By: Martha Currie and Julia Simioni
Since the announced July 2018 decriminalization of marijuana has sparked interest in Canada’s Criminal Code, in particular, outdated laws have been brought up in debates about updating the Criminal Code.
A number of laws are considered “archaic” such as section 365 in the code, which states that citizens pretending to “exercise or to use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment or conjuration is guilty of an offence.”
The Criminal Code was created in 1892, and was revised in the 1950s and again in the 1970s.
Second-year creative industries student, Hayley Matheson, says that outdated laws are unnecessary and need to be changed.
“This reminds me of putting people in jail for smoking weed. Is that absolutely necessary when there are so many other things that are happening? Like true crimes that need to be prosecuted,” said Matheson.
Another outdated law states that Canadian’s who challenge another person to fight a duel could spend two years in jail, according to Section 71 of the Canadian Criminal Code.
“There is a lot of issues in today’s society that we need to deal with – not worrying about duels happening,” said, first-year media pro
duction student, Carson Martone.
Ryerson students express concern over these outdated laws – believing that the Criminal Code should be focused on more widespread and serious issues.
“The Criminal Code is there for Canadians to abide by and there are more important things to focus on than cutting coins,” said third-year journalism student Marianna Lozowska.
The law Lozowska is referring to is Section 451 of the Criminal Code which states that trimming pieces of gold or silver coins could land a citizen in jail for up to five years.
There are other laws which some consider to be slightly intrusive. Section 159 of the Criminal Code outlines that “every person who engages in an act of anal intercourse is guilty of an indictable offence.” People who have anal sex can go to jail for 10 years.
Members of the LGBTQ community have expressed outrage to this law. Section 159 “unfairly discriminated against the LGBTQ community and violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” said Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould in an address in March 2017.
“It sounds like they really need to take a look at the laws that should be in place to keep everyone safe rather than the ones that are just in place because they thought of them 20 years ago,” said Matheson.
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