Illegal? (Canada)

[lil_hacker]

wow... that's tough... so i shouldn't help out my friend even if the situation comes to that?

[Varjeal]

All I'm saying is to be careful where/when/how/why you use your skills.

[lockout]

While British Columbia and Alberta have certification boards, and Ontario is working on a fledgeling apprenticeship program, possession of lockpicks is not de facto ileagal in "The Great White North."
I divide my time in Ontario as a professional firefighter as well as proprietor of a locksmithing company, for 15 and 10 years respectively, and have taught lockpicking to Law enforcement personel through out Canada and parts of the US.

These are some facts, that you really should know: A student of lockpicking can possess lockpicks. I received my first set in a package many years ago from one of those "matchbook" schools.
The mere insertion of a lockpick into an unauthorized keyway, constitutes Entry (as in "Breaking and Entry") But the key issue here is legitimate authorization.
So called "possession of burglary tools" is largely situational. A police officer can book you for possession, even if all you have in your pocket is a screwdriver, should he or she find you in, say, an alley at midnight, with no reasonable explanation as to why you are there. Furthermore, in such a situation, there is a "reverse onus of proof." This means that the onus is on you, the accused to establish your innocence. You are presumed guilty.
So to reterate, with the apparant exception of Alberta, and possibly BC, lockpicks are not illegal. As long as you can make a reasonable case that you are legitimately studying towards entering the trade, or are a hobbyist with no evil intentions, you don't have anything to worry about the possession or the use of picks, especially as in the hypothetical example that started this thread.
Nevertheless, I'd be wary of carrying them around and flashing them o your buddies in the pool hall unless you are really comfortable about establishing your status as a serious student/hobbyist.
A lot of jurisprudence is affected by the doctrine known as D.O.C. In other words, What happens to you, after you feel the arm on your shoulder, in that alley or poolhall at midnight, (Depends On the Cop)

[pickmonger]

As a locksmith in the province of Ontario perhapsyou can clairify somehing for me. (I am a hobby picker living in Ontario)

The Criminal Code of Canada states that you must have a pick license, however only Alberta, BC and Saskatchewan issue them.

Does this mean that technically the police could charge a working locksmith in Ontario under Section 353 for possession without a pick license?

With no license available to be a locksmith in Ontario can't a hobbiest call himself a locksmith and have the same protection as other locksmiths in the province.


Section 353 of the Criminal Code of Canada,
states:

Everyone who sells, offers for sale, purchases or has in his/her possession in a province an automobile master key otherwise than under
the authority of a licence issued by the Attorney General of that province, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.

What is an automobile master key?
Section 353 of the Criminal Code of Canada defines automotive master
keys as a key, pick, rocker keys, sully kits, slim jims, lock out kits or other instrument designed or adapted to operate the ignition or other switches or locks of a series of motor vehicles or business and/or residential locks.

[lockout]

Hi Pickmonger
I got the info I related in the last post from a roomful of Toronto Police officers.
Speaking specifically about Ontario, where there is thus far no legal definition of what a locksmith is. A net search has so far revealed that as of 2001, certification is thus far "available but voluntary" in Alberta, BC, and news to me, Saskatchewan. However, that may have changed as of this date, and I'll endevour to find out the current status.
The business of pick licenses may in fact be apocryphal. I'll make it my business to track down the facts.
Despite an attempt by TAOL, a provincial locksmithing association, to get an apprenticship program going in Ontario, I, and my buddy who sartted a business last week, are locksmiths because we SAY we are locksmiths.
A plumber told me, that the only licensed trades in Ontario are plumbers and electricians. Not locksmiths.
I'm a locksmith, because I took some training, originally through NRI, a complete joke (IMO) registered a company name, bought a van, tools and a yellow pages ad, and pay taxes on a second income.
I joined TAOL, and AOL, and took further courses, and still enjoy working in the trade. Then I went on to make a particular and special study of lockpicking, because "entry" was what as a firefighter, efficient, rapid and non-destructive entry was what drew me to wnat to learn lockpicking in the first place. And I wanted to teach it.
So to sum up.
Don't sweat the criminal code statute you quoted. You are a student of locksmithing. That's why you're here.
In your own home, practicing your craft on your own lock, or performing a service for someone you are sure, is the bona fide owner of their
own lock, you won't have any trouble.
If you're a prankster, a brainless show-off, or a criminal, and you get caught loitering in an alley, or doing something with lockpicks to raise the ire of people with badges, that statute will protect the rest of us, and you will get what you deserve.
BTW, I'm not soliciting my course. It is strictly for law enforcement and EMS personel, but I happen to be teaching a bunch of RCMP guys in early November, (That's Royal Canadian Mounted Police, by the way, for non-Canadians reading this, Canada's national law enforcement guys) and I'll try and get some law interpretations re the rest of the country.
Catch you in mid-November sometime.

Paul