Public Mischief

According to s.140 of the Criminal Code, you commit public mischief if you purposely mislead a peace officerPeople involved in upholding justice conducting an investigation by: making a false statement that accuses some other person of having committed an offence; doing anything intended to cause some other person to be suspected of having committed an offence they did not commit, or to divert suspicion away from yourself; falsely reporting that an offence has been committed; or making it known, in any way, that you or some other person has died when that is not the case. This legislation is meant to deter and punish false reports to police, whether a false accusation against another person, a fabricated offence, or a false report of death.

Here are a few examples of when a public mischief charge was laid after someone made a false report to the police.

• In 2019, an Edmonton woman was found guilty of four counts of public mischief after she falsely reported to police that an armed intruder had tied her up and sexually assaulted her in her home on five different occasions over four months. More than 100 officers were involved in the separate investigations as well as 23 outside agencies and 36 non-police officers. The total cost of the investigations was estimated to be $188,000.
• In 2021, a B.C. woman was convicted of public mischief after she admitted she gave three false statements to police. She had claimed that a young man she knew had jumped into her car in a Home Depot parking lot, pulled out a knife and sexually assaulted her. She later admitted that the report about the knife was false and that the sex was consensual.
• In 2019, a man in Windsor, Ont., was charged with public mischief after he climbed a 118-metre high portion of the Ambassador Bridge to hang a banner promoting his band. The bridge had to be closed as police and other first responders converged on the scene. The charges were later dropped after he completed a direct accountability program that included community service hours.

Other examples of what acts may constitute public mischief

• False 911 calls
• False allegations of domestic abuse or assault
• False missing persons reports
• False robbery reports

The court tends to treat public mischief more seriously than other mischief offences and first-time offenders may face a jail sentence. That is because significant public resources are wasted in investigating something that later turns out to be false. For example, if you called 911 to report a crime, police or other emergency first responders may be called upon to investigate that event. If the alleged crime never really happened, public resources are being wasted in responding to your call, taking emergency responders away from other people in need of assistance.

In order to win a conviction, the Crown must prove that:

• you reported an offence;
• your actions or words in that report were false; and
• you intended to mislead police and that your words or actions caused a police to commence an investigation.

You cannot be convicted if it is determined that you genuinely believed the statement to be true at the time it was made.

Public mischief is a hybrid offenceAn offence the Crown can proceed with summarily or by indictment., meaning it can be prosecuted as a summary convictionUsed for lesser offences or as an indictable offenceA more serious type of Canadian criminal offence.. The maximum punishment if it is treated as an indictable offence cannot exceed five years, with less severe sentences given for summary convictions.

Public mischief may apply where a person, with intent to mislead, causes a peace officer to start or continue an investigation by making a false accusation or a false report.

If someone makes a false accusation against you, you cannot "press charges" yourself. In Canada, the police investigate, and Crown prosecutors decide whether charges proceed. If you believe you have been falsely accused, you can report it to the police, who may decide whether to investigate.

Making a false accusation can also lead to separate civil consequences, such as a defamation claim, which is a different process from a criminal charge.

Genuine belief that the statement was true may matter to whether the person intended to mislead. It is not a standalone statutory defence.