History of MMA legalization in Canada.
Prior to 2013, professional MMA competitions were technically illegal in Canada under Section 83(2) of the Canadian Criminal Code. This section only deemed boxing matches where fists were used as legal. However some provinces found ways to regulate MMA despite this federal prohibition.
Federal Decriminalization
A significant change came on June 5, 2013, when Canada formally decriminalized mixed martial arts with the passage of Bill S-20912. This bill amended the Criminal Code to give provinces the power to create athletic commissions that could regulate and sanction professional MMA bouts.
Post-2013
After the passage of Bill S-209, provinces gained the authority to legalize and regulate MMA on a province-by-province basis. However, the bill did not automatically make MMA legal across Canada. It simply provided a framework for provinces to establish their own regulations.
While this legislation paved the way for more consistent regulation of MMA in provinces, the specific details of how the provinces implemented these changes in the years following 2013 varied.
MMA is sanctioned at a provincial level in British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec, while it has been sanctioned on a municipal level within Alberta, New Brunswick and the Northwest Territories.
