Via our friend Eric Magraken at Combat Law Sports Blog.
Earlier this month Ontario passed Order in Council 1087-2017 designating exactly which amateur sports are legal and how they are to be governed in the Province.
In short, Ontario designated that the following amateur combative sports are legal (notably Mixed Martial Arts is not on the list):
- boxing
- grappling
- jiu jitsu
- judo
- karate
- kickboxing
- muay thai
- pankration
- taekwondo
- wrestling
- wushu
There is a catch, however. To legally hold a competition involving these sports in Ontario the OIC requires that permission be obtained from the Provincial Sport Organization recognized by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport pursuant to its Sport Recognition Policy for the amateur sport.
The only exception to this is a wrestling contest to be held by a school or a university where permission is required from the applicable school or university athletic association or its affiliate.
So why are amateur BJJ and Grappling set to be illegal even though they are on the list? Because the government has not named any Provincial Sport Organization to govern these sports.
The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport has recently named all PSO’s pursuant to this OIC. They are as follows:
The absence of a BJJ And Grappling PSO is noticeable and the Government, in a letter dated June 21, 2017 warned as follows:
It is worth noting that it is legally questionable if Ontario has the power to make these grappling sports illegal. They certainly are within their rights to criminalize amateur striking combat sports of their choosing as they are expressly given this power under s. 83 of the Criminal Code. Grappling contests are legally murkier with the Senator that wrote the law noting it is ‘inconceivable’ that authorities seek to extend s. 83 to amateur grappling sports.
In any event, with the Government’s line in the sand as of July 1 BJJ competitors and ‘grappling’ competitors in Ontario will be left with a difficult choice. Do not compete in your chosen sports or risk criminal prosecution if you do.
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Author Erik Magraken is a British Columbia litigation lawyer, combat sports law consultant, founder of the Combat Law Sports Blog, and profoundly appreciated UGer.
image via Tatami Fightwear.
