Miscellaneous Currency Offences
Having Clippings
- Having clippings, etc.
451 Every person who, without lawful justification or excuse, has in their custody or possession gold or silver filings, clippings or bullion or gold or silver in dust, solution or otherwise, produced or obtained by impairing, diminishing or lightening a current gold or silver coin, knowing that it has been so produced or obtained, is guilty of
- (a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years; or
- (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.
R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 451; 2018, c. 29, s. 56; 2019, c. 25, s. 175.
Uttering Coins
- Uttering coin
453 Every person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years or is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction who, with intent to defraud, knowingly utters
- (a) a coin that is not current, or
- (b) a piece of metal or mixed metals that resembles in size, figure or colour a current coin for which it is uttered.
R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 453; 2019, c. 25, s. 176.
Slugs and Tokens
- Slugs and tokens
454 Every person is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction who, without lawful excuse, manufactures, produces, sells or has in their possession anything that is intended to be fraudulently used in substitution for a coin or token of value that any coin or token-operated device is designed to receive.
R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 454; 2018, c. 29, s. 58.
Defacing Coins
- Defacing or Impairing
- Clipping and uttering clipped coin
455. Every one who
- (a) impairs, diminishes or lightens a current gold or silver coin with intent that it should pass for a current gold or silver coin, or
- (b) utters a coin knowing that it has been impaired, diminished or lightened contrary to paragraph (a),
is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.
R.S., c. C-34, s. 413.
Likeness of Bank Notes
- Likeness of bank-notes
457 (1) No person shall make, publish, print, execute, issue, distribute or circulate, including by electronic or computer-assisted means, anything in the likeness of
- (a) a current bank-note; or
- (b) an obligation or a security of a government or bank.
- Exception
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to
- (a) the Bank of Canada or its employees when they are carrying out their duties;
- (b) the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or its members or employees when they are carrying out their duties; or
- (c) any person acting under a contract or licence from the Bank of Canada or Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
- Offence
(3) A person who contravenes subsection (1) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.
- Defence
(4) No person shall be convicted of an offence under subsection (3) in relation to the printed likeness of a Canadian bank-note if it is established that the length or width of the likeness is less than three-fourths or greater than one-and-one-half times the length or width, as the case may be, of the bank-note and
- (a) the likeness is in black-and-white only; or
- (b) the likeness of the bank-note appears on only one side of the likeness.
R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 457; 1999, c. 5, s. 12.
Instruments for Counterfeiting
- Instruments or Materials
- Making, having or dealing in instruments for counterfeiting
458 Every person who, without lawful justification or excuse, makes, repairs, buys, sells or has in their custody or possession any machine, engine, tool, instrument, material or other thing that they know has been used or is adapted and intended for use in making counterfeit money or counterfeit tokens of value, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 14 years.
R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 458; 2018, c. 29, s. 59.
- Conveying instruments for coining out of mint
459 Every person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 14 years who, without lawful justification or excuse, knowingly conveys out of any of Her Majesty’s mints in Canada,
- (a) any machine, engine, tool, instrument, material or thing used or employed in connection with the manufacture of coins,
- (b) a useful part of anything mentioned in paragraph (a), or
- (c) coin, bullion, metal or a mixture of metals.
R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 459; 2018, c. 29, s. 60.
Trafficking in Counterfeit
- Advertising and Trafficking in Counterfeit Money or Counterfeit Tokens of Value
- Advertising and dealing in counterfeit money, etc.
460 (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
- (a) by an advertisement or any other writing, offers to sell, procure or dispose of counterfeit money or counterfeit tokens of value or to give information with respect to the manner in which or the means by which counterfeit money or counterfeit tokens of value may be sold, procured or disposed of, or
- (b) purchases, obtains, negotiates or otherwise deals with counterfeit tokens of value, or offers to negotiate with a view to purchasing or obtaining them.
- Fraudulent use of money genuine but valueless
(2) No person shall be convicted of an offence under subsection (1) in respect of genuine coin or genuine paper money that has no value as money unless, at the time when the offence is alleged to have been committed, he knew that the coin or paper money had no value as money and he had a fraudulent intent in his dealings with or with respect to the coin or paper money.
R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 460; 2019, c. 25, s. 177.
- Forfeiture
- Ownership
462 (1) Counterfeit money, counterfeit tokens of value and anything that is used or is intended to be used to make counterfeit money or counterfeit tokens of value belong to Her Majesty.
- Seizure
(2) A peace officer may seize and detain
- (a) counterfeit money,
- (b) counterfeit tokens of value, and
- (c) machines, engines, tools, instruments, materials or things that have been used or that have been adapted and are intended for use in making counterfeit money or counterfeit tokens of value,
and anything seized shall be sent to the Minister of Finance to be disposed of or dealt with as he may direct, but anything that is required as evidence in any proceedings shall not be sent to the Minister until it is no longer required in those proceedings.
R.S., c. C-34, s. 420.
Definitions Relating to Currency Offences
- PART XII Offences Relating to Currency
- Interpretation
- Definitions
448 In this Part,
"counterfeit money" includes
- (a) a false coin or false paper money that resembles or is apparently intended to resemble or pass for a current coin or current paper money,
- (b) a forged bank-note or forged blank bank-note, whether complete or incomplete,
- (c) a genuine coin or genuine paper money that is prepared or altered to resemble or pass for a current coin or current paper money of a higher denomination,
- (d) a current coin from which the milling is removed by filing or cutting the edges and on which new milling is made to restore its appearance,
- (e) a coin cased with gold, silver or nickel, as the case may be, that is intended to resemble or pass for a current gold, silver or nickel coin, and
- (f) a coin or a piece of metal or mixed metals that is washed or coloured by any means with a wash or material capable of producing the appearance of gold, silver or nickel and that is intended to resemble or pass for a current gold, silver or nickel coin; (monnaie contrefaite)
"counterfeit token of value" means a counterfeit excise stamp, postage stamp or other evidence of value, by whatever technical, trivial or deceptive designation it may be described, and includes genuine coin or paper money that has no value as money; (symbole de valeur contrefait)
"current" means lawfully current in Canada or elsewhere by virtue of a law, proclamation or regulation in force in Canada or elsewhere as the case may be; (courant)
"utter" includes sell, pay, tender and put off. (mettre en circulation) R.S., c. C-34, s. 406.