Offences
In Canada, the Criminal Code contains all the criminal offences for all of the provinces and territories. Criminal law is created by the federal government, meaning all crimes are contained in this one piece of legislation that applies to the entire country. The Criminal Code is updated from time to time, meaning the offences contained in it may be added to, removed, or changed.
In addition to the criminal offences, the Criminal Code also contains various defences to the offences contained in the Code. Not all defences are listed in the Code. Some defences are considered common law defences which means they were created through judge made caselaw, rather than by the federal government.
The following page will discuss the majority of criminal offences in the Code, as well as various defences that are available.
