Canada cracks down on witches

What a time to be alive.

Two Canadian women have been charged with pretending to practise witchcraft, breaking a little-known law in Canada's criminal code that could soon be out the door.

It is not illegal to practise witchcraft in Canada - either as part of a religion like Wicca or as an occult practice. However, according to Section 365 of Canada's Criminal Code, it is illegal to "fraudulently pretend to exercise or to use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment or conjuration". The law has generally been interpreted as a provision against using the occult to perpetuate fraud, say by someone promising to cure a disease with magic. The conviction can lead to a C$2,000 fine and up to six months in jail.

Coughlin, the legal expert, told the BBC the bill is necessary to help bring the criminal code, parts of which date back to 1892, into the modern era. "A lot of them are just out of step with the time, out of step with the facts or really, are duplicative of other offences," says the Dalhousie University professor. "In the case of the witchcraft [law], realistically any behaviour that would fall within that provision... would also be captured by other provisions in the criminal code, like fraud."

Until the law comes into force, however, police have every right to charge being with pretending to practice witchcraft. "It's not uncommon for police to lay every charge they can think of, simply because it gives them a bargaining chip," he says.

Canadian Monica Bodirsky, a witch and artist in Toronto, welcomed the change in the law, which she said is "a holdover from stereotypes and fears of witches being evil". She says current fraud laws are strong enough to target people who take advantage of others, and that witches shouldn't be singled out. "Fraud is fraud," she says. There's a big difference between providing a service - like a tarot reading - and preying on people's beliefs or fears of magic to manipulate them out of large sums of money, she said.

"Fortune telling and phony psychics, it's very easy to tell the difference generally by the price tag," she says. She charges for tarot readings, and believes genuine fortune tellers never tell clients they're cursed or that they can cure an illness. Instead, she says she offers general life advice, and clients have the choice whether to take her advice or not.

She says you shouldn't have to prove that magic is real in order to practise it, or earn a living from it. "If you're going to invest $20, $40, $60 in a tarot reading and you find it's irrelevant to you, or did you no good, why would that being any different than going to a reiki treatment and finding that didn't work?" she asked. "Would you charge a reiki practitioner with fraud?"

Sure, if they claimed they could do something they couldn't. If they say, "I believe this will help, but it's at your own risk", then that's different from saying, "This will definitely help you and if you say it doesn't then you're a liar". If people want to spend their money on something with no tangible benefits, well, they do that all the time. Seems to work well enough for Starbucks at any rate.

Of course, if people are using this to influence their decisions which affect other people, then it gets more tricky. It's clear enough if you use "magic" instead of methods which are proven to work. It's a bit uglier if there's no proven method and the options are subjective. The worst case of all is when people cannot distinguish between methods which do and do not work, which is an epistemic crisis.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45983540