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Criminal Code (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46)

Full Document:  

Act current to 2024-02-20 and last amended on 2024-01-14. Previous Versions

PART XIWilful and Forbidden Acts in Respect of Certain Property (continued)

Cruelty to Animals (continued)

Marginal note:Definition of cetacean

  •  (1) In this section, cetacean includes any member of the cetacean order, including a whale, dolphin or porpoise.

  • Marginal note:Offence

    (2) Subject to subsections (2.1) to (3.1), every person commits an offence who

    • (a) owns, has the custody of or controls a cetacean that is kept in captivity;

    • (b) breeds or impregnates a cetacean; or

    • (c) possesses or seeks to obtain reproductive materials of cetaceans, including sperm or an embryo.

  • Marginal note:Exception — gestation

    (2.1) If a cetacean is gestating on the day on which this subsection comes into force, paragraphs (2)(b) and (c) do not apply in respect of that cetacean for the period in which it gestates that includes the day on which this subsection comes into force.

  • Marginal note:Exception — offspring

    (2.2) Paragraph (2)(a) does not apply to the offspring of a cetacean if that offspring was born immediately after a gestational period that included the day on which this subsection came into force.

  • Marginal note:Exception

    (3) Paragraph (2)(a) does not apply to a person who

    • (a) owns, has the custody of or controls a cetacean that is kept in captivity at the coming into force of this section and remains continuously in captivity thereafter;

    • (b) has the custody of or controls a cetacean that is kept in captivity for the purpose of providing it with assistance or care or to rehabilitate it following an injury or another state of distress; or

    • (c) is authorized to keep a cetacean in captivity in the best interests of the cetacean’s welfare pursuant to a licence issued by the Lieutenant Governor in Council of a province or by such other person or authority in the province as may be specified by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

  • Marginal note:Exception

    (3.1) Subsection (2) does not apply to a person who is conducting scientific research pursuant to a licence issued by the Lieutenant Governor in Council of a province or by such other person or authority in the province as may be specified by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

  • Marginal note:Exception — authorization

    (4) Every person commits an offence who promotes, arranges, conducts, assists in, receives money for or takes part in any meeting, competition, exhibition, pastime, practice, display or event at or in the course of which captive cetaceans are used, in Canada, for performance for entertainment purposes, unless the performance is authorized under a licence issued by the Lieutenant Governor in Council of a province or by an authority in the province as may be specified by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

  • Marginal note:Punishment

    (5) Every one who commits an offence under subsection (2) or (4) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to a fine not exceeding $200,000.

Marginal note:Causing damage or injury

  •  (1) Every one commits an offence who

    • (a) by wilful neglect causes damage or injury to animals or birds while they are being driven or conveyed; or

    • (b) being the owner or the person having the custody or control of a domestic animal or a bird or an animal or a bird wild by nature that is in captivity, abandons it in distress or wilfully neglects or fails to provide suitable and adequate food, water, shelter and care for it.

  • Marginal note:Punishment

    (2) Every one who commits an offence under subsection (1) is guilty of

    • (a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years; or

    • (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

  • Marginal note:Failure to exercise reasonable care as evidence

    (3) For the purposes of proceedings under paragraph (1)(a), evidence that a person failed to exercise reasonable care or supervision of an animal or a bird thereby causing it damage or injury is, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, proof that the damage or injury was caused by wilful neglect.

Marginal note:Arena for animal fighting

  •  (1) Everyone commits an offence who builds, makes, maintains or keeps an arena for animal fighting on premises that he or she owns or occupies, or allows such an arena to be built, made, maintained or kept on such premises.

  • Marginal note:Punishment

    (2) Every one who commits an offence under subsection (1) is guilty of

    • (a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years; or

    • (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to a fine of not more than $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years less a day, or to both.

  • (3) [Repealed, 2019, c. 17, s. 3]

Marginal note:Order of prohibition or restitution

  •  (1) The court may, in addition to any other sentence that it may impose under subsection 445(2), 445.1(2), 446(2) or 447(2),

    • (a) make an order prohibiting the accused from owning, having the custody or control of or residing in the same premises as an animal or a bird during any period that the court considers appropriate but, in the case of a second or subsequent offence, for a minimum of five years; and

    • (b) on application of the Attorney General or on its own motion, order that the accused pay to a person or an organization that has taken care of an animal or a bird as a result of the commission of the offence the reasonable costs that the person or organization incurred in respect of the animal or bird, if the costs are readily ascertainable.

  • Marginal note:Breach of order

    (2) Every one who contravenes an order made under paragraph (1)(a) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

  • Marginal note:Application

    (3) Sections 740 to 741.2 apply, with any modifications that the circumstances require, to orders made under paragraph (1)(b).

  • 2008, c. 12, s. 1
  • 2018, c. 29, s. 54

PART XIIOffences Relating to Currency

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

 In this Part,

counterfeit money

counterfeit money includes

  • (a) a false coin or false paper money that resembles or is apparently intended to resemble or pass for a current coin or current paper money,

  • (b) a forged bank-note or forged blank bank-note, whether complete or incomplete,

  • (c) a genuine coin or genuine paper money that is prepared or altered to resemble or pass for a current coin or current paper money of a higher denomination,

  • (d) a current coin from which the milling is removed by filing or cutting the edges and on which new milling is made to restore its appearance,

  • (e) a coin cased with gold, silver or nickel, as the case may be, that is intended to resemble or pass for a current gold, silver or nickel coin, and

  • (f) a coin or a piece of metal or mixed metals that is washed or coloured by any means with a wash or material capable of producing the appearance of gold, silver or nickel and that is intended to resemble or pass for a current gold, silver or nickel coin; (monnaie contrefaite)

counterfeit token of value

counterfeit token of value means a counterfeit excise stamp, postage stamp or other evidence of value, by whatever technical, trivial or deceptive designation it may be described, and includes genuine coin or paper money that has no value as money; (symbole de valeur contrefait)

current

current means lawfully current in Canada or elsewhere by virtue of a law, proclamation or regulation in force in Canada or elsewhere as the case may be; (courant)

utter

utter includes sell, pay, tender and put off. (mettre en circulation)

  • R.S., c. C-34, s. 406

Making

Marginal note:Making

 Every one who makes or begins to make counterfeit money is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.

  • R.S., c. C-34, s. 407

Possession

Marginal note:Possession, etc., of counterfeit money

 Every person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 14 years who, without lawful justification or excuse,

  • (a) buys, receives or offers to buy or receive counterfeit money;

  • (b) has in their custody or possession counterfeit money; or

  • (c) introduces counterfeit money into Canada.

  • R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 450
  • 2018, c. 29, s. 55

Marginal note:Having clippings, etc.

 Every person who, without lawful justification or excuse, has in their custody or possession gold or silver filings, clippings or bullion or gold or silver in dust, solution or otherwise, produced or obtained by impairing, diminishing or lightening a current gold or silver coin, knowing that it has been so produced or obtained, is guilty of

  • (a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years; or

  • (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

Uttering

Marginal note:Uttering, etc., counterfeit money

 Every person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 14 years who, without lawful justification or excuse,

  • (a) utters or offers to utter counterfeit money or uses counterfeit money as if it were genuine, or

  • (b) exports, sends or takes counterfeit money out of Canada.

  • R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 452
  • 2018, c. 29, s. 57

Marginal note:Uttering coin

 Every person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years or is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction who, with intent to defraud, knowingly utters

  • (a) a coin that is not current, or

  • (b) a piece of metal or mixed metals that resembles in size, figure or colour a current coin for which it is uttered.

Marginal note:Slugs and tokens

 Every person is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction who, without lawful excuse, manufactures, produces, sells or has in their possession anything that is intended to be fraudulently used in substitution for a coin or token of value that any coin or token-operated device is designed to receive.

  • R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 454
  • 2018, c. 29, s. 58

Defacing or Impairing

Marginal note:Clipping and uttering clipped coin

 Every one who

  • (a) impairs, diminishes or lightens a current gold or silver coin with intent that it should pass for a current gold or silver coin, or

  • (b) utters a coin knowing that it has been impaired, diminished or lightened contrary to paragraph (a),

is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.

  • R.S., c. C-34, s. 413

Marginal note:Defacing current coins

 Every one who

  • (a) defaces a current coin, or

  • (b) utters a current coin that has been defaced,

is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

  • R.S., c. C-34, s. 414

Marginal note:Likeness of bank-notes

  •  (1) No person shall make, publish, print, execute, issue, distribute or circulate, including by electronic or computer-assisted means, anything in the likeness of

    • (a) a current bank-note; or

    • (b) an obligation or a security of a government or bank.

  • Marginal note:Exception

    (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to

    • (a) the Bank of Canada or its employees when they are carrying out their duties;

    • (b) the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or its members or employees when they are carrying out their duties; or

    • (c) any person acting under a contract or licence from the Bank of Canada or Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

  • Marginal note:Offence

    (3) A person who contravenes subsection (1) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

  • Marginal note:Defence

    (4) No person shall be convicted of an offence under subsection (3) in relation to the printed likeness of a Canadian bank-note if it is established that the length or width of the likeness is less than three-fourths or greater than one-and-one-half times the length or width, as the case may be, of the bank-note and

    • (a) the likeness is in black-and-white only; or

    • (b) the likeness of the bank-note appears on only one side of the likeness.

  • R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 457
  • 1999, c. 5, s. 12

Instruments or Materials

Marginal note:Making, having or dealing in instruments for counterfeiting

 Every person who, without lawful justification or excuse, makes, repairs, buys, sells or has in their custody or possession any machine, engine, tool, instrument, material or other thing that they know has been used or is adapted and intended for use in making counterfeit money or counterfeit tokens of value, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 14 years.

  • R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 458
  • 2018, c. 29, s. 59
 

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