368.1

Forgery instruments

368.1 Everyone is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 14 years, or is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction, who, without lawful authority or excuse, makes, repairs, buys, sells, exports from Canada, imports into Canada or possesses any instrument, device, apparatus, material or thing that they know has been used or know is adapted or intended for use by any person to commit forgery.

Annotations | French

  • Section 368.1

     

  • The term “possession” is defined in section 4(3).

     

  • Materials that are “commonplace and freely available for purchase” can still be considered forgery instruments, as long as they are suitable for committing forgery and were used or intended to be used for that purpose (R v Sommani, 2007 BCCA 199 at para 71).

368.2

Public officers acting in the course of their duties or employment

368.2 No public officer, as defined in subsection 25.1(1), is guilty of an offence under any of sections 366 to 368.1 if the acts alleged to constitute the offence were committed by the public officer for the sole purpose of establishing or maintaining a covert identity for use in the course of the public officer’s duties or employment.

Annotations

  • Part IV

369

Exchequer bill paper, public seals, etc.

369 Everyone is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 14 years who, without lawful authority or excuse,

(a) makes, uses or possesses

(i) any exchequer bill paper, revenue paper or paper that is used to make bank-notes, or

(ii) any paper that is intended to resemble paper mentioned in subparagraph (i); or

(b) makes, reproduces or uses a public seal of Canada or of a province, or the seal of a public body or authority in Canada or of a court of law.

Annotations | French

  • Section 369

     

  • The terms “exchequer bill”, “exchequer bill paper”, and “revenue paper” are defined in s 321.

     

  • The terms “bank-note” and “writing” are defined in s 2.
In Tags

372

False information

372 (1) Everyone commits an offence who, with intent to injure or alarm a person, conveys information that they know is false, or causes such information to be conveyed by letter or any means of telecommunication.

Indecent communications

(2) Everyone commits an offence who, with intent to alarm or annoy a person, makes an indecent communication to that person or to any other person by a means of telecommunication.

Harassing communications

(3) Everyone commits an offence who, without lawful excuse and with intent to harass a person, repeatedly communicates, or causes repeated communications to be made, with them by a means of telecommunication.

Punishment

(4) Everyone who commits an offence under this section is

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

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

Annotations | French

  • Section 372

     

  • For the purposes of subsection (2), communication to a person includes communication made by phone and recorded on an answering machine (R v Manicke (1993), 109 Sask R 126 (CA)).

     

  • The fault element for subsection (3) is intent to harass a person. The act element for subsection (3) is “transmitting a harassing communication by means of a telecommunication.” To prove the act has been committed, the Crown requires proof of the transmission, but does not require proof that the communication was received by another person (R c Manrique, 2020 QCCA 1170 at paras 34–37).

     

In Tags

374

Drawing document without authority, etc.

374 Every one who

(a) with intent to defraud and without lawful authority makes, executes, draws, signs, accepts or endorses a document in the name or on the account of another person by procuration or otherwise, or

(b) makes use of or utters a document knowing that it has been made, executed, signed, accepted or endorsed with intent to defraud and without lawful authority, in the name or on the account of another person, by procuration or otherwise,

is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.

Annotations

  • Part IV
In Tags

375

Obtaining, etc., by instrument based on forged document

375 Every one who demands, receives or obtains anything, or causes or procures anything to be delivered or paid to any person under, on or by virtue of any instrument issued under the authority of law, knowing that it is based on a forged document, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.

Annotations

  • Part IV
In Tags

376

Counterfeiting stamp, etc.

376 (1) Every person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 14 years who

(a) fraudulently uses, mutilates, affixes, removes or counterfeits a stamp or part thereof,

(b) knowingly and without lawful excuse has in their possession

(i) a counterfeit stamp or a stamp that has been fraudulently mutilated, or

(ii) anything bearing a stamp of which a part has been fraudulently erased, removed or concealed, or

(c) without lawful excuse makes or knowingly has in their possession a die or instrument that is capable of making the impression of a stamp or part of a stamp.

Counterfeiting mark

(2) Every one who, without lawful authority,

(a) makes a mark,

(b) sells, or exposes for sale, or has in his possession a counterfeit mark,

(c) affixes a mark to anything that is required by law to be marked, branded, sealed or wrapped other than the thing to which the mark was originally affixed or was intended to be affixed, or

(d) affixes a counterfeit mark to anything that is required by law to be marked, branded, sealed or wrapped,

is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.

Definitions

(3) In this section,

mark means a mark, brand, seal, wrapper or design used by or on behalf of

(a) the government of Canada or a province,

(b) the government of a state other than Canada, or

(c) any department, board, commission or agent established by a government mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) in connection with the service or business of that government; (marque)

stamp means an impressed or adhesive stamp used for the purpose of revenue by the government of Canada or a province or by the government of a state other than Canada. (timbre)

Annotations | French

  • Section 376

     

  • A counterfeit mark is any mark that falsely purports to be a genuine official mark, regardless whether the mark actually achieved that goal. In other words, a poor counterfeit is still a counterfeit: R v Sommani, 2007 BCCA 199 at para 66.

     

  • “Mark” includes the mark of a province, such as the trillium for Ontario: R v Smith, 2021 ONCA 310 at para 22.

     

  • “For a mark on a government issued document to be counterfeit, the document on which it appears must at least have been altered in some way after the government issued the document and applied the mark”: R v Smith, 2021 ONCA 310 at para 27.

     

In Tags

377

Damaging documents

377 (1) Every person 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 unlawfully

(a) destroys, defaces or injures a register, or any part of a register, of births, baptisms, marriages, deaths or burials that is required or authorized by law to be kept in Canada, or a copy or any part of a copy of such a register that is required by law to be transmitted to a registrar or other officer,

(b) inserts or causes to be inserted in a register or copy referred to in paragraph (a) an entry, that he knows is false, of any matter relating to a birth, baptism, marriage, death or burial, or erases any material part from that register or copy,

(c) destroys, damages or obliterates an election document or causes an election document to be destroyed, damaged or obliterated, or

(d) makes or causes to be made an erasure, alteration or interlineation in or on an election document.

Definition of election document

(2) In this section, election document means any document or writing issued under the authority of an Act of Parliament or the legislature of a province with respect to an election held pursuant to the authority of that Act.

Annotations

  • Part IV
In Tags

378

Offences in relation to registers

378 Every person 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

(a) being authorized or required by law to make or issue a certified copy of, extract from or certificate in respect of a register, record or document, knowingly makes or issues a false certified copy, extract or certificate,

(b) not being authorized or required by law to make or issue a certified copy of, extract from or certificate in respect of a register, record or document, fraudulently makes or issues a copy, extract or certificate that purports to be certified as authorized or required by law, or

(c) being authorized or required by law to make a certificate or declaration concerning any particular required for the purpose of making entries in a register, record or document, knowingly and falsely makes the certificate or declaration.

Annotations

  • Part IV
In Tags