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Summary

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Charter of Rights - Double jeopardy - Repeal of statutory provisions providing early parole applied to inmates already sentenced and incarcerated - Whether s. 10(1) of the Abolition of Early Parole Act, S.C. 2011, c. 11, to the extent that it applies to offenders sentenced before the Abolition of Early Parole Act came into force on March 28, 2011, infringes s. 11(h) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms - If so, whether the infringement is a reasonable limit prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society under s. 1 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms - Whether s. 10(1) of the Abolition of Early Parole Act, S.C. 2011, c. 11, to the extent that it applies to offenders sentenced before the Abolition of Early Parole Act came into force on March 28, 2011, infringes s. 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms - If so, whether the infringement is a reasonable limit prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society under s. 1 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

When the respondents began serving sentences in federal penitentiaries, the accelerated parole release provisions of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, S.C. 1992, c. 20, entitled them to early parole after serving one sixth of their sentences, without hearings before the Parole Board. Those provisions were repealed by the Abolition of Early Parole Act, S.C. 2011, c. 11, after each respondent had been sentenced. Section 10(1) of that Act applies the Act to inmates not released on parole as of March 28, 2011. The respondents brought constitutional challenges. The trial judge and the Court of Appeal held that the transitional provision breaches the right guaranteed by s. 11(h) of the Charter not to be punished again for an offence.

Lower Court Rulings