Criminal Code (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46)

Marginal note:Unlawful use of military uniforms or certificates

419 Every person is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction who, without lawful authority,

• (a) wears a uniform of the Canadian Forces or any other naval, army or air force or a uniform that is so similar to the uniform of any of those forces that it is likely to be mistaken therefor,

• (b) wears a distinctive mark relating to wounds received or service performed in war, or a military medal, ribbon, badge, chevron or any decoration or order that is awarded for war services, or any imitation thereof, or any mark or device or thing that is likely to be mistaken for any such mark, medal, ribbon, badge, chevron, decoration or order,

• (c) has in his possession a certificate of discharge, certificate of release, statement of service or identity card from the Canadian Forces or any other naval, army or air force that has not been issued to and does not belong to him, or

• (d) has in his possession a commission or warrant or a certificate of discharge, certificate of release, statement of service or identity card, issued to an officer or a person in or who has been in the Canadian Forces or any other naval, army or air force, that contains any alteration that is not verified by the initials of the officer who issued it, or by the initials of an officer thereto lawfully authorized.

Marginal note:Military stores

• 420 (1) Every one who buys, receives or detains from a member of the Canadian Forces or a deserter or an absentee without leave therefrom any military stores that are owned by Her Majesty or for which the member, deserter or absentee without leave is accountable to Her Majesty is guilty of

  • (a) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years; or

  • (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) No person shall be convicted of an offence under this section where he establishes that he did not know and had no reason to suspect that the military stores in respect of which the offence was committed were owned by Her Majesty or were military stores for which the member, deserter or absentee without leave was accountable to Her Majesty.

Marginal note:Evidence of enlistment

• 421 (1) In proceedings under sections 417 to 420, evidence that a person was at any time performing duties in the Canadian Forces is, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, proof that his enrolment in the Canadian Forces prior to that time was regular.

• Marginal note:Presumption when accused a dealer in stores

  (2) An accused who is charged with an offence under subsection 417(2) shall be presumed to have known that the stores in respect of which the offence is alleged to have been committed bore a distinguishing mark within the meaning of that subsection at the time the offence is alleged to have been committed if he was, at that time, in the service or employment of Her Majesty or was a dealer in marine stores or in old metals.

Breach of Contract, Intimidation and Discrimination Against Trade Unionists

Marginal note:Criminal breach of contract

• 422 (1) Every one who wilfully breaks a contract, knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the probable consequences of doing so, whether alone or in combination with others, will be

  • (a) to endanger human life,

  • (b) to cause serious bodily injury,

  • (c) to expose valuable property, real or personal, to destruction or serious injury,

  • (d) to deprive the inhabitants of a city or place, or part thereof, wholly or to a great extent, of their supply of light, power, gas or water, or

  • (e) to delay or prevent the running of any locomotive engine, tender, freight or passenger train or car, on a railway that is a common carrier,

  is guilty of

  • (f) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or

  • (g) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

• Marginal note:Saving

  (2) No person wilfully breaks a contract within the meaning of subsection (1) by reason only that

  • (a) being the employee of an employer, he stops work as a result of the failure of his employer and himself to agree on any matter relating to his employment, or,

  • (b) being a member of an organization of employees formed for the purpose of regulating relations between employers and employees, he stops work as a result of the failure of the employer and a bargaining agent acting on behalf of the organization to agree on any matter relating to the employment of members of the organization,

  if, before the stoppage of work occurs, all steps provided by law with respect to the settlement of industrial disputes are taken and any provision for the final settlement of differences, without stoppage of work, contained in or by law deemed to be contained in a collective agreement is complied with and effect given thereto.

• Marginal note:Consent required

  (3) No proceedings shall be instituted under this section without the consent of the Attorney General.

Marginal note:Intimidation

• 423 (1) Every one is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years or is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction who, wrongfully and without lawful authority, for the purpose of compelling another person to abstain from doing anything that he or she has a lawful right to do, or to do anything that he or she has a lawful right to abstain from doing,

  • (a) uses violence or threats of violence to that person or their intimate partner or children, or injures the person’s property;

  • (b) intimidates or attempts to intimidate that person or a relative of that person by threats that, in Canada or elsewhere, violence or other injury will be done to or punishment inflicted on him or her or a relative of his or hers, or that the property of any of them will be damaged;

  • (c) persistently follows that person;

  • (d) hides any tools, clothes or other property owned or used by that person, or deprives him or her of them or hinders him or her in the use of them;

  • (e) with one or more other persons, follows that person, in a disorderly manner, on a highway;

  • (f) besets or watches the place where that person resides, works, carries on business or happens to be; or

  • (g) blocks or obstructs a highway.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) A person who attends at or near or approaches a dwelling-house or place, for the purpose only of obtaining or communicating information, does not watch or beset within the meaning of this section.

Marginal note:Intimidation of a justice system participant or a journalist

• 423.1 (1) No person shall, without lawful authority, engage in any conduct with the intent to provoke a state of fear in

  • (a) a group of persons or the general public in order to impede the administration of criminal justice;

  • (b) a justice system participant or military justice system participant in order to impede him or her in the performance of his or her duties; or

  • (c) a journalist in order to impede him or her in the transmission to the public of information in relation to a criminal organization.

• (2) [Repealed, 2015, c. 13, s. 12]

• Marginal note:Punishment

  (3) Every person who contravenes this section is guilty of an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than fourteen years.

• Marginal note:Definition of military justice system participant

  (4) In this section, military justice system participant has the same meaning as in subsection 2(1) of the National Defence Act.

Marginal note:Intimidation — health services

• 423.2 (1) Every person commits an offence who engages in any conduct with the intent to provoke a state of fear in

  • (a) a person in order to impede them from obtaining health services from a health professional;

  • (b) a health professional in order to impede them in the performance of their duties; or

  • (c) a person, whose functions are to assist a health professional in the performance of the health professional’s duties, in order to impede that person in the performance of those functions.

• Marginal note:Obstruction or interference with access

  (2) Every person commits an offence who, without lawful authority, intentionally obstructs or interferes with another person’s lawful access to a place at which health services are provided by a health professional.

• Marginal note:Punishment

  (3) Every person who commits an offence under subsection (1) or (2) is

  • (a) guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 10 years; or

  • (b) guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

• Marginal note:Defence

  (4) No person is guilty of an offence under subsection (2) by reason only that they attend at or near, or approach, a place referred to in that subsection for the purpose only of obtaining or communicating information.

• Marginal note:Definition of health professional

  (5) In this section, health professional means a person who is entitled under the laws of a province to provide health services.

Marginal note:Threat against internationally protected person

424 Every person who threatens to commit an offence under section 235, 236, 266, 267, 268, 269, 269.1, 271, 272, 273, 279 or 279.1 against an internationally protected person or who threatens to commit an offence under section 431 is guilty of

• (a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years; or

• (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

Marginal note:Threat against United Nations or associated personnel

424.1 Every person who, with intent to compel any person, group of persons, state or any international or intergovernmental organization to do or refrain from doing any act, threatens to commit an offence under section 235, 236, 266, 267, 268, 269, 269.1, 271, 272, 273, 279 or 279.1 against a member of United Nations personnel or associated personnel or threatens to commit an offence under section 431.1 is guilty of

• (a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 10 years; or

• (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

Marginal note:Offences by employers

425 Every one who, being an employer or the agent of an employer, wrongfully and without lawful authority

• (a) refuses to employ or dismisses from his employment any person for the reason only that the person is a member of a lawful trade union or of a lawful association or combination of workmen or employees formed for the purpose of advancing, in a lawful manner, their interests and organized for their protection in the regulation of wages and conditions of work,

• (b) seeks by intimidation, threat of loss of position or employment, or by causing actual loss of position or employment, or by threatening or imposing any pecuniary penalty, to compel workmen or employees to abstain from belonging to any trade union, association or combination to which they have a lawful right to belong, or

• (c) conspires, combines, agrees or arranges with any other employer or his agent to do anything mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b),

is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

Marginal note:Threats and retaliation against employees

• 425.1 (1) No employer or person acting on behalf of an employer or in a position of authority in respect of an employee of the employer shall take a disciplinary measure against, demote, terminate or otherwise adversely affect the employment of such an employee, or threaten to do so,

  • (a) with the intent to compel the employee to abstain from providing information to a person whose duties include the enforcement of federal or provincial law, respecting an offence that the employee believes has been or is being committed contrary to this or any other federal or provincial Act or regulation by the employer or an officer or employee of the employer or, if the employer is a corporation, by one or more of its directors; or

  • (b) with the intent to retaliate against the employee because the employee has provided information referred to in paragraph (a) to a person whose duties include the enforcement of federal or provincial law.

• Marginal note:Punishment

  (2) Any one who contravenes subsection (1) is guilty of

  • (a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years; or

  • (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

Secret Commissions

Marginal note:Secret commissions

• 426 (1) Every one commits an offence who

  • (a) directly or indirectly, corruptly gives, offers or agrees to give or offer to an agent or to anyone for the benefit of the agent — or, being an agent, directly or indirectly, corruptly demands, accepts or offers or agrees to accept from any person, for themselves or another person — any reward, advantage or benefit of any kind as consideration for doing or not doing, or for having done or not done, any act relating to the affairs or business of the agent’s principal, or for showing or not showing favour or disfavour to any person with relation to the affairs or business of the agent’s principal; or

  • (b) with intent to deceive a principal, gives to an agent of that principal, or, being an agent, uses with intent to deceive his principal, a receipt, an account or other writing

    • (i) in which the principal has an interest,

    • (ii) that contains any statement that is false or erroneous or defective in any material particular, and

    • (iii) that is intended to mislead the principal.

• Marginal note:Privity to offence

  (2) Every one commits an offence who is knowingly privy to the commission of an offence under subsection (1).

• Marginal note:Punishment

  (3) A person who commits an offence under this section is guilty of

  • (a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years; or

  • (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

• Definition of agent and principal

  (4) In this section, agent includes an employee, and principal includes an employer.