Thread: Canadian Knife Laws

Howdy all - can anybody give me a straight up translation of what I can and cannot bring into Canada in the knife department? Going on Monday, need to figure out what's kosher, tried searching threads and google, but not finding any straight answers. Specifically, is a 3.9" Benchmade Ambush and/or a 2.9" Assisted-opening Kershaw Leek cool? Going to Panorama, BC, if that makes a difference. Any assistance is appreciated, thanks everybody.

My only experience is that I was born, and lived there for nearly 40 years.

However, I haven't lived there for 20 years! Laws in Canada are fairly universal from province to province.

As an American going to Canada, you'd best be advised to not take a knife with you. Unarmed Canadian border guards always like to ask you if you have any weapons with you. It's best to say, "No sir". Or, you can spend 4 hours explaining that some guy in Vancouver B.C. or Portland Oregon told you a certain kind of knife was OK. bah, bah, bah.

Now, that being said. Once in Canada, you are unlikely to run into any problems, unless you need it to defend yourself. Defending yourself in Canada is a big No, No!

So, if you take a knife. Take a unless one, that might be only good for cleaning your finger nails!

Frog.

Last time I went up there to go fishing,I was pulled out and searched.They did not like the fact I had 6"fillet knife,but didn't do any thing. I also had a fish wacker.
See my post about wasp spray.

Like I was getting to.

While the knife may not be 'illegal', you can easily get some guy who will take hours 'investigating' to see if you were intending to do illegal things with it!

The Canadian Border Guards feel this way:
Because, they aren't allowed to carry anything that looks like, or can be described as, a 'weapon', why should you?

I remember reading a couple of years ago about a APB that was issued for a couple of guys who had robbed a grocery store in Bellingham. They had a good description of the perps and their get-away car. It was thought that they may be heading for the Canadian Border. So, the Canadian Border Guards did what every Canadian would expect of them. They closed the border and went home! I swear, this is a true story!!

Frog.

I would not that the assisted knife or any knife that can be flicked open. I have bought a knife from a Canadian maker and he told me that the pivot would be tight to make it it thought customs.

I was just up there a few weeks ago in B.C and I told them i didn't have any weapons with me, I did have my "leatherman tool" and a small Tim Wegner Folder- mouse lite on me at the time, I wasn't stopped or checked though. I consider all knifes just tools. If I hit you in the head with a big rock would Canada consider that rock a weapon and then ban all rocks?

mxitman Yes they would and they would get all rocks serial numbered and spend a hundred billion dollars on getting them registered and all your rocks in your collection and your old pet rocks would have to have registration certificates and you would need a special permit to transport them.

Then the USA would make next to impossible for Canadians to bring rocks back into Canada from the USA with out the special import and export papers out of god know's which USA department that would be put in charge of rock exportation.

Now I know this all sounds funny but it almost seems that bad.

RangerEric

Knives - as long as the blade is not assisted in the opening as far as I know there are no other restrictions.
No they are not registered yet.
No you can not take them into an airport or board a plane with a knife (same as the USA)
No there is no restriction on blade length.

As stated above the customs people depending on the person can give you a rough ride.

Hope this helps you out.

Ken

Hey everybody -
Back home from Canada, and had a great trip. Ended up going with option C and bringing my trusty old Buck 110, relatively innocent and outdoorsmanly looking. Ended up spending 2 whole minutes at customs in both directions, no searches or anything, and no, I had no weapons, only tools. :-) Thanks for the advice everybody.