Conspiracy
Conspiracy is the criminal offence, under section 465 of the Criminal Code, of agreeing with one or more persons to commit a criminal offence. The penalty depends on the underlying offence: conspiracy to commit murder carries up to life imprisonment; conspiracy to commit other indictable offences carries the same maximum as the underlying offence; conspiracy to commit a summary offence is itself a summary offence.
Mass Tsang's criminal lawyers handle complex conspiracy files — drug, fraud, and weapons in particular.
Elements
The Crown must prove: (1) an agreement between two or more persons; (2) that the agreement was to commit a specific criminal offence; (3) that the accused intended to enter into the agreement and to put the common design into effect. Importantly, the offence is complete on the agreement — no overt act in furtherance of the agreement is required. Mere talk that doesn't rise to agreement is insufficient.
What "agreement" means
Agreement is a meeting of minds — a shared intent to commit the substantive offence. It need not be express or in writing; it can be inferred from conduct and circumstantial evidence. The Crown often proves conspiracy by piecing together communications, transactions, surveillance, and circumstantial evidence into a pattern of coordinated action. The classic Supreme Court analysis is found in R v Carter, 1982.
Co-conspirators' exception to the hearsay rule
Conspiracy prosecutions use a special hearsay exception: where the trier of fact is satisfied on a balance of probabilities that an accused was a member of a conspiracy, hearsay statements of other conspirators in furtherance of the common design become admissible against that accused. The Carter framework structures the analysis. The doctrine makes conspiracy charges evidentiarily powerful for the Crown.
Defences
Defences include: no agreement (mere parallel conduct without coordination); withdrawal before agreement was complete; entrapment; identification challenges; and Charter challenges to surveillance, wiretaps, and other intrusive investigative techniques typical in conspiracy investigations. Conspiracy files often involve voluminous Crown disclosure — wiretap intercepts, surveillance logs, financial records — and detailed defence review is essential.
Sentencing
Sentencing tracks the underlying offence and the accused's role. Organizers and recruiters typically receive longer sentences than peripheral participants. Cooperation with authorities, when it occurs, is a significant mitigating factor.
Related glossary terms
