Wearing a mask in Canada during an unlawlful protest will get you 10 years in prison

CBC reports that Bill C-309 has passed and it is now law in Canada.

According to the bill:

"The bill creates a new Criminal Code offence that makes it illegal to wear a mask or otherwise conceal your identity during a riot or unlawful assembly. Exceptions can be made if someone can prove they have a "lawful excuse" for covering their face such as religious or medical reasons."

From a PR perspective this limits the branding effectiveness that some protests can achieve.

Both Anonymous and Occupy protesters are known for wearing Guy Fawkes masks...

For those that don't know Guy Fawkes is most popularly known from the movie V for Vendetta

Anyway, I can appreciate the need to be able to identify people during a riot, but the law is clearly too broad. It's absurd to put someone in jail for 10 years simply because they wore a mask to an unlawful gathering (which many protests, by the letter of the law, are).

Putting people in jail for two weeks would be more than enough to act as a deterrent to wearing a mask. But 10 years is just insanity.

If Canada actually throws someone in jail for 10 years because they wore a mask while protesting something it's going to mark a dark day in our country's history.

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