There is no offence called statutory rape in Canada. The term is American. It appears in no Canadian statute and no Canadian charge sheet.

The conduct people mean by it is prosecuted here under different names, and the distinction matters because the Canadian offences are structured differently – with a different age threshold, different exceptions, and mandatory minimum sentences that American commentary will not tell you about.

The age of consent is 16

Canada’s general age of consent to sexual activity is 16 years old.

It rises to 18 where the older person is in a position of trust or authority, where the young person is in a relationship of dependency, or where the relationship is otherwise exploitative. A teacher, coach, employer, family member or caregiver falls into this category regardless of how willing the 16 or 17-year-old was.

The close-in-age exceptions

Canadian law does not criminalise teenagers for having relationships with other teenagers. Two exceptions apply, and both require that the older person is not in a position of trust, authority or dependency, and that the relationship is not exploitative:

Younger person’s age	Can consent to a partner who is
14 or 15	Less than 5 years older
12 or 13	Less than 2 years older
Under 12	Cannot consent in any circumstances

So a 15-year-old and a 19-year-old fall within the exception. A 15-year-old and a 20-year-old do not.

Is it statutory rape if both are under 16? Under Canadian law, two 15-year-olds fall within the close-in-age exception, and there is no offence. Two 13-year-olds likewise. A 13-year-old and a 16-year-old do not – that gap exceeds two years.

What the actual charges are

Sexual interference – section 151. Touching any part of the body of a person under 16, directly or indirectly, for a sexual purpose. This is the charge most often laid.

Invitation to sexual touching – section 152. Inviting or counselling a person under 16 to touch, for a sexual purpose.

Sexual exploitation – section 153. Sexual contact with a 16 or 17-year-old by a person in a position of trust or authority, or where the young person is dependent, or the relationship is exploitative.

Sexual assault – section 271. Applies where there was no consent, including where the complainant was legally incapable of consenting because of age.

Charges are frequently laid in combination – sexual interference and sexual assault arising from the same allegation.

Penalties for sexual interference

Section 151 is a hybrid offence, and the Crown’s election has a large effect:

Crown proceeds	Maximum	Mandatory minimum
By indictment	14 years	1 year
Summarily	2 years less a day	90 days

Discharges, suspended sentences, stand-alone fines and conditional sentences are not available for this offence. A conviction means a custodial sentence.

The mandatory minimums are contested. Courts in several jurisdictions have found the one-year minimum on indictment to violate section 12 of the Charter – cruel and unusual punishment – and declared it of no force and effect in those jurisdictions. The state of the law varies by province and continues to move. Whether a minimum applies to a particular case is a live legal question, not a settled one.

A conviction also brings registration under the Sex Offender Information Registration Act, mandatory DNA collection, and weapons prohibitions. The registry consequences last years or life depending on the offence.

Mistake about age is almost never a defence

This is the point most people get wrong.

Believing the complainant was 16 or older does not excuse the conduct unless the accused took all reasonable steps to ascertain their age. That is a demanding standard, assessed objectively.

Being told an age is not enough. Meeting someone in a bar, on a dating app with an 18+ policy, or in an adult setting is not enough on its own. Courts ask what the accused actually did to verify, given everything they knew – appearance, conversation, social circle, and context.

Where the complainant was under 12, mistake of age is not available at all.

Is there a limitation period?

No. There is no limitation period for indictable sexual offences in Canada. Charges are regularly laid decades after the alleged conduct.

Historical allegations are prosecuted on the law as it stood at the time of the alleged offence, which is why cases from the 1970s and 1980s involve offence names and penalties that no longer exist.

What to do if you are charged or under investigation

Say nothing to police. Not a denial, not an explanation, not “it wasn’t like that.” These are the cases where an accused talks their way into a conviction more often than any other. Assert your right to counsel and stop.

Do not contact the complainant or their family. Not to apologise, not to clarify. It is almost always a bail condition, it will be treated as interference with a witness, and it produces new charges.

Preserve everything. Messages, photographs, social media, dating app records, timestamps, anything showing what was communicated and when. Do not delete anything – deletion is itself treated as consciousness of guilt.

Do not discuss it with friends, family or online. Anyone you speak to can be compelled to testify.

Get a lawyer immediately. Bail conditions in these cases are strict and shape everything that follows – where you can live, whether you can see your own children, whether you can keep working.

What a defence looks like

These charges are defended, and they are defended successfully. Depending on the case:

• The close-in-age exception applies on the actual dates and ages
• All reasonable steps were taken to ascertain age
• Identity – the accused was not the person involved
• Credibility and reliability of the allegation, tested against the surrounding evidence
• Charter breaches in how statements, devices or search results were obtained
• The Crown’s election and any mandatory minimum are challenged directly

Sentencing outcomes vary enormously with the facts, the ages, the relationship, and the record. A general answer to “how much jail time” is not possible, and any source giving you one without knowing the file is guessing.

Frequently asked questions

What is the age of consent in Canada? Sixteen for most purposes, and 18 wherever the older person holds trust or authority over the younger one, or the relationship is exploitative. Apparent willingness does not change that – consent given by someone the law says cannot consent has no legal effect.

When did the age of consent become 16? In 2008, when the Tackling Violent Crime Act raised it from 14. The close-in-age exceptions were introduced at the same time so that consensual relationships between teenagers were not criminalised.

Is 17 still a minor in Canada? For most purposes yes – the age of majority is 18 or 19 depending on the province. For sexual offences the relevant threshold is the age of consent, which is 16, subject to the trust, authority, dependency and exploitation rules that raise it to 18.

Can a 27-year-old and a 17-year-old be in a relationship in Canada? The age of consent is 16, so the age gap alone does not make it an offence. It becomes one if the older person is in a position of trust or authority, if the younger person is dependent, or if a court finds the relationship exploitative – assessed on the age difference, how the relationship developed, and the degree of control exercised.

Can a 16-year-old and a 60-year-old be in a relationship? The same analysis applies, and the exploitation provision does real work at that gap. A large age difference is one of the express factors a court weighs in deciding whether a relationship is exploitative, which would make it an offence regardless of apparent consent.

Is it an offence if both people are under 16? Usually not, because the close-in-age exceptions were written precisely to keep teenage relationships out of the criminal courts. What matters is the size of the gap, not that both are under 16 – and the exception disappears entirely if one is in a position of trust over the other.

Is there a limitation period for these charges? No. There is no limitation period for indictable sexual offences in Canada, and charges are regularly laid decades after the alleged conduct.

Is a mistake about age a defence? Only where the accused took all reasonable steps to ascertain the person’s age – a demanding, objectively assessed standard. Simply being told an age is not enough. Where the complainant was under 12, the defence is unavailable entirely.

Charged with a sexual offence in Toronto?

These are among the most serious charges in the Criminal Code, and the consequences of a conviction – custody, the registry, the record – are lasting.

Jeffrey I. Reisman has practised criminal law in Toronto since 2001, including three years as a prosecutor, and defends sexual offence charges across the GTA.

Call 647-351-4357 · Free consultation · Available 24/7

General information about Canadian law as of August 2026. Not legal advice. The constitutionality of mandatory minimums in this area varies by jurisdiction and continues to change.