Cannabis Act (S.C. 2018, c. 16)

Marginal note:Certificate issued under regulations

• 134 (1) Subject to subsection (2), any certificate or other document issued under regulations made under paragraph 139(6)(c) or (7)(c) is admissible in evidence in a preliminary inquiry, trial or other proceeding under this Act or any other Act of Parliament and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, is proof that the certificate or other document was validly issued and of the facts contained in it, without proof of the signature or official character of the individual purporting to have certified it.

• Marginal note:Affidavit or examination

  (2) The defence may, with leave of the court, require that the individual who issued the certificate or other document

  • (a) produce an affidavit or solemn declaration attesting to any of the matters deemed to be proved under subsection (1); or

  • (b) appear before the court for examination or cross-examination in respect of the issuance of the certificate or other document.

Marginal note:Certificate of analyst

• 135 (1) A certificate or report prepared by an analyst under subsection 131(2) is admissible in evidence in any prosecution for an offence under this Act or any other Act of Parliament and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, is proof of the statements set out in the certificate or report, without proof of the signature or official character of the individual purporting to have signed it.

• Marginal note:Attendance of analyst

  (2) The party against whom a certificate or report is produced under subsection (1) may, with leave of the court, require the attendance of the analyst for the purpose of cross-examination.

Marginal note:Proof of notice

• 136 (1) For the purposes of this Act and the regulations, the giving of any notice, whether orally or in writing, or the service of any document may be proved by the testimony of, or by the affidavit or solemn declaration of, the person claiming to have given that notice or served that document.

• Marginal note:Proof of notice

  (2) The court may require the affiant or declarant to appear before it for examination or cross-examination in respect of the giving of notice or proof of service.

Marginal note:Continuity of possession

• 137 (1) In any proceeding under this Act, continuity of possession of any exhibit tendered as evidence in that proceeding may be proved by the testimony of, or by the affidavit or solemn declaration of, the person claiming to have had it in their possession.

• Marginal note:Alternative method of proof

  (2) If an affidavit or solemn declaration is offered in proof of continuity of possession under subsection (1), the court may require the affiant or declarant to appear before it for examination or cross-examination in respect of the issue of continuity of possession.

Marginal note:Copies of records, reports, etc.

138 If any record, report, electronic data or other document is examined or seized under this Act, the Minister, or the officer who examined or seized it, may make or cause to be made one or more copies of it, and a copy of it that purports to be certified by the Minister or a person authorized by the Minister is admissible in evidence and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, has the same probative force as the original record, report, electronic data or other document would have had if it had been proved in the ordinary way.

Regulations and Exemptions

Marginal note:Regulations

• 139 (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act, including for the administration and enforcement of this Act, and regulations

  • (a) defining “industrial hemp” for the purposes of this Act;

  • (b) establishing, in addition to dried cannabis, other classes of cannabis;

  • (c) defining any term that is necessary to describe any class that is established or any term that is used in the description of such a class;

  • (d) respecting the importation, exportation, production, testing, packaging, labelling, storage, preservation, sale, distribution, possession, disposal or obtaining of or other dealing in cannabis or any class of cannabis;

  • (e) respecting the importation, exportation, production, testing, sale, distribution, possession, disposal or obtaining of or other dealing in of any substance that may be used in the production of cannabis;

  • (f) respecting the packaging, labelling, distribution or sale of cannabis accessories;

  • (g) respecting the issuance of licences, permits or other authorizations that authorize, as the case may be, the importation, exportation, production, testing, packaging, labelling, sending, delivery, transportation, sale, possession or disposal of cannabis or any class of cannabis, and their renewal, amendment, suspension, revocation, duration and conditions;

  • (h) establishing classes of licences, permits or other authorizations that authorize any of the activities referred to in paragraph (g);

  • (i) respecting the qualifications required to be met by individuals who are engaged in the production, testing, packaging, labelling, storage, preservation, selling, distributing or otherwise dealing in cannabis or any class of cannabis;

  • (j) respecting the granting, suspension or cancellation of security clearances and specifying who must hold a security clearance;

  • (k) respecting the characteristics, composition, strength, concentration, potency, intended use, sensory attributes — such as appearance and shape — purity, quality or any other property of cannabis or any class of cannabis;

  • (k.1) respecting the characteristics, composition, design, construction, performance, intended use, sensory attributes — such as appearance and shape — purity, quality or any other property of cannabis accessories;

  • (k.2) respecting the emissions produced by the consumption of cannabis or the use of cannabis accessories and defining “emission” for the purpose of regulations made under this paragraph;

  • (l) requiring persons to take or keep samples of any cannabis or any class of cannabis, or of any package or label of cannabis, and to provide the Minister or an inspector with, or with access to, those samples;

  • (m) respecting the manner in which samples referred to in paragraph (l) are to be taken or kept and the manner in which they are to be provided or access to them is to be provided;

  • (n) respecting the promotion of cannabis, cannabis accessories or services related to cannabis or the display or promotion of their brand elements;

  • (o) respecting the information, including information about health risks and health effects arising from the use of cannabis, that must appear on packages or labels of cannabis or cannabis accessories or that must be provided when cannabis or cannabis accessories are promoted;

  • (p) respecting the display of cannabis by persons that are authorized to sell cannabis or the display of cannabis accessories by persons that sell cannabis accessories;

  • (q) respecting the records, reports, electronic data or other documents in respect of cannabis — or in respect of activities related to cannabis, cannabis accessories, services related to cannabis or their brand elements, including their promotion — that are required to be prepared, retained or provided by any person or class of persons and

    • (i) the time, manner or place in which they are to be prepared and retained, or

    • (ii) the form, manner or time in which they are to be provided;

  • (r) respecting the qualifications for analysts or inspectors and their powers, duties and functions;

  • (s) respecting the detention and the return, disposition of or otherwise dealing with

    • (i) any cannabis, cannabis accessory or offence-related property that is seized, detained, found or otherwise acquired under this Act or any other Act of Parliament or under a power of seizure at common law,

    • (ii) any chemical or thing that is referred to in paragraph (b) or (c) of the definition chemical property in subsection 2(1) and that is seized, detained, found or otherwise acquired under this Act, or

    • (iii) any other thing that is seized, detained, found or otherwise acquired under this Act;

  • (t) respecting the taking of samples under paragraph 86(2)(i);

  • (u) respecting the collection, use, retention, disclosure and disposal of information;

  • (v) respecting the making, serving, filing and manner of proving service of any notice, order, report or other document referred to in this Act or the regulations;

  • (w) prescribing forms for the purposes of this Act or the regulations;

  • (x) respecting the recall of cannabis or any class of cannabis;

  • (y) respecting the review of orders under section 79;

  • (z) exempting, on any terms and conditions that are specified in the regulations, any person or class of persons, any cannabis or any class of cannabis or any cannabis accessory or any class of cannabis accessory from the application of all or any of the provisions of this Act or of the regulations;

  • (z.1) specifying terms, expressions, logos, symbols or illustrations for the purposes of sections 19 and 28;

  • (z.2) respecting the provision of anything or any service for the purposes of section 24;

  • (z.3) classifying each violation as a minor violation, a serious violation or a very serious violation;

  • (z.4) fixing a maximum amount as the penalty for minor violations, for serious violations or for very serious violations;

  • (z.5) respecting the circumstances under which, the criteria by which and the manner in which the amount of a penalty for a violation may be increased or reduced, including a reduction in the amount that is provided for in a compliance agreement;

  • (z.6) specifying provisions of this Act or of the regulations, other than provisions of Division 1 of Part 1, for the purposes of paragraph 51(2)(i) and fixing the amount of the fine, or a range of amounts as the fine, in respect of each specified provision; and

  • (z.7) prescribing anything that, by this Act, is to be or may be prescribed.

• Marginal note:Paragraph (1)(e)

  (2) Regulations may be made under paragraph (1)(e) in respect of a substance only if the Governor in Council considers that controlling the substance is necessary to protect public health or public safety.

• Marginal note:Paragraph (1)(g)

  (3) Regulations may be made under paragraph (1)(g) in respect of licences, permits or other authorizations generally or for any class of them, and those regulations may, among other things, specify that financial information must be provided in an application for a licence, permit or other authorization.

• Marginal note:Paragraph (1)(z.4)

  (4) The maximum penalty in respect of a violation that may be fixed under regulations made under paragraph (1)(z.4) is $1,000,000.

• Marginal note:Regulations — tickets

  (5) The Governor in Council, on the recommendation of the Attorney General of Canada, may make regulations establishing the form of tickets for the purposes of section 51 and respecting the sending or delivering of the summons portion of the ticket for the purposes of paragraph 51(1)(c).

• Marginal note:Regulations pertaining to law enforcement

  (6) The Governor in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, may make regulations that pertain to investigations and other law enforcement activities conducted under this Act by a member of a police force or of the military police and other persons acting under the direction and control of the member, including regulations

  • (a) authorizing, for the purposes of this subsection,

    • (i) that Minister or the provincial minister responsible for policing in a province, as the case may be, to designate a police force within their jurisdiction, or

    • (ii) the Minister of National Defence to designate military police;

  • (b) exempting, on any terms and conditions that are specified in the regulations, a member of a police force or of the military police that has been designated under paragraph (a), and other persons acting under the direction and control of the member, from the application of all or any of the provisions of Division 1 of Part 1 or of the regulations;

  • (c) respecting the issuance, suspension, cancellation, duration and terms and conditions of a certificate, other document or, in exigent circumstances, an approval to obtain a certificate or other document, that is issued to a member of a police force or of the military police that has been designated under paragraph (a) for the purpose of exempting the member from the application of all or any of the provisions of this Act or of the regulations;

  • (d) respecting the detention, storage and disposition of or other dealing with cannabis;

  • (e) respecting records, reports, electronic data or other documents in respect of cannabis that are required to be prepared, retained or provided by any person or class of persons; and

  • (f) prescribing forms for the purposes of the regulations.

• Marginal note:Regulations pertaining to law enforcement under other Acts

  (7) The Governor in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, may, for the purpose of an investigation or other law enforcement activity conducted under another Act of Parliament, make regulations authorizing a member of a police force or of the military police or other person under the direction and control of the member to commit an act or omission — or authorizing a member of a police force or of the military police to direct the commission of an act or omission — that would otherwise constitute an offence under Division 1 of Part 1 or under section 44 in respect of the contravention of a provision of the regulations, including regulations

  • (a) authorizing, for the purposes of this subsection,

    • (i) that Minister or the provincial minister responsible for policing in a province, as the case may be, to designate a police force within their jurisdiction, or

    • (ii) the Minister of National Defence to designate military police;

  • (b) exempting, on any terms and conditions that are specified in the regulations, a member of a police force or of the military police that has been designated under paragraph (a), and other persons acting under the direction and control of the member, from the application of all or any of the provisions of Division 1 of Part 1 or of the regulations;

  • (c) respecting the issuance, suspension, cancellation, duration and terms and conditions of a certificate, other document or, in exigent circumstances, an approval to obtain a certificate or other document, that is issued to a member of a police force or of the military police that has been designated under paragraph (a) for the purpose of exempting the member from the application of all or any of the provisions of Division 1 of Part 1 or of the regulations;

  • (d) respecting the detention, storage and disposition of or other dealing with cannabis;

  • (e) respecting records, reports, electronic data or other documents in respect of cannabis that are required to be prepared, retained or provided by any person or class of persons; and

  • (f) prescribing forms for the purposes of the regulations.

• Marginal note:Incorporation by reference — limitation removed

  (8) The limitation set out in paragraph 18.1(2)(a) of the Statutory Instruments Act to the effect that a document must be incorporated as it exists on a particular date does not apply to the powers to make regulations under paragraphs (1)(d) to (g), (j) to (l), (o), (q) and (z).