Muggles Move To Lift Criminal Sanctions Against Witches and Wizards In Canada

It appears that muggles in Canada are finally lifting the criminal sanction against all of the witches and wizards who have been hiding in Canadian counterparts to the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley.  Our neighbors are moving to rescind Section 365 of Canada’s criminal code, which made it  crime to pretend to practice witchcraft, sorcery and fortune telling.  Soon the streets of Canadian cities will be full of muggles and magicfolk alike.

Here is the current law:

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.

The repeal is part of an effort to clear away archaic laws.  Of course, we will have to see if Canada is truly prepared for magical and non-magical diversity.  As J.K. Rowling has stated “The wizards represent all that the true ‘muggle’ most fears: They are plainly outcasts and comfortable with being so. Nothing is more unnerving to the truly conventional than the unashamed misfit!”

Kudos: Professor Roger E. Schechter