Canadian Knife Laws

I think you mean Jack Reynolds?
I've recently read the relevant Canadian law and my best guess is that very few of the members of Parliament who voted for it have given the issue a second of thought. Just as in the U.S.A. most of our new legislation is buried in large omnibus bills. If any particular issue receives little public attention, then the special interests who worked on preparing the legislation can be quite certain that it will be passed. I posted my initial Comment with the hope that these issues would attract more attention from the general public.
I believe that this legislation was passed for no reason other than the fact that statistics show that there has been a recent increase in knife related crime in Canada. Our CDN Constitution, like that of the U.S.A., is based on Common Law. The intent of that is that the history of human experience must be considered in any legislation. Last week's statistics tell us very little about the history of anything. I'll repeat what I said above … It seems to me that very, very few of those who voted for these new Canadian knife laws, gave any thought to the relevant issues. If safety of the general public is important to them, then why did they pass our new pot laws? If safety of the general public is important to them, then why are they not paying more attention to the issue of distracted driving? Did our legislators hope that no one would pay any attention to the new knife laws, or give the related issues much thought? If they had, then don't you think that the matter of Scary-Sharp knifes, made from new super metals, should have received some mention?
P.S. If anyone were to break into my home, then the greatest concern for them would be the Gurkha Kukri machete and the ornamental Damascus axe sitting close to the front door.
 
Jack, Apart from it being political, you do realize that you have now put on the public record that you intend to use deadly force against another person in a premeditated fashion. One is a bad idea here, the other a bad idea in general. I hope you enjoy your stay here while it lasts.
 
Lapedog - To the best of my knowledge, everything that StabGuy has said regarding CDN law is 100% correct. Your intent, or perceived intent is what might get you into trouble in Canada

GadgetGeek - I'm a retired IT Consultant, a security specialist. I spent years working for the RCMP, Dept of National Defense, Canadian Gun Registry, etc. etc. If I ever need to use a weapon, it will be because there was no other option. That's the case today and it will not change. I learned how to break boards with my bare hands at about age 12-13, so a burglar would face a number of threats, before that of a weapon.

Do you think it's a good idea to have people believing that they could break into a home, without some concern that they might be harmed while doing so? Why mislead them? I obviously do not.

If you're in Canada and someone breaks into your home, I believe that you'd face fewer difficulties if you were to give them a good whack with an axe or machete, than with a folding knife that someone might be able to open with one hand. You'd also be on safer ground if you used one of these to run them over,
http://www.terradyneinc.com/civ.html
since we do not manufacture knives in Canada.
 
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One more thing … Should someone break into your house in Canada, do not use common sense to decide what you should do. Sit down and review the latest Canadian Knife Laws first, ... they're less than 20 pages of legalese. You could dial 911 while you're doing that and the police might arrive before you're finished. It's a budget issue (distance matters).
 
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Lapedog - To the best of my knowledge, everything that StabGuy has said regarding CDN law is 100% correct. Your intent, or perceived intent is what might get you into trouble in Canada

GadgetGeek - I'm a retired IT Consultant, a security specialist. I spent years working for the RCMP, Dept of National Defense, Canadian Gun Registry, etc. etc. If I ever need to use a weapon, it will be because there was no other option. That's the case today and it will not change. I learned how to break boards with my bare hands at about age 12-13, so a burglar would face a number of threats, before that of a weapon.

Do you think it's a good idea to have people believing that they could break into a home, without some concern that they might be harmed while doing so? Why mislead them? I obviously do not.

If you're in Canada and someone breaks into your home, I believe that you'd face fewer difficulties if you were to give them a good whack with an axe or machete, than with a folding knife that someone might be able to open with one hand.

I wasn’t disagreeing with Stabman actually.
 
Would you care to indicate why you think that would be appropriate?

Mostly because of all the rumours and misinformation that has been spread about Canadian knife laws in this thread.

Things like “a knife wider than your palm is illegal.”
 
One more thing … Should someone break into your house in Canada, do not use common sense to decide what you should do. Sit down and review the latest Canadian Knife Laws first, ... they're less than 20 pages of legalese. You could dial 911 while you're doing that and the police might arrive before you're finished. It's a budget issue (distance matters).
What new laws? I was under the impression that this was a trade tribunal ruling in favour of CBSA restricting imports.
 
What new laws? I was under the impression that this was a trade tribunal ruling in favour of CBSA restricting imports.
Correct. The problem is that our CBSA organization has created their own definition for prohibited knives and they are enforcing it as if it was in fact a Canadian Law. In other words they are prohibiting the import of knives that are NOT prohibited by Canadian Law. It seems as though knives purchased from the U.S. are not routinely examined, since NAFTA regulations/procedures ensure that there are no import tax issues. However if you purchase the same knife, from for example a Chinese eBay vendor, then CBSA will likely open the package to determine what the appropriate import tax should be and then 'detain' any knife that meets THEIR definition of a prohibited weapon. This YouTube video does an excellent job of explaining these 'unusual' and possibly 'improper' actions by CBSA …

Our Liberal government did indicate that they had an intent to change Canada's knife laws. Now 'acquiring' a prohibited item is treated the same as 'possessing' one, so that may explain CBSA's new interest in this topic. Why Canadians cannot acquire a knife that is NOT prohibited by CDN law is a mystery to me. Here's another YouTube video that explains how ridiculous this situation is …
 
Mostly because of all the rumours and misinformation that has been spread about Canadian knife laws in this thread.

Things like “a knife wider than your palm is illegal.”
Yes that particular statement is incorrect, however it is further clarified and corrected within the same Comment.
I did not find anything that I'd consider a 'rumour', but given the confusing situation that has been created, people do appear to be struggling to understand it. When all has been resolved, I do hope that the real effects bear some semblance to the stated intents. Currently this is NOT the case.
 
No one here is struggling to understand it. You however seem to be sewing FUD for no good reason. You keep using the word "acquire" when you mean "import". Regulating IMPORTS is part of the purview of CITT, enacted thereby by CBSA. Through many industries there are products that are legal to own, possess, even acquire, that the average citizen cannot easily legally IMPORT due to either taxes, labeling guidelines, copyright issues, etc.
You are acting as though you are an expert here, however this discussion is months old at this stage, and you have not provided any new insight into the situation. If you have new facts, feel free to share them, but opinions don't further the discussion in this case.
 
Please take the time to read the Canadian legislation. I did. Previously 'possessing' a prohibited knife was illegal. The new legislation includes a NEW section that describes the rules regarding 'acquiring' a prohibited knife. The topic of acquiring a knife was NOT mentioned in the old legislation.

The current difficulty is that CBSA is now addressing the acquiring of knives, while at the same time applying their own stricter interpretation of what a prohibited knife is. This is a brand new responsibility for CBSA, since the section on acquiring knives is also new. If you need me to locate the revised text for you, that now describes the rules regarding both possessing and acquiring a prohibited knife, then ask and I will. As I mentioned above as I recall it is no longer than 20 pages, but it is not an easy read.

I found this article that references the new 2018 legislation with little effort. I recall that the date 2018 April 24 was mentioned and I definitely did not imagine spending about 2 hours trying to understand it. It hopefully shouldn't take much longer to find the full text again.
https://www.canucksurvival.com/canadian-knife-laws-what-you-can-and-cant-carry/

P.S. Reality hasn't lived up to my hopes so far. I can't imagine why anyone would create as large and complex a document as the one that I found. Even in the unlikely case where it was a fake doc., it shouldn't be any more difficult to locate it now, than it was last month. I have no doubt that the doc I read was authentic, but I still have not been able to locate it. It is possible that I found something that was not authorized for public release yet. It might have been 'released' accidentally, or without proper authorization. Or the authors may not have anticipated the opposition to it, that exists today. I'll continue this search, but it may not be as simple as I first thought.
 
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If there is an actual legislation change, then just post the relevant section numbers and I'll go look it up. As far as I understand there has been no legislative changes, simply changes to definitions on the CBSA side of things, and CITT rulings.
 
I spent many years writing technical documentation for public release. The doc that I read appeared to be complete and ready either for final review and approval, or public release. After searching my memory I recall one thing that did not concern me at the time, but it does now. I do not recall seeing anything indicating that had been published. That did not concern me then, because it was early in April and I had been searching for a write-up on laws that I anticipated would come into effect in May.

I didn't find much in the doc that I liked, so if I never see it again, that wouldn't be such a bad thing. Given the number of references to the new 'Acquire' section that I've seen, I'm very certain I'm not the only one that read it. Obviously CBSA did.

I fully appreciate your need for clarity and it's clear to me that that does not exist. The situation that exists today may meet most or many of the government's objectives. I think someone such as Spyderco should ask those parties within the government who are responsible for this topic, if they plan to make any further changes to the current situation. Or are they content with the fact that most any Canadian could use the Internet tomorrow, to buy a knife in the U.S.A. and then learn at some future date that they could be prosecuted for doing so. My own reaction to that was that I put a hold on adding to my knife collection and started buying axes and machetes, until greater certainty exists.
 
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Your article is from 2017, and is the same basic breakdown that everyone uses. Nothing special there. Good thing about Canada, laws have to be public. Let us know when you find something legit.
 
Your article is from 2017, and is the same basic breakdown that everyone uses. Nothing special there. Good thing about Canada, laws have to be public. Let us know when you find something legit.
I currently live in Toronto, but I spent most of my life living and consulting in Ottawa, mostly for various Gov't depts/agencies. I know how our Gov't works and I still have lots of contacts there. There's still room for an official announcement in May.

I did have 2 Chinese knives detained by CBSA. I will not ask to have them returned, but I definitely can request a fuller explanation of the reason why they were detained and more importantly what authorization CBSA used to do that.

I did say that I found and read that unusual doc in early April and that the rumour I heard a little earlier than that, was that new legislation might be passed in May. BTW - It never ceases to amaze me how rude some people can be when they're hiding their name.
 
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There have been many threads on Canadian knife laws over the years, some of them quite technical and several authored by me. It is great to examine the law here and discuss it but I respectfully caution you against relying on any of it because it is nice conversation but not legal advice. For example, the laws do not depend on intent. Full criminal liability depends on both mens rea ( which is not exactly intent ) and actus reus, [which sometimes can]; and some laws, like Customs and seizure at the border, don't depend on "intent" at all and although rules of natural justice and fairness ( or statutory equivalents) do have to be complied with, and laws should be published, most laws are by regulation that only need be published in the Canada Gazette, which most of us have never seen, and subregulation policies and administrative discretions are seldom known. Plus, in the real world judicial challenge is difficult and officials and administartive tribunals do not have to be correct at law, simply interpreting and applying "reasonably" and are entitled to "deference" etc.

It would take a very strong case to overcome the pr4ecedents and attitudes we have in our Courts, right up to the SCC; and it's the law makers and administrative offricals who have some sort of serious dysfunction with laws and policies that are, with all due respect, f'ing idiotic, useless and counter-productive.
Knife knuts are not criminals and knives are not per se weapons. I could kill you more easily with a kitchen knife or just a stick through your eye than with a little spyderco. But we hva eno real rights up here, do we?
Anyway, that's for the Political Forum. Just be VERY careful being an amateur lawyer. It's a very fraught area even for lawyers.
 
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