Canada PoliticsParliament passes bill to make Mixed Martial Arts legal in Canada
Mixed martial arts — better known as MMA — will soon be legal under Canada's criminal code.
On Wednesday, Bill S-209, an act to amend the Criminal Code definition of prize fighting, passed third reading in the House of Commons.
Here's what the amendment does, as explained by the Canadian MMA Law Blog:
Section 83 of the Criminal Code makes prize fighting illegal except in limited circumstances. The exceptions were limited to certain boxing contests. Bill S-209 has expanded the circumstances for legal prizefights to include MMA and other sports.
The default is that Prize fights will remain illegal in Canada. Bill S-209 permits Provinces to regulate Professional MMA and Boxing.
This clears the way for Provinces to have the power to create Athletic Commissions to regulate and sanction professional MMA Bouts. This will give Provincial posts such as the Athletic Commissioner of Ontario and the BC Athletic Commissioner actual authority to use their powers to sanction legal MMA.
This will also remove the need for Provinces such as Quebec to invent sports such as “mixed boxing” to get around the old Criminal Code prohibition. Lastly, it will hopefully provide motivation for Provinces that have been too gun-shy to regulate MMA to date to create athletic commissions and bring the sport above ground.
The bill was introduced in the Senate, in March 2012, and has already passed its three readings there.
[ More Political Points: NDP pushes proposal to stop funding the Senate by Canada Day ]
B.C. based MMA advocate Dave Teixeira says that the bill will make it more difficult for provinces or municipalities to ban MMA events in their communities.
"There are rumblings out of the City of Vancouver...that they're going to pass a bylaw banning mixed martial arts," he said.
"I think they'll face a lot of public opposition if not court opposition because I'm not sure how they can decide to ban an individual sport that is legal under all aspects of the law."
Teixeira does offer a caveat, however, noting that some municipalities do ban certain types of businesses like adult entertainment venues or tattoo parlours.
"So could cities ban mixed martial arts?" he said.
"I think they could [but] I think they would have a hard time explaining why."
[ Related: Commons passes law to legalize mixed martial arts, allow for provincial rules ]
Earlier this year, Dr. Anna Reid, the president of the Canadian Medical Association, warned MPs about the dangers of MMA.
"An activity in which the overriding goal is to pummel one’s opponent into submission does not promote good health," she told a Commons committee, according to the Canadian Press, adding that there was limited study about the long-term risks from this kind of fighting.
"For parliamentarians, and for society, the question of whether to legalize MMA under the Criminal Code therefore comes down to a choice: a choice between money and health."
MMA supporters, however, argue that " the overall risk is lower than football, hockey, wrestling and soccer."
(Photo courtesy of the Canadian Press)
Are you a politics junkie?
Follow @politicalpoints on Twitter!
