation throughout the justice system, supporting self-determination, and community-based Indigenous-led justice solutions. Actions to end violence against Indigenous women, children and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people must be Indigenous-led to bring real change. That is why the Federal Pathway outlines the key actions needed to ensure a fairer, strong, inclusive and representative justice system that respects the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and protects Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.

The Government of Canada also recognizes the differential impact of intoxicated violence on Indigenous women and girls, and commits to ensuring that the justice system holds offenders accountable.

In R v Brown (2022), the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) struck down the previous version of section 33.1 of the Criminal Code, which prevented an accused person from relying on extreme intoxication as a defence for violent crimes like assault, sexual assault, and manslaughter. The SCC held that section 33.1 violated sections 7 (the right not to be deprived of life, liberty and security of the person except in accordance with a principle of fundamental justice) and 11(d) (the presumption of innocence) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and declared it to be unconstitutional because individuals could be convicted of a crime of violence in circumstances where they did not meet the minimum requirements for criminal liability.

The Brown decision created a gap in the law that would have allowed accused persons charged with violent crimes, such as assault or sexual assault, to escape liability in cases where they negligently became extremely intoxicated, lost control and harmed another person.

Bill C-28, which came into force on June 23, 2022, addressed this gap in the law. Rather than enacting a defence, section 33.1 now provides a means to hold individuals criminally responsible for their actions in cases where they voluntarily consumed intoxicants in a criminally negligent manner, lost control of their actions and harmed others. Importantly, these changes did not alter the basic legal principle that being drunk or high is never a defence to crimes like assault or sexual assault. More information on these changes can be found here: https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/trans/bm-mb/other-autre/c28/index.html.

The enactment of section 33.1 promotes public safety, particularly for those who are at greatest risk of violence, including women and children. These changes reflect the Government’s broader efforts to address gender-based violence and to support victims of crime. For instance, funding of $539.3 million over five years, starting in 2022-23, was provided to Women and Gender Equality Canada to enable provinces and territories to supplement and enhance services and supports within their jurisdictions to prevent gender-based violence and support survivors. Bill S-12, An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Sex Offender Information Registration Act and the International Transfer of Offenders Act, which was introduced in the Senate on April 26, 2023, proposes amendments to strengthen the National Sex Offender Registry regime, respond to the Supreme Court of Canada decision in R v Ndhlovu, provide victims with more information about cases and more autonomy relating to publication ban orders.