Young Writers Society

I recently found a book among all the other players guides and computer manuals my dad owns called, "You Can't Do That in Canada!" It's a book about crazy laws that people have basically forgotten over the years. Every day I'm going to post, in this thread, a new law that I'll find in the book. If you're not Canadian this should be interesting, if you are, well, it'll be worth a few laughs anyway.

Because this is my first segment, I'm going to give you three laws instead of one.


An old bylaw in the City of Toronto reportedly made it illegal to drag a dead horse down Yonge Street on a Sunday.

According to a judgment in Winnipeg in 1996, you can sit on an alligator, you can poke it and you can pull its tail, but none of this qualifies as illegally provoking or agitating it.

It is illegal to perform any form of exercise in Quesnel B.C. that might frighten a horse without permission.

Hehe. I like the third one but who would you ask for permission? The horse?

I was wondering the same thing! And who's going to give you permission to frighten their horse anyway? XD

The first law is pretty weird.And that's why i appreciate that law.It really touches me.And grosses me out a little.Who would drag a dead horse in public???

I guess that the first one makes sense... i mean it's very disrespectful to drag a dead horse down the road... Especially on Sunday... hee-hee agitating an alligator...

--Lucky

No one was allowed to ride a mini-bike along sidewalks or pathways intended for pedestrians, on any highways or bridges in Scarborough, Ontario, in the 70's. The fine could be as high as $300.

It is illegal to buy or sell fish caught under a domestic fishing license in Alberta. A person can have the fish if "the resident is in dire need of fish for the purpose of feeding his family or animals he owns." If a restaurant needs fish for its menu, that doesn't qualify -- the fish caught can't be sold to an eatery.

You can't keep a pet hare in Toronto, but you can have up to six rabbits. If one of them has babies, thought, they're illegal. You already have your allowed number.

Indecent exposure is still an offense in most places in Canada, but the definitions of a sufficient bathing dress have changed a lot. It is now legal for women to go topless on Ontario streets. Bathing doesn't even come into it. But in the early 1970s it was unlawful to wear a partially transparent bathing suit in Victoria, B.C.

Topless!? O.O

For a short time in 1999 in Nunavut, the Fire Department bylaw stated that "any applicant to the fire department must have a history of mental illness." (Of course, it should have said: "any applicant to the fire department must NOT have a history of mental illness.") The typo got passed by council by accident, but was soon spotted by an eagle-eyed reader. A rewritten version was drafted shortly thereafter.

People may not dress as inanimate objects, stand on the sidewalk and wave to people to advertise something in Victoria, B.C. Luggie the Rug and his buddy (dressed as a cell phone) were mascots in the 1990s, advertising rug and phone services. They broke the bylaw, and faced fines up to $100.

It's illegl to cause "significant injury" to a tree's roots in Toronto, unless the owner consents. Neighbours can't put up a building too close to the tree next door, even when million-dollar investments are at stake.

You may not legally pay for a 26-cent item with 26 pennies, anywhere in Canada. The limit is 25 cents.