(OTTAWA) Justin Trudeau’s government will propose changes to the Criminal Code aimed at complying with a recent Supreme Court ruling that makes it possible to invoke extreme intoxication in defense of those accused of certain violent crimes.
Posted at 10:55 a.m.
The Ministers of Justice, David Lametti, and Women, Marci Ien, will give more details on this subject during a press briefing which will take place on Friday afternoon.
The federal government has indicated, by notice on the order paper, that it will introduce a bill in this regard, which will be entitled An Act to amend the Criminal Code (extreme voluntary intoxication).
Last month, the nation’s highest court ruled in a unanimous judgment that it was unconstitutional to use a section of the Criminal Code barring the defense of automatism — a state of extreme intoxication point where they lost control of themselves.
Judge Nicholas Kasirer, who wrote the ruling, wrote that it violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms because a person’s decision to become drunk does not mean they intended to commit a violent offense .