And The Yeas have It! MMA provided legal framework in Canada

Canadians have embraced Mixed Martial Arts since the Sport’s inception.  Despite this MMA has always been unlawful in Canada.  The long road to legalization is nearing an end with Bill S-209 now passing third reading in Parliament with a vote of 267-9 enabling for a legal framework for both expert as well as amateur MMA together with other battle sports.

What does expense S-209 do?

Section 83 of the Criminal Code makes prize fighting unlawful except in restricted circumstances.  Since 1934 the exceptions were restricted to “boxing”.  Bill S-209 has broadened the circumstances for legal prizefights to include MMA as well as other sports.

The default is that prize fights will stay unlawful in Camiseta Celta de Vigo Canada.  Bill S-209 permits Provinces to control expert MMA in addition to boxing.  This clears the method for Provinces to have the power to produce athletic Commissions to control as well as permission expert MMA Bouts.  This will provide Provincial posts such as the athletic Commissioner of Ontario as well as the BC athletic Commissioner actual authority to utilize their powers to permission legal MMA.  This will likewise eliminate the requirement for Provinces such as Quebec to invent sports such as “mixed boxing” to get around the old Criminal Code prohibition.  Lastly, it will ideally provide motivation for Provinces that have been as well gun-shy to control MMA to date to produce athletic commissions as well as bring the sport above ground.

What about battle sports other than MMA?

One of the shortcomings of expense S-209’s language is that it limits Provincial authority to permission expert “boxing contests or mixed martial arts contests” .

It can be argued that provided this specific language other expert battle sports such as kickboxing cannot be regulated, therefore they will stay illegal.  BC appears to have taken this stance.

Perhaps the more practical interpretation of the Provinces powers is that if they can control expert MMA they can regulated any type of subset martial art so long as the contest’s rules do not enable methods outlawed by MMA.  For example, all methods that are legal in a expert kickboxing match are likewise legal in MMA as well as it might be argued that a province is well within their rights to control as well as permission such sports.

What about Amateur MMA as well as other battle Sports?

Some Amateur battle sports will be legal by default as well as others will stay unlawful by default, this includes amateur MMA.

Amateur battle sports that will be legal by default will include those  “in the programme of the worldwide Olympic Committee”.    These include  Boxing, Wrestling, Judo as well as Tae Kwon Do.

Other Amateur battle sports, such as MMA, Kickboxing as well as Karate, stay unlawful by default.  However, expense S-209 enables this to be fixed by permitting Provinces to make them legal by particularly designating them. This is a useful tool as well as one that each province should quickly utilize to provide all Canadians a listing of permitted amateur battle sports.

In short, expense S-209 is a welcome modification to the Camiseta Selección de fútbol de Senegal Canadian battle sports legal landscape.  I motivate all stakeholders in the battle sports neighborhood to now get in touch with your Provincial authorities as well as motivate them to pass regulations addressing the amateur gap.

Here is video of the actual vote

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