36 Weird Canadian Laws You Didn’t Know Existed

Victoria, BC, has some pretty extensive regulations governing street performers, including a special section relating specifically to bagpipers. Along with rules laying out where and when pipers can pipe, there is also legislation stating that a bagpiper can't perform at "the same time as another street entertainer whose performance includes bagpipes." Sadly, this eliminates the possibility of ever hearing "Duelling Banjos" played with bagpipes.

Lawmakers in Etobicoke, Ontario, are big believers in bathtub safety, so much so that a local bylaw states that a bathtub should not be filled with more than three-and-a-half inches of water. Note to Etobicoke lawmakers: next time you take a bath, fill it with three-and-a-half inches of water and see how that works out for you...

Our laws aren't the only confusing thing about Canadians. Check out these phrases our American neighbours just don't get.

Thanks to a law dating back to the era of Prohibition and bootlegging, it's illegal to transport liquor from one province to another without the permission of the province's liquor control board. Luckily, this law was relaxed in 2012, but only for wine; in 2019, plans were made to "eliminate barriers to interprovincial interprovincial trade in alcohol."

Souris, PEI, boasts a law making it illegal to build a snowman that is higher than 30 inches (two-and-a-half feet) tall. In Souris, there's apparently less likelihood of a snowman melting than being accidentally stomped under somebody's boot.

If you live in Kanata, Ont., feel free to paint your garage door any colour you want. Except purple. That's against the law, and you will be fined. This probably explains why Prince never settled down in Kanata.

A typical childhood pastime in the rest of Canada has been outlawed in Oshawa, Ont., where it's illegal to climb a tree. According to the local bylaw, "No person shall interfere with a tree or part of a tree located on municipal property, including but not limited to attaching, affixing or placing upon in any manner any object or thing to a tree or part of a tree, and climbing the tree." So hurry up and climb down before the cops arrive!

Thanks to an obscure law in the Canadian Criminal Code dating back to the 1940s, it's illegal to possess, print, publish or sell a comic book that depicts any criminal act. As a criminal lawyer tells Global News: “The letter of the law is drafted sufficiently broadly so that virtually any superhero comic book that we’re familiar with today would violate the letter of the law.”

If you're ever in Ottawa on a Sunday and get a hankering for an ice cream cone, whatever you do, don't eat it on Bank Street. That's because eating ice cream on Bank Street on any other day of the street is perfectly fine, but Sundays? Against the law!

Back in early 20th-century Canada when white women were finally allowed to work, a first-of-its-kind law made it illegal for a Chinese man to hire a white woman. “An Act to Prevent the Employment of Female Labour in Certain Capacities" was born in 1912 and the anti-Chinese law was brought up in widely publicized trials after two Chinese men tried to employ white women. Quong Wing and Quong Sing were charged with violating the law. It was a thing.

The town of Uxbridge, Ont., has strict limits regarding Internet speed. In fact, a local law limits internet speed to 56k; anything faster, and you're a criminal! The 56k speed, by the way, was the average back in the mid-1990s, when dial-up modems were all the rage and the concept of WiFi was pure science fiction — so let's assume that Uxbridge is crawling with cyber-criminals.

Prior to 1995, it was illegal to sell yellow-coloured margarine in Ontario, thanks to the relentless lobbying efforts of Canada's dairy industry. The goal of keeping margarine white was presumably to make it appear less appetizing to consumers, thus leading them to the warm, greasy embrace of real butter.

One of the strangest facets of Canada's Criminal Code is that an entire section is devoted to oysters — including regulations relating to the ethical treatment of the shellfish before you slurp them out of their shells. Interestingly enough, un-shucked oysters are one of the strange items you won't believe are taxed in Canada.

Speaking of horses, arguably the weirdest law in Canada is a still-existing Toronto bylaw that prohibits dragging a dead horse down Yonge Street on Sundays. You want to do it from Monday to Saturday? Hey, knock yourself out!

Having a home with more than two different colours of paint will earn you a fine if you live in Beaconsfield, Que., where houses should be only two colours — or, even better, just one!

While it's not illegal to own a cow in Newfoundland, it is against the law to keep that cow in one's home like a house pet. It's also illegal, by the way, to drive cattle through the streets of St. John's, but only after 8 AM. Apparently, Newfoundland cattle drives are more of a late-night thing.

Throughout Canada, federal aviation law forbids "a person to enter or leave the aircraft during flight unless... (a) the person leaves for the purpose of making a parachute descent.” If the passenger is in possession of a parachute, however, making a mid-air jump from the plane can only be done with the permission of the pilot. As for how one would manage to enter an airplane in the middle of a flight, unless you're Tom Cruise in a Mission: Impossible movie, it's probably not much of an issue.

In the Victoria neighbourhood of Oak Bay, a noisy parrot that talks too loudly could result in a fine. Polly want a summons?

Anyone who's ever tried to get rid of some change at the checkout counter had best know the rules, as there are specific limits set as to how much can be paid with coins. For example, a federal government website notes that the limit is $25 if you’re paying with loonies, $5 if you're using nickels. If you're trying to get rid of pennies, the maximum legal amount per purchase is a mere 25 cents.

In the Vancouver suburb of Port Coquitlam, rat-lovers must confine themselves to owning no more than four of the critters; any more than that, and you can expect a visit from the constabulary. And, hopefully, a maid.

The Canadian Criminal Code contains a statute declaring it illegal to scare the Queen — and yes, sneaking up behind her and saying "Boo!" would count. The law apparently dates back to Confederation, and can be traced to Britain’s Treason Act of 1842, which itself was responding to an incident in which a British man pointed a gun at Queen Victoria, but did not fire it.

Attaching a siren to a bicycle in Sudbury, Ont., is a criminal offence, punishable by a fine of up to $5,000. Bells and horns? Totally cool. Sirens? Not on your life!

It is against the law to "wear" a snake or lizard on one's body in public while within the city limits of Fredericktown, NB. Snakes and other types of reptiles may only be taken out in public within a glass container.

It was once illegal to throw a snowball within the city limits of Esquimalt, BC, although that weird law was subsequently repealed — presumably because the local police were getting tired of locking up eight-year-olds.

If you hop in a cab in Halifax and see your driver is wearing a t-shirt and cut-off shorts — call 911 (just kidding, of course!). That's because a Halifax bylaw requires cab drivers to wear a “shirt or military type blouse with a collar and sleeves” along with “ankle-length trousers, or dress shorts which are worn within at least three inches of the knee.”

The powers that be in London, Ont., are pretty strict when it comes to mowing the lawn. If you let your grass grow higher than eight inches, the city may just come in and cut it for you — and then send you the bill for it.

It's a bad idea for a teenager to walk down Main Street in Fort Qu'Appelle, Sask., with untied shoes. Not only is there a good chance the teen might trip over those laces, he or she might also be thrown in the slammer for violating a local law prohibited untied shoes for teens on Main Street.

Do you live in Cobourg, Ont., and have a water trough in your front yard? Do you fill that trough with water after 5 AM? Then you are in violation of a local bylaw that probably made more sense in the days when the horse and buggy was the primary mode of transport.

It's illegal to whistle in Petrolia, Ont., between 11 P and 7 AM, so keep your lips zipped. Apparently, this weird law is part of a anti-noise bylaw that prohibits "yelling, shouting, hooting, whistling or singing" during the wee hours.

Dressing up like a witch for Halloween? Perfectly legal. Pretending to be a witch and passing yourself off as one when you actually aren't, however? That's breaking the law. According to the Canadian Criminal Code, anyone who "pretends to exercise or to use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment or conjuration, (b) undertakes, for a consideration, to tell fortunes, or (c) pretends from his skill in or knowledge of an occult or crafty science to discover where or in what manner anything that is supposed to have been stolen or lost may be found, is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction."

According to Alberta's Health and Safety Code, it is against the law to paint a wooden ladder. The reason: to avoid disguising the condition of a shoddy ladder that's been made to look new thanks to a coat of paint. If a ladder looks old and rickety, it needs to stay that way!

Even though pennies have been taken out of circulation in Canada, it remains a crime to deface one — which includes such actions as drilling a hole in it, scratching it with a knife or, that old favourite, leaving it on a railway track so it becomes flattened by a passing train.

For reasons that must have made sense at the time, Vancouver enacted legislation in 1947 that made it illegal to sell a stove within city limits — but only on Wednesdays. The law was repealed about 40 years later, meaning stove-sellers can flaunt their wares with impunity seven days a week.

If you find yourself in Alberta, and are suddenly overcome with the urge to set fire to somebody's wooden leg — don't! Not only is it a pretty creepy thing to do, it's also against the law, and will no doubt land you behind bars.

If you're selling a car and happen to be in Montreal, feel free to put a "For Sale" sign in the window — unless you plan on driving the car, that is; in Montreal, it's against the law to place a "For Sale" sign in the window of a moving vehicle. Leave the sign and take your car out to enjoy one of these Canadian road trips you need to take at least once.

If you stiff a hotel in Ontario and sneak out without paying your bill, that hotel has the legal right to recoup its losses by selling your horse.

Although those guys on inexplicably-still-on-the-air TV series Finding Bigfoot have yet to actually live up to the show's title, if they happen to come across a Sasquatch in BC they'd be wise to not harm a hair on its furry body. That's because an obscure law (which may or may not be an urban legend) states that it's illegal to shoot a "Mowgli" (the nickname for Sasquatch back in the day). However, on a broader scope, current legislation states that all native species of animals in the province — excluding invertebrates and fish — cannot be hunted, which would presumably include Sasquatch should the mythical beast ever decide to reveal itself to humans.