Article
Robbery
Robbery is one of the earliest and most serious felonies and was once punishable by death. Robbery is a serious, indictable offence under the Canadian CRIMINAL CODE (s302), punishable by life imprisonment.
Enter your search term
Signing up enhances your TCE experience with the ability to save items to your personal reading list, and access the interactive map.
Create AccountArticle
Robbery is one of the earliest and most serious felonies and was once punishable by death. Robbery is a serious, indictable offence under the Canadian CRIMINAL CODE (s302), punishable by life imprisonment.
"https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9
Article
In 1993, Saskatchewan farmer Robert Latimer killed his severely disabled daughter Tracy. His prosecution for murder attracted national and international attention, and raised contentious issues concerning euthanasia.
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/a7e37b63-d2cb-4615-8eeb-b832a758bcf2.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/a7e37b63-d2cb-4615-8eeb-b832a758bcf2.jpg
Article
Between 1978 and 2001, at least 65 women disappeared from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Robert Pickton, who operated a pig farm in nearby Port Coquitlam, was charged with murdering 26 of the women. He was convicted on six charges and sentenced to life in prison. In a jail cell conversation with an undercover police officer, Pickton claimed to have murdered 49 women. The murders led to the largest serial killer investigation in Canadian history, and Pickton’s farm became the largest crime scene in Canadian history. The case became a flash point in the wider issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada. In 2012, a provincial government inquiry into the case concluded that “blatant failures” by police — including inept criminal investigative work, compounded by police and societal prejudice against sex trade workers and Indigenous women — led to a “tragedy of epic proportions.” Warning: This article contains sensitive material that may not be suitable for all audiences.
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/a598869a-67b8-4009-b6a7-abf3d25c07ee.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/a598869a-67b8-4009-b6a7-abf3d25c07ee.jpg
Article
In 2001, Robert Pickton was charged with murdering 26 women at his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, BC. He was convicted on six charges and sentenced to life in prison. Pickton claimed to have killed 49 women. His case was the largest serial killer investigation in Canadian history. It was also a flash point in the wider issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. In 2012, a government inquiry found that “blatant failures” by police led to a “tragedy of epic proportions.” This article contains sensitive material that may not be suitable for all audiences. This article is a plain-language summary of the Robert Pickton Case. If you are interested in reading about this topic in more depth, please see our full-length entry: Robert Pickton Case.
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/a598869a-67b8-4009-b6a7-abf3d25c07ee.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/a598869a-67b8-4009-b6a7-abf3d25c07ee.jpg
Article
In the early 1990s, Sue Rodriguez submitted to the courts that section 241(b) of the Criminal Code, which prohibited assisted suicide, was constitutionally invalid. (See also Assisted Suicide in Canada.) Rodriguez suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and wanted the legal right to have a physician’s help in ending her own life. On 30 September 1993, a 5–4 majority of the Supreme Court of Canada upheld section 241(b), declaring that it was constitutional and did not violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Nonetheless, Rodriguez committed suicide in February 1994, assisted by an anonymous doctor and in the presence of NDP MP Svend Robinson, who had championed her cause. In 2015, the Supreme Court decided unanimously to strike down the prohibition and allow medically assisted suicide, which was officially legalized with the passing of the Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) Act on 17 June 2016. In March 2021, new legislation was passed that expanded eligibility for MAID. This article contains sensitive material that may not be suitable for all audiences.
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/Twitter_Cards/supreme court.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/Twitter_Cards/supreme court.jpg
Article
Romeo Phillion was the longest-serving prisoner in Canadian history to have a murder conviction overturned.
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/60d763f2-60f1-49b9-ae90-ea3f0d0916ec.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/60d763f2-60f1-49b9-ae90-ea3f0d0916ec.jpg
Article
In 1946, Maurice DUPLESSIS, then premier and attorney general of Qué, caused the Liquor Commission chairman to revoke the liquor licence of Frank Roncarelli, a Montréal restaurant owner, so ruining the restaurant.
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/22180159-911b-4d85-94c5-fc2a39cd939d.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/22180159-911b-4d85-94c5-fc2a39cd939d.jpg
"https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9
Article
Round Table Movement, an organization devoted to the study of British Empire problems and the promotion of imperial unity, fd 1909 in London, Eng.
"https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9
Article
From 1858 to 1907 most issues of Canadian coins were struck at the Royal Mint in London, England, with additional issues from the Heaton Mint of Birmingham.
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/bc71e340-f5ed-4737-ab93-f5c01058e39c.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/bc71e340-f5ed-4737-ab93-f5c01058e39c.jpg
Article
The RCMP is Canada’s national police force – providing an array of services from municipal policing, to national security intelligence gathering, to the legendary Musical Ride. Despite a series of scandals in recent decades, the RCMP remains one of Canada's most iconic national institutions.
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/a48dc193-a25c-41ad-ae4c-c8b4fc18563e.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/a48dc193-a25c-41ad-ae4c-c8b4fc18563e.jpg
Article
The Royal Commission Inquiry into Civil Rights was an investigation into the status of civil rights in Ontario. It was commissioned by the Government of Ontario in 1964. It was completed in 1971. Chaired by judge James Chalmers McRuer, it was also known as the McRuer Commission of 1971. Its final report totalled 2,281 pages and included 976 suggested legal reforms. The inquiry was highly influential. It prioritized ideas of fairness, accessibility and equity within the justice system. It also led to reforms in other branches of government to protect those principles. It was an important precursor to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/Photograph_of_James_C._McRuer_16953287526.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/Photograph_of_James_C._McRuer_16953287526.jpg
Article
The Royal Commission of Inquiry on Constitutional Problems (Tremblay Commission) was appointed by the Québec government under chairman Mr Justice Thomas Tremblay
"https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9
Article
The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples was a Royal Commission established in 1991 in the wake of the Oka Crisis. The commission’s report, the product of extensive research and community consultation, was a broad survey of historical and contemporary relations between Indigenous (Aboriginal) and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada. The report made several recommendations, the majority of which were not fully implemented. However, it is significant for the scope and depth of research, and remains an important document in the study of Indigenous peoples in Canada.
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/RoyalComissionAboriginalPeoples/RCAP.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/RoyalComissionAboriginalPeoples/RCAP.jpg
Article
One of the most influential commissions in Canadian history, the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (1963–69) brought about sweeping changes to federal and provincial language policy. The commission was a response to the growing unrest among French Canadians in Quebec, who called for the protection of their language and culture, and opportunities to participate fully in political and economic decision making. The commission's findings led to changes in French education across the country, and the creation of the federal department of multiculturalism and the Official Languages Act.
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/74f42cfb-9915-4a55-b62d-28b95a2c107f.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/74f42cfb-9915-4a55-b62d-28b95a2c107f.jpg