It’s especially helpful for warding off moose attacks
(Narcity)  Throughout its history, Canada has instituted a slew of strange lawsthat no one really understood the purpose of. One law in particular, found in Section 365 of Canada’s criminal code, made it illegal to pretend to practice witchcraft, sorcery and fortune telling:
365 Every one who fraudulently
(a) 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.
So, yeah, pretending to be a witch, Harry Potter, etc, you can be convicted of a crime. Lest you think that wouldn’t happen, the article points out that someone was charged with this in Toronto 6 months ago. Of course, the last one before that was 30-40 years ago.
The House of Commons recently passed Bill C-51, which will repeal Section 365. It’s part of a well-received initiative to repeal archaic laws from the criminal code. Wayne Stetski Kootenay, an NDP MP, had this to say to parliament regarding the outdated law:
Anyhow, the law really was in place to ward off (see what I did there?) fraudulent people. Regardless, make sure to bring your magic wand next time you visit Canada.
