Next time you sing a song or hammer a nail, you might want to first check to make sure you鈥檙e not breaking the law.
While those activities are legal at all times in most parts of Canada, that鈥檚 not the case everywhere.
Each of the country鈥檚 approximately 3,700 municipalities is able to create bylaws that prohibit certain activities.
Breaking a bylaw won鈥檛 land you in jail. Penalties are more likely to take the form of fines, which can vary wildly based on the community and the offence.
Anyone caught ice skating on a road in Wetaskiwin, Alta, for example, . The city also bans its residents from doing anything to any animal, with penalties rising from $100 for a first offence to $500 for a third.
Teasing animals is allowed in most circumstances in Red Deer, Alta. 鈥� unless the animal is a cat that happens to be caught in a cat trap. and you鈥檒l be facing a fine of $510.
Human laws for animals
Animals are often the subjects of some of Canada鈥檚 more unusual bylaws 鈥� like in Gander, N.L., where a $20 fine can be issued to the owner of .
Many communities ban their citizens from feeding wild animals, albeit with exceptions for bird feeders and the like. Stratford, Ont. might be the only city to specifically state that its ban on feeding wild animals .
People who own household pets, meanwhile, are usually risking fines if their animals chase strangers or make noises that disturb them. Doggie doo is often a problem addressed through bylaws, with Tisdale, Sask. being particular strict. Dog owners in that city must from their properties each day, unless they want to deal with fines that can reach $250 per offence.
Tisdale also requires female dogs to be kept inside when they are in heat. Many communities have similar guidelines. Estevan, Sask. has a somewhat looser rule: Dogs in heat there are allowed outside .
Parks and recreation
Mostly, though, bylaws govern the activities of people 鈥� sometimes with surprising specificity. Victoria鈥檚 street entertainment bylaw lays out distinct rules for to follow. Two bagpipers can鈥檛 be playing on city streets at the same time, for example, and balloon artists cannot demand payment for their work.
Elsewhere in Victoria, the city鈥檚 outlaws anyone from using the city鈥檚 tennis courts or lawn bowling greens while wearing high heels. But the B.C. capital doesn鈥檛 prohibit 鈥渂oisterous conduct鈥� or swearing in parks, both of which are in Summerside, P.E.I. Things are taken one step further in the parks of Calgary, where it鈥檚 against the law to outside of areas where sports, performances and so forth are specifically allowed.
Back in Estevan, anyone using a park should know that the city forbids them from there. There are many bylaws that, similar to that one, seem to have been created in response to a specific incident or a fear of a specific incident. Dawson City, Yukon has : If you鈥檙e there, it鈥檚 illegal to destroy a highway, to transport material which would be likely to 鈥渋mperil鈥� people living nearby, and to build a pipeline across a highway without written permission.
Rules of the road
Highways and roads are among the topics most frequently covered in bylaws. While provinces and territories look after drivers鈥� licences and behaviours, municipalities are able to set rules governing the use of local streets and sidewalks.
That鈥檚 why taxi drivers in Halifax must keep a why bicycles and tricycles can be impounded in Snow Lake, Man., if their owners haven鈥檛 paid their annual , and why it鈥檚 illegal to pedestrians in Edmonton.
In Gander, when bylaw officers aren鈥檛 handing out tickets to the owners of plant-destroying cats, they might be keeping an eye out for anyone parked within 200 metres of an active fire. , as is throwing tacks on a highway.
Legalities aside, throwing tacks on a highway isn鈥檛 a particularly good way to spend one鈥檚 time. Better to hang out at a playground, right? In Gander, that isn鈥檛 particularly easy either. The town to children under the age of 10 and adults accompanying them.
Parking lots don鈥檛 have age limits 鈥� but you could run into trouble there, too. In Red Lake, Ont., playing a game in any municipal parking area will leave you with a $100 fine.
Sounding off
(Negative Space / Pexels)
Like most municipalities, Red Lake also prohibits certain loud noises which can annoy people 鈥� but its list of outlawed sounds is far more specific than some.
Red Lake residents can鈥檛, for example, use a hammer or saw
Shouting, whistling and singing are banned during those hours as well 鈥� which still leaves its residents with more freedom to make noise than people in Myers Lake, Ont., have. That community enacted a 24/7 ban on those sounds earlier this year.
In Jasper, Alta., meanwhile, motorized lawnmowers can鈥檛 be used on weekends
While it鈥檚 normal for municipalities to ban some things at night that are OK during the day, one part of the in Souris, P.E.I., is a bit of a head-scratcher. People there are not allowed to ring doorbells or knock on doors at night with intent 鈥渢o disturb or annoy any person鈥� 鈥� but no such restriction exists before 10 p.m.
An odd clause in the noise bylaws of several Ontario communities, including and , creates exceptions for any 鈥渘ewsboy, peddler, hawker or petty tradesman鈥� who is 鈥減lying his calling legitimately and moderately.鈥�
Dredging up a dead horse
One story about a Toronto bylaw has been repeated so often and for so long that it is hard not to think of it whenever the topic of bizarre municipal regulations comes up.
Canada鈥檚 largest city, the story goes, has a bylaw stopping its citizens from dragging dead horses down Yonge Street on Sundays.
It stands to reason, right? Yonge has long been considered the city鈥檚 main street, and anyone dragging a dead horse down it would be inconveniencing other road users. Additionally, Toronto long considered Sundays sacred, outlawing Sunday sports and forcing movie theatres to close on Sundays into the 1950s.
However, when asked by CTVNews.ca if Toronto banned the dragging of dead horses on Yonge, city staff said they could find no evidence of such a regulation. What鈥檚 more, they couldn鈥檛 find a reference to such a rule in the bylaws of any of the six municipalities that merged to form Toronto in 1997.
But for anyone reading that and thinking about grabbing the nearest dead horse and heading to Yonge Street, a word of caution: Various municipal and provincial regulations would seem to make that activity illegal even if it is not specifically mentioned.
If that fabled bylaw is in fact a fable, then maybe people will stop beating that dead horse. And never start dragging it.
Map icons designed by Jesse Tahirali / CTVNews.ca
