Canada may outlaw martial arts

[Tgace]

http://www.guerrillanews.com/headlines/3897/Martial_Arts_May_Be_Deemed_Illegal

Guess you all will have to start taking TaiChi.

 

[Corporal Hicks]

Damn, looks like its back to using bad language again! :burp:

 

[Dan G]

Guess you all will have to start taking TaiChi.

...or Olympic Taekwondo.

Knife arts seem to slip through the definitions OK as well.

Sound like they could end up insisting all schools are authorised by a central body. Had it in the UK for a while with the Martial Arts Comission in the 80's, didn't work as it tends to get either hijacked by more mainstream arts or administered by the clueless, and is generally needlessly bureaucratic in any event.

I reckon this is a bit like the UK kitchen knife ban - quick soundbite and will disapear when commonsense kicks in.

Dan

 

[MA-Caver]

So sad...
Hmm what if this trend moves south? :xtrmshock

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Let's hope that this does not come to pass and therefore
hurt our fellow martial artists in Canada! I have met many
a good canadian martial artist through the years and it
would be sad for them to have legislation like this passed!

Brian R. VanCise

 

[FearlessFreep]

...or Olympic Taekwondo.

In this section, “prize fight” means an encounter or fight with fists
or hands between two persons who have met for that purpose by previous
arrangement made by or for them, but a boxing contest between amateur
sportsmen, where the contestants wear boxing gloves of not less than one
hundred and forty grams each in mass, or any boxing contest held with the
permission or under the authority of an athletic board or commission or
similar body established by or under the authority of the legislature of a
province for the control of sport within the province, shall be deemed not
to be a prize fight.

Yeah, Tae Kwon Do with no gloves would be allowed...

 

[Dan G]

...or Olympic Taekwondo.


Yeah, Tae Kwon Do with no gloves would be allowed...

I was also thinking that the Olympic status would give it exemption as it would be under the authority of some form of official athletic board anyway - not sure how it is all organised though.

Dan

 

[kenpo0324]

I live in Ontario Canada and I have started a petition to stop this..
I plan to get as many signutres as I can, Then I will be mailing them to my Mp
at the house of commons by August 15th,2005
I sure hope this doesen't pass, If We don't stand up to this what will be next..
It will hurt the Martial arts community in Canada..(Imo)

 

[still learning]

Hello, Um? Out law martial art's in Canada! Are they that dumb? Everyone knows martial art is about building good charcter thru art's of fighting. To build ones confidence, so as not to get in a fight.

If it does pass, How are they going to stop the underground learning. Like in Okinawa?

Yes! there are those who use it for the wrong reasons. Mostly a small minority.

Hope this is not true and does not pass a ban on the martial arts......Aloha

 

[MA-Caver]

I live in Ontario Canada and I have started a petition to stop this..
I plan to get as many signutres as I can, Then I will be mailing them to my Mp
at the house of commons by August 15th,2005
I sure hope this doesen't pass, If We don't stand up to this what will be next..
It will hurt the Martial arts community in Canada..(Imo)

Petitoning is a great idea... if the Canadian government will recognize it then you can probably get alot more sigs from your American (also European and Asian) MA brothers/sisters as well... whatever we can do to help ... let us know.

 

[lonekimono10]

Wow!!! frist it was the money thing,, and now the martial arts???next thing you know i won't be able to visit Rob broad
(i hope i spelled his name right):idunno:

 

[Sapper6]

i remember a while back i got into an argument with a guy at work about whether or not MMA/UFC style commercialized fighting events were good for the arts as a whole. he claimed they were, and i said hell no. i beleive these kind of things misrepresent the fighting arts.

after reading this crap about what is happening in canada, i'd like to think it just reinforces my stance on the matter. :supcool:

 

[hardheadjarhead]

So sad...
Hmm what if this trend moves south? :xtrmshock

Probably not. We don't seem to follow to many Canadian trends.

Which I personally think is a bad thing at times...but I certainly don't want to see MA outlawed here. I seriously doubt it will be in either country.



Regards,


Steve

 

[goshawk]

That is...the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. ::disgusted:: I mean, I can certainly believe someone would be stupid and misguided enough to think it'd be a good idea; too many stupid people in the world seem to congregate in government. Still. That's. Gah.

I'm going to look into this through some more official channels. If it turns out there's a real threat in this, I'm pretty sure I can alert at least three, maybe four fair-sized Victoria dojos, maybe get people involved. ::sigh:: Freaking politics. Martial arts politics are stupid enough on their ow, nevermind adding legislative politics to the mix.

 

[MJS]

::sigh:: Freaking politics. Martial arts politics are stupid enough on their ow, nevermind adding legislative politics to the mix.

Yup, you hit the nail on the head with that comment! Unfortunately, its the words of the uneducated that often ruin the arts for the others. People who have no clue about the arts, the ones that have probably never set foot inside of a dojo, are the ones that are making the decision of whats good and whats bad. IMHO, they need to focus on what they do best..politics, and stay out of the MA area. How can someone give an educated decision on something if they don't understand it??

As for the MMA events, there are more rules in place now than there were 12 yrs ago when the UFC first started. Jim McCain was one of the people that was strongly against the MMA events, and actually succeeded in getting it taken off PPV. However, its back and strong as ever. Again, changes to the rules are what caused it to return.

As for the negativity...its the illegal events, the ones where there are untrained and uneducated people, both refs and competitors, that bring a dark cloud over the MA world.

Mike

 

[chinto01]

If this were to pass would that mean they would shut down dojos in Canada or would they just have to stop the contact sparring end of it?

 

[TigerWoman]

Well, for Olympic TKD, weren't they changing the rules for allowing hands now with gloves? I don't think they are considering those big hunking gloves, just minimal hand protection. So, Canada wouldn't be participating in that, I suppose under this law if passed.

All tournaments? They think those medals and trophies are prizes? Or when the prize is for money?

This law just shows that martial arts need more publicity/communication to the public to show what they are really about, so laws by unknowing people don't get passed. TW

 

[Andrew Green]

This is not a new law trying to get passed, this is an very old law that someone suddenly bans a lot of things being done.

And I'm quite sure I have seen this come up before. I wouldn't worry about it too much, Canada is not going to ban martial arts. We just have some old laws like every other country with a history.

Currently, Section 83 actually reads as follows:

[Engaging in prize fight]

83. (1) Every one who (a) engages as a principal in a prize fight, (b)
advises, encourages or promotes a prize fight, or© is present at a prize
fight as an aid, second, surgeon, umpire, backer or reporter, is guilty of
an offence punishable on summary conviction.

[Definition of “prize fight” ]

(2) In this section, “prize fight” means an encounter or fight with fists
or hands between two persons who have met for that purpose by previous
arrangement made by or for them, but a boxing contest between amateur
sportsmen, where the contestants wear boxing gloves of not less than one
hundred and forty grams each in mass, or any boxing contest held with the
permission or under the authority of an athletic board or commission or
similar body established by or under the authority of the legislature of a
province for the control of sport within the province, shall be deemed not
to be a prize fight.

 

[searcher]

I would not be worried about it becoming a big thing, until they kick down your door and start arresting people. Somebody needs to find who the "new" pusher of this old law is. I would lay a wager that they have been wronged by a MA'ist and are looking for revenge. If its not that then they are trying to get a name for themselves. IMHO.

 

[Andrew Green]

I would wager its someone who supports martial arts trying to get publicity.

Cause all this seems to be is a big publicity stunt.