Explore 19 verified weird and obscure laws from Canada, each fact-checked and sourced.
Alberta's Occupational Health and Safety Code prohibits painting wooden ladders, though transparent coatings are allowed. British Columbia has a similar regulation requiring any coating to be transparent.
City of Toronto historians and bylaw officers have found no reference to this specific prohibition in the archives of the six municipalities that amalgamated to form Toronto. The claim is legal folklore, not actual law.
The Apology Act, 2009 provides that an apology made by or on behalf of a person does not constitute an admission of fault or liability and is not admissible in any civil proceeding as evidence of fault or liability. This law allows Canadians to apologize without legal consequences.
REPEALED! It was illegal to make, print, publish, distribute, sell, or possess "a crime comic"—defined as a magazine that "exclusively or substantially comprises matter depicting pictorially the commission of crimes, real or fictitious."
PARTIALLY TRUE! BC municipalities do impose limits on backyard chicken keeping, but the commonly cited "4 hen limit" is often wrong. Limits vary significantly between municipalities.
UNVERIFIED! Various sources claim BC has a law protecting Sasquatch from being killed, but no official statute or regulation has been located.
ACTIVE! Everyone who makes or causes to be made an opening in ice that is open to or frequented by the public is under a legal duty to guard it in a manner adequate to prevent persons from falling in by accident and adequate to warn them that the opening exists.
ACTIVE! Canadian criminal law applies to Canadian crew members on the International Space Station, on any other space flight, or on the surface of the Moon or any other celestial body.
PARTIALLY TRUE! Multiple secondary sources cite this 1906 prohibition, but the original bylaw text has not been independently verified.
ACTIVE! Anyone wishing to keep bees in Oak Bay must obtain a permit, submit a site plan showing hive placement, and ensure hives are positioned at specified distances from property lines and neighboring residences.
STILL ACTIVE (Symbolic)! Bylaw 771 prohibits the manufacture, testing, storage, or deployment of nuclear weapons within municipal boundaries—though municipalities have no constitutional authority over federal defense matters.
REPEALED! A municipal bylaw prohibited the sale of stoves and ovens on Wednesdays within Vancouver city limits from 1947 to 1986.
