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Does anyone have any accurate info on the current restrictions with EDC Toronto knife laws?
Jason
Jason
Toronto Ontario Canada every day carry knife laws?
- Thread starter jasonmpatrick
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- Mar 20, 2013
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You can't carry any of these:
any knife, including a switchblade, gravity knife, or butterfly knife with a blade that opens automatically by gravity or centrifugal force or by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in or attached to the handle of the knife;
Constant Companion (belt-buckle knife);
finger rings with blades or other sharp objects projecting from the surface;
push daggers
You also cant carry any knife if you are planning on using it against someone, including for self defence.
Other than that I think you are good. No size restrictions. Basically you are good if you are carrying a knife as a tool. Not good if you are carrying it as a weapon.
Edoit to add I am just a guy on the internet. I am confident in my answer but your best bet is to call a local police station and ask for clarification.
any knife, including a switchblade, gravity knife, or butterfly knife with a blade that opens automatically by gravity or centrifugal force or by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in or attached to the handle of the knife;
Constant Companion (belt-buckle knife);
finger rings with blades or other sharp objects projecting from the surface;
push daggers
You also cant carry any knife if you are planning on using it against someone, including for self defence.
Other than that I think you are good. No size restrictions. Basically you are good if you are carrying a knife as a tool. Not good if you are carrying it as a weapon.
Edoit to add I am just a guy on the internet. I am confident in my answer but your best bet is to call a local police station and ask for clarification.
I am not a lawyer. Do not take the following as legal advice.
You cannot possess, under any circumstances save certain narrow exceptions:
You cannot carry any concealed weapon. Contrary to what is often posted here and elsewhere, the test is not simply whether you say your knife is a tool and not a weapon. Recently, the courts have adopted a new test that addresses the objective question of whether a knife is "designed as a weapon." This test has two parts:
Again contrary to what is often posted here and elsewhere, there is no distinction between concealing something and simply transporting it in a pocket or bag. A knife is considered concealed when you intentionally place it where it can't be seen. The question is not whether you intended to hide it, but whether you intended to put it in a place where it would be hidden. So a knife in a backpack is in fact concealed, although it is not a concealed weapon unless it meets the test described above, or you admit it is such.
You cannot carry any weapon for a purpose dangerous to the public peace, which essentially means for any violent or criminal purpose, or for any purpose likely to cause alarm. Normally this purpose has to be proven, unless of course what you do is so obviously alarming (walking down the street waving a naked sword, for example) that there's no excuse. Whether self-defence is a "dangerous purpose" is a contentious area of the law, which means the cops will charge you and let you pay a lawyer $300 an hour to argue about it.
You also can't carry a weapon to a public meeting. This charge seems most often used when people show up at protests with weapons.
This may all seem very restrictive but in practice the real issue is whether your knife is a weapon. Remember, again contrary to what is often suggested here, neither the cops nor the courts have to take your word for it on this. They will decide based on the situation, and in practice the cops don't care unless something happens to bring you to their attention. The case law says pocket knives aren't weapons, except when they're obviously weapons.
All this is federal law. In Canada, unlike in the US, only the federal government has the right to make criminal law. The provinces don't pass knife laws and municipalities are restricted to making by-laws regulating carrying knives as a public nuisance, and the cops don't much care about by-laws. (I don't think Toronto has knife by-laws.)
To conclude this wordy little essay:
You cannot possess, under any circumstances save certain narrow exceptions:
- a knife that has a blade that opens automatically by gravity or centrifugal force or by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in or attached to the handle of the knife;
- a belt-buckle knife;
- a push dagger;
- any knife less than 30 cm (12 inches) long and resembling an innocuous object, e.g. knives disguised as combs, rulers, pens, etc.
You cannot carry any concealed weapon. Contrary to what is often posted here and elsewhere, the test is not simply whether you say your knife is a tool and not a weapon. Recently, the courts have adopted a new test that addresses the objective question of whether a knife is "designed as a weapon." This test has two parts:
- Is the knife readily usable as a weapon?
- Would a reasonable person be alarmed to discover that such an item was being carried in a concealed manner?
Again contrary to what is often posted here and elsewhere, there is no distinction between concealing something and simply transporting it in a pocket or bag. A knife is considered concealed when you intentionally place it where it can't be seen. The question is not whether you intended to hide it, but whether you intended to put it in a place where it would be hidden. So a knife in a backpack is in fact concealed, although it is not a concealed weapon unless it meets the test described above, or you admit it is such.
You cannot carry any weapon for a purpose dangerous to the public peace, which essentially means for any violent or criminal purpose, or for any purpose likely to cause alarm. Normally this purpose has to be proven, unless of course what you do is so obviously alarming (walking down the street waving a naked sword, for example) that there's no excuse. Whether self-defence is a "dangerous purpose" is a contentious area of the law, which means the cops will charge you and let you pay a lawyer $300 an hour to argue about it.
You also can't carry a weapon to a public meeting. This charge seems most often used when people show up at protests with weapons.
This may all seem very restrictive but in practice the real issue is whether your knife is a weapon. Remember, again contrary to what is often suggested here, neither the cops nor the courts have to take your word for it on this. They will decide based on the situation, and in practice the cops don't care unless something happens to bring you to their attention. The case law says pocket knives aren't weapons, except when they're obviously weapons.
All this is federal law. In Canada, unlike in the US, only the federal government has the right to make criminal law. The provinces don't pass knife laws and municipalities are restricted to making by-laws regulating carrying knives as a public nuisance, and the cops don't much care about by-laws. (I don't think Toronto has knife by-laws.)
To conclude this wordy little essay:
- Don't own a prohibited weapon,
- Don't carry a knife as a weapon,
- Don't conceal the fact you have a knife,
- Don't carry something that makes no sense in the circumstances,
- Stay out of trouble and the cops don't care.
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Expanded:
Proof of an item as a weapon depends on all of the circumstances. The determination involves a subjective test of whether the accused intended to use the item as a weapon. [1]
A weapon includes: [2]
1.anything designed to be used as a weapon;
2.anything that a person uses as a weapon, whether that thing is designed as a weapon or not; and
3.anything that one intends to use as a weapon regardless of its design.
The decision of R. v. D.A.C., 2007 ABPC 171[3] proposed a general analytical approach to determine whether an object is a "weapon" under s. 2. The Court must "ask the following three questions:
i. Did the accused in fact use the object to cause death or injury, or to threaten or intimidate any person?ii. Did the accused intend to use the object to cause death or injury or to threaten or intimidate any person?iii. Was the object being carried by the accused designed to be used in causing death or injury to any person, or for the purpose of threatening or intimidating any person?
If the answer to any of these questions is in the affirmative, the Crown has proven that the object was a weapon."[4] The third question was considered in greater detail. The judge stated that the test for determining whether the object was designed to be used requires the following questions:
1.Is the objects design such that it could be readily usable to cause death or injury to any person or to threaten or intimidate any person?
2.In all of the circumstances, would the carrying of the concealed object cause the reasonable person to fear for his own safety or for the public safety, if he were aware of the presence of the object?
If the answer to both of these questions is "yes", then the object will be considered a weapon. This requires looking at the object itself and the context of it being possessed.