Picture this: You are asleep in your bed when you hear someone breaking in through the back door of your home. You observe an intruder holding a crowbar as they approach the stairs where your children are sleeping. You yell for them to leave, and they refuse. You throw a nearby lamp, and it shatters against the wall. The intruder turns and flees.
In this scenario, you have acted in self-defence and protected yourself and your family. Similar to the United States’ Stand Your Ground or Castle Law, Canada’s law protects those who use reasonable force against those who threaten their bodily safety or property.
In those cases, the person exercising self-defence may find themself facing criminal charges including assault, aggravated assault or even manslaughter. Police and the Crown examine the facts of the incident to assess the necessity and appropriate degree of force in the circumstances.
Although there aren’t any Castle Law or Stand Your Ground Laws in Canada, you are entitled to raise self-defence against criminal charges. At Chadi & Ibrahim LLP, our experienced criminal defence lawyers represent clients throughout Alberta in summary, hybrid, and indictable offences in all levels of Court. Call our Edmonton office today at (780) 4292300 or contact us online to schedule a consultation about your self-defence case.
Are there Castle Law, Castle Doctrine, or Stand Your Ground laws in Canada?
Canadian law recognizes the right of citizens to defend themselves in their homes, but that right is governed by Criminal Code sections 34 (self-defence) and 35 (defence of property). There is no official Castle Law in Canada. If someone is in your home, you do not necessarily have an automatic right to use force to defend your home. The form of the Stand Your Ground law in Canada specifies that there must be a clear and direct threat to your safety or the safety of another person, and that any reaction to this perceived threat is as reasonable as the circumstances allow.
In other words, considering the home intrusion scenario above, if the homeowner were to fire a gun at the intruder, that may be viewed as excessive force. Legally, the victim of the break in crime may not be protected in the eyes of the law because the response to the initial crime was disproportionate to the threat presented.
What is the difference between the Stand Your Ground law in Canada and the United States?
In many places in the United States, Stand Your Ground laws permit individuals to use force without any duty to retreat or de-escalate the situation. In some states, a person can justify the use of lethal force against a burglar or intruder.
But this is not the same as the law in Canada. In Canada, there is no legal duty to retreat. Still, courts will consider whether other reasonable alternatives were available before force was used, such as exiting the situation or seeking assistance. You do not have the automatic right to use force against an intruder – only reasonable force that matches the force of the threat.
What is a reasonable force under Castle Law in Canada?
Threats can feel daunting, and there may not be time to consider the most reasonable course of action if you feel like your life or the lives of your family members are in danger. However, being scared does not mean you can act without thinking.
The law permits the use of reasonable force in proportionate response to a threat. Reasonable force means:
- Did you try to retreat or exit the situation?
- Once force was used upon you, did you use a similar amount of force in response?
- Once the threat subsided, did you continue using force?
- Essentially, the law asks that people not escalate the threats against them to the level of serious injury or death if it can be avoided.
- In some cases, your self-defence and defence of your loved ones may require lethal force. Lethal force is generally only found to be reasonable in the following situations:
- Your life is in immediate danger
- The life of someone else in your home is in immediate danger
- No level of non-lethal force would have stopped or neutralized the threat
- Retreat was impossible
Can you go to jail for defending yourself under Castle law in Canada?
Self-defence is not a free pass. You must act reasonably and proportionately to the threat against you.
If an intruder is seriously injured or killed, criminal charges may be laid in self-defence cases. The Crown will assess whether a reasonable person would have acted in the same manner in the circumstances, including the threat and the environment of the incident.
Police may file charges in a self-defence case if:
- The force exerted was more than necessary to stop the threat
- The legal grounds for self-defence were not met
- Witness accounts are inconsistent
- Evidence indicates that the victim may have been the aggressor
What are the legal grounds to determine self-defence?
For the self-defence version of the Stand Your Ground law in Canada to apply, the situation must clearly show that the person was protecting themselves or someone else from serious harm. Such situations may include:
- Pushing back to stop an assault
- Using force to protect oneself when someone has threatened harm
- Protecting someone else who is being threatened or assaulted
- Preventing an intruder from entering or attempting to enter the home
Self-defence may not apply if:
The threat was over, but the force did not stop
- More force than necessary was used in response to the threat
- The person being threatened was actually the one who started the conflict
- The actions were motivated by anger or retaliation instead of safety
What courts look at in self-defence cases
In self-defence cases, the Crown examines the facts to determine whether the use of force was proportionate to the confrontation.
When the case goes before the court, the court considers whether the person reasonably believed that there was force or a threat of force against them. Then the court examines the sequence of events to evaluate if the person’s responses were appropriate.
- Was there an immediate threat present?
- Was the person in fear of harm?
- Was the response appropriately matched to the threat?
- Was escape or retreat possible?
- Did the parties involved have any history?
- Did the person defending themselves somehow provoke the confrontation?
- Were weapons involved?
- What are the physical states or sizes of the parties involved?
- Were environmental factors at play, such as isolation?
Whether the aggressor was in the wrong is irrelevant. In considering self-defence cases, the Court looks only at whether the actions taken by the accused were reasonable in the context of the incident. These fine details show that an experienced criminal defence lawyer is necessary for your self-defence case from the very beginning.
Early legal advice is critical in Self-Defence cases in Canada.
Protecting your property, your home, and your safety is a right. The Edmonton criminal defence law firm Chadi & Ibrahim LLP has successfully defended clients charged with self-defence. Book an initial consultation online or call our Edmonton offices at (780) 4292300 to discuss your case. Our Alberta criminal defence lawyers want to help you return to your own castle as quickly as possible.
