Unlawful Assembly Laws in Canada

Section 2 of The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees freedom of conscience and the freedom of peaceful assembly. But these rights are not without limits. The Supreme Court of Canada has recognized that freedom of expression does not extend to protect threats of violence, acts of violence, the destruction of property or other unlawful conduct.

According to the Code, a “riot is an unlawful assembly that has begun to disturb the peace tumultuously.” An appeal court judge in British Columbia provided an explanation of what “disturb the peace tumultuously” means in R. v. Berntt when he noted that “when the word ‘tumultuously’ is used in the Criminal Code definition of riot it must connote in a general sense some elements of violence or force which may be exhibited by menaces of threats … historically, the crime of riot required some violence or terrorizing of the public and it is for such reasons that I am of the opinion as we set out above that Parliament in defining riot as an unlawful assembly that has begun to disturb the peace tumultuously intended the word tumultuously to mean something more than boisterous, noisy or disorderly conduct.”

Section 65 (2) of the Code makes it an offence to cover your face or use another "disguise to conceal [your] identity without lawful excuse" during a riot.