A timeline of key events in the case of Kenneth Law, who admitted to aiding suicides

Kenneth Law, an Ontario man, admitted to selling lethal substances online to people who later used them to end their lives. Law, a former chef, pleaded guilty to 14 counts of aiding suicide in the province. His activities involved operating multiple websites that sold sodium nitrite and other items used for self-harm, shipping them to over 40 countries.

The timeline of key events in the case began on October 14, 2022, when a UK coroner's report linked Law to the death of a woman in Surrey, citing a postal box in Mississauga, Ontario, and the name of one of the websites he operated. In March 2023, Peel Regional Police began investigating a local sudden death, linking it to Law as the first of two deaths they would later connect to him. On April 25, 2023, the Times of London published an investigation into Law's alleged global online operation.

Law was arrested and charged with two counts of counselling and aiding suicide on May 2, 2023. Peel Regional Police, along with police forces in Toronto and Durham Region, started reviewing sudden deaths in light of the allegations against Law on May 10. By June 16, 2023, 11 Ontario police forces had formed a joint operation to investigate Law.

In August 2023, the National Crime Agency in Britain identified 232 individuals in the UK who had purchased products from Canadian websites allegedly linked to Law, with 88 of them dying as a result.

Additional charges were announced on August 29, 2023, bringing the total to 28 charges, including 14 counts of second-degree murder. Law's lawyer, Matthew Gourlay, confirmed that all 14 counts of second-degree murder were upgraded to first-degree murder, and the case would proceed by direct indictment. Law pleaded not guilty to all charges.

In January 2024, the charges were upgraded to first-degree murder, and the case proceeded by direct indictment. In July 2024, a New Zealand coroner reported that four people who died by suicide in the country had ordered items online from a business associated with Law. Dec. 5, 2025, the Supreme Court of Canada declined to resolve a legal issue regarding whether murder charges can be laid against people who aid in suicides.

On April 18, 2026, the Supreme Court declined to make a final decision on this issue. Law's trial was pushed back to April 2026, and on May 28, 2026, he entered his guilty pleas in a Newmarket, Ontario court, with the Crown agreeing to drop all 14 murder charges against him.