01 March 2025 :
February 27, 2025 - Canada. 54% of Canadians still favor capital punishment
The figure drops to 35% if the alternative is life without parole
Canada abolished death penalty in 1976
The death penalty in Canada was fully abolished in 1998, when all remaining references to the death penalty were removed from the National Defence Act. Between 1976 and 1998, the National Defence Act was the only section of the law that still provided for execution under the law.
The last executions in Canada were made under the Criminal Code in 1962. The last time the Canadian military had a legal execution was in 1945.
Since 2020, Research Co. has been asking a battery of questions about the death penalty to Canadians on a yearly basis. This month, more than 3 in 4 (77 %) think capital punishment is “always appropriate” (14 %, unchanged since 2024) or “sometimes appropriate” (53 %, also unchanged). Only 1 in 4 Canadians (24 %, down 2 points) think of the death penalty as “never appropriate.”
In each of our surveys, we have seen at least 50 % of Canadians supporting the reinstatement of the death penalty for murder in Canada. This year, 54 % of Canadians are in favour of bringing back capital punishment—a 3-point drop from 2024 and the same proportion we reported in the 2023 survey.
Opposition to the return of capital punishment for murder stands at 32 %, down 3 points since 2024 and the lowest number recorded in 6 annual polls. An additional 14 % of Canadians (up 5 points) are undecided.
On a regional basis, reinstating the death penalty for murder is particularly popular in Atlantic Canada (60 %), followed by Alberta (59 %), British Columbia (also 59 %), Ontario (55 %), Saskatchewan and Manitoba (54 %), and Quebec (45 %).
3 in 4 Canadians who voted for the Conservative Party in the 2021 federal election (75 %) are in favour of the return of capital punishment, along with 51 % of those who cast ballots for the New Democratic Party (NDP) and 48 % of those who supported the Liberal Party. There is little difference along ethnic lines, with majorities of Canadians whose descent is European (53 %), East Asian (61 %), Indigenous (63 %) or South Asian (66 %) voicing support for the death penalty in murder cases.
More than 1/2 of capital punishment supporters in Canada believe it would serve as a deterrent for potential murderers (52 %), while slightly fewer think the sentence fits the crime (49 %) and welcome the possibility of saving taxpayer money and the costs associated with having murderers in prison (46 %, and climbing to 54 % among Canadians aged 55 and over).
Conversely, just over three in five opponents of the death penalty (61 %) are concerned about a person being wrongly convicted and executed, while about two in five disagree with the “eye for an eye” rationale (41 %) or would prefer for murderers to do their time in prison, as indicated by a judge (40 %).
A separate question asks Canadians about 2 choices. More than 1/2 (53 %, down 2 points) continue to prefer life imprisonment without the possibility of parole as a punishment for convicted murderers in Canada, while 35 % (unchanged) would implement the death penalty.
In this scenario, support for capital punishment falls in Alberta (39 %), British Columbia (38 %), Atlantic Canada (also 38 %), Ontario (37 %), Saskatchewan and Manitoba (also 37 %), and Quebec (26 %).
Results are based on an online survey conducted from Feb. 16-18, 2025, among 1,002 adults in Canada. The data has been statistically weighted according to census figures for age, gender and region in Canada. The margin of error—which measures sample variability—is +/- 3.1 % points, 19 times out of 20.
