Large Fierce Mammal

Before Canada eliminated the death penalty for murder on July 14, 1976, 1,481 people were sentenced to death, with 710 executed. Of those executed, 697 were men and 13 were women. The only method used in Canada for capital punishment of civilians after the end of the French regime was hanging. The last execution in Canada was the double hanging of Arthur Lucas and Ronald Turpin on December 11, 1962, at Toronto’s Don Jail.

On June 30, 1987, a bill to restore the death penalty was defeated by the House of Commons in a close 148-127 vote, in which Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, Minister of Justice Ray Hnatyshyn and Minister of External Affairs Joe Clark opposed the bill, whereas Deputy Prime Minister Donald Mazankowski and a majority of Progressive Conservative MPs supported. ~ Capital Punishment in Canada

In my studies of Canadian executions and those charged with the doing of the same, I soon learned that the well runs deep. So deep in fact that that what you’ll see today is only a fragment of what floated to the top when I started dredging.

What follows is a CBC interview conducted in February of 1976 by Paul Soles with “John Ellis”, Canada’s last hangman. It opens with repeated sounds of Crickets chirping and Loons calling because that’s the way Canada sounds all the time, but other than that observation I offer neither judgement nor guidance as I invite you simply to watch and listen.